Posted by Elem Parent, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on May 30, 2007 at 3:15 pm

hmm staggering lunches at elementary schools. There are two ways of looking at this.

Staggering lunches between elementary schools, some starting at 11.30 and others at 12.30. Yes I can understand that this may save money as less drivers would be needed to drive the food to the schools. But those poor little tummies having to wait until 1.20 when they have been used to eating at 11.40.

Staggering lunches between grades at the same school. Yes the three younger grades eating 20 mins before the three older grades, could be done, but I can see all sorts of problems staffing this. From added costs for noon yard duty, problems with lunch time all grade activities and lack of teaching staff having together time, make this a lot more inconvenient than it first appears.

The cost, we will have to accept. The pre-ordering is just good common sense.

Posted by Palo alto mom, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on May 30, 2007 at 4:54 pm

Many elementary schools already stagger lunch k-2 15 minutes after 3-5

Posted by Flava Full, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jun 2, 2007 at 5:02 pm

If the students are going to be charged more money for lunch would it be possible to find a service that would supply more desirable food? My elementary child swears that the carrots that are served at the first of the year are the same one he sees at the end of the year (and he likes carrots). Can't we get more creative with Subway, Jamba, etc. on preordered lunches especially at the high school level?

Posted by Flava Full, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jun 2, 2007 at 5:03 pm

If the students are going to be charged more money for lunch would it be possible to find a service that would supply more desirable food? My elementary child swears that the carrots that are served at the first of the year are the same one he sees at the end of the year (and he likes carrots). Can't we get more creative with Subway, Jamba, etc. on preordered lunches especially at the high school level?

Posted by Parent, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jun 2, 2007 at 7:32 pm

Please let the Board know before Tuesday if you have any comments. They will be voting then. It will be a busy evening for them because they will also have a presentation by the AAAG and more to do with MI.

Posted by eric, a resident of Mountain View, on Jun 3, 2007 at 11:29 am

JAMBA? So, you want to supplement your kids high cholestoral with some aditional sugar? Good grief! Send them to school with a healthy lunch!

Posted by Flava full, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jun 5, 2007 at 6:35 pm

Hmmm, I thought that we were discussing the issues of lunches served at school (not lunches sent to school). For eric's education, JAMBA All Fruit Smoothies contain 100% pure fruit and fruit juices and there are no processed sugars, artificial colors or preservatives--can't get much healthier than that in my book. The point that I was trying to make is that it is time to think "outside the lunch box" and find something that the kids will find nutritious and good to eat. Given that they have such little time for lunch a healthy drink still makes it easy to socialize and even take it into class (high school) to finish.