The problem with school lunch is that there is not enough time for elementary students to finish them. They are herded in and out like cattle. Last year I attended lunch at my daughters school several times. I would say about 60 -65% of the food gets thrown away due to lack of time.

What Dawn said. Our son would love to buy once or twice a week but he says, and my wife has seen it, that by the time he gets through the line and sits down he only has a few minutes left to eat. Because of that, we pack him a lunch every day.

I am new to this area but find this enlightening. We usually let them buy breakfast because it gets them to school early and lets them 'chill' with their friends before starting classes. We pack them lunches because they have also told us that by the the time they get through the lunch line they only have a few minutes (they admit to walking slowly and talking to friends on the way there so it is not all the school's fault). The price of the meals is reasonable BUT it still would run us over $200 a month if we sprung for both meals every day. It all adds up.

Definitely not enough time...my daughters teacher would try to make sure her class was the first class in line so her students who did buy lunch would have enough time to eat it. My daughter likes to buy at least once a week but she knows not to buy on pizza day.

I'm a bit upset by this. We send my daughter to school with her lunch normally, but on occasion she does like to buy lunch. Why are they not giving our kids enough time to eat? Who do we need to talk to? My wife is a stay-at-home Mom so I'm a little bit out of the loop on the specifics going on at school...but this aspect really makes me angry. I had no idea our kids were "suffering" from short lunch periods. Not cool. The last thing I want is for my child to have to wolf her food down (a la basic training). Lunch/eating is so important...I'm pretty sure I used to get at LEAST a half hour for lunch back in the day (many many days ago). :) Who can we talk to about this?

We pack lunches so that our kids have time to eat! Also controls what they eat.

This has always been an issue. At BHS, I believe they have 4 lunch periods and the 1st one starts at 10:15. Ponder this thought.........If you have after school activities , sports or band, etc when do you eat again? 6 to 7 at night most likely. So most have a quick bite for breakfast, cereal, granola bar, quick lunch early and most likely a late dinner. Pack a cooler

Most of the time my kids pack lunch, but it depends on what is on the menu that day. My 1st grader is only buying on friday this week because she loves the pizza, but my 4th grader is buying 3 days this week. Length of lunch is definitely an issue, especially when you have 4-6 classes in each grade lining up for lunch.

My 8th grader just told me that she goes to lunch, goes to ONE more class (which is about an hour) then school is done for the day. How can this be good for a kid? I know I get a bit shaky when I eat a late lunch. So I told her to bring an energy bar, and if she is given a hard time about it, I'll be more than happy to discuss it with whomever.

I've love to try to remember 30+ years back to middle school but I remember that I bought most of the time and never had any issue with sitting down and having plenty of time to eat. Something's changed.

Even when they bring a lunch, its not enough time. My daughter is a slow eater and she is having a difficult time adjusting to the limited time she has. The schools say they get 30 minutes, but it takes about 5 min to get situated at the table and then they need to start packing up 5 to 7 minutes early. AT the school my girls were at last year, they had two lunch room people to help the Kindergartners open things give them ketchup, etc. By the time they got around to everyone, time was almost up. Its sad to see how much food is wasted whether they bring or buy lunch.

My CES 5th grader eats lunch at 10:30. Her school day starts at 9:10. So she is eating an hour and 15 min after her school day starts going out for recess and then having to focus on academics for the next 4 hrs. They have planned a snack break in the afternoon but this just is WAY too early to eat lunch in elementary school.

Come on people. What do you want the school to do, cut up your kids lunch and feed it to them? If they make the day longer so little Johnny can take his time to eat then you complain the day is to long for them. Provide some solutions instead of bitchin! Make them a lunch they can eat in the time permitted and get over it.

The school (grades 1-8) I attended did not have a cafeteria. Everyone ate their lunch in the classroom at their desk at the same time. We had plenty of time to eat and what was even better, we had a nice long recess with a lot of physical activity.
I believe that the public school system has many faults, way too many to list here.

I think that Cynthia has the best solution. It's sad how convenience and staffing overides what is best for out children. It's the same everywhere (we come from Mass.). Do they allow parent volunteers to help out in school. I'd be willing to help one day a week and monitor a home-run so that the kids had more time to eat. I remember when we had milk and pretzels delivered tothe classroom (2 cents for a pretzel and a nichkel for a 1/2 pint of milk). Helped us concentrate, learn math (had to have a milk monitor) and break up the day. Teachers had to accompany us to the lunch room and sit with us - not just drop us off and disappear for their break.
I'm honestly leaning towards home-schooling.

Patrick, a crate of milk was delivered to each classroom with 1/2 pints. I don't buy the
same old phrase anymore, "it's all about the children." No, it is not! It is all about the unions and the teachers they represent. There are good teachers but there are many bad teachers who will spend an entire working career in the profession. It is almost impossible to fire a teacher.

Patrick, they would never do away with the lunch program, for two reasons; 1. the public school systems receive big money from the federal government (yes, us the taxpayers) and 2. they believe that they know better than the parent what to feed the child. Every year at the beginning of the school year a form comes home on a certain date that must be filled out (if you don't they continue to nag you to fill it out-they will even mail one to your home). It is strictly done for government funding (yes, that's the taxpayers again). They now serve breakfast in school and a year or two ago the state of Maryland started serving free meals in school over summer (at certain locations). This is ridiculous.

Here is the official response from Bob Mosier, AACPS spokesman: Principals make those decisions with input from their staff and, typically, the school’s faculty advisory committee. Lunch time and duration, along with recess time and duration, are determined by the school. Keep in mind that the number of necessary lunch periods, as well as cultural arts and other class periods, in a master schedule varies from school to school.

Even if the line wasn't an issue, the most I'd like my son buy would be once per weekly purely as a health issue. We'd rather back him stuff like turkey sandwiches. And it's cheaper.

It appears that the school system has a big problem in their hands. The students do not have enought time to eat, there isn't a good plan/. High schoolers are having the same problem,. They cannot eat, because of the long lines and if they get food they run out of time. By the way they dont have enough buses to transport the children, our son had to walk about 3 miles because they don't have enough space for allthey can not even fit in standidng room.

Sounds like people need to quit having kids!!! Too many kids = too many capacity problems.

(I'm sort of kidding)

A true scheduling problem that might be solved if they had a professional doing it. I am not saying that principals and advisors aren't good at what they do. Nor am I trying to address the salaries of school teachers (retirement is aroung $60,000 per year after teaching 10 months a year for 20 years). But while in Mass. we saw no evidence that professionals were advising anyone on the actual scheduling of classes or lunch periods. We really are leaning towards home-schooling. Any thoughts on this or on the current voucher programs for non-public schools? This is a National problem that we think has only gotten worse with the Federal mandates for feeding our children. Maybe the true answer is a union that represents our children. Does the PTA have any input into any of this?

And to answer your question Stacey. There was no such thing as chocolate or strawberry. Your only choice was white or nothing. And we were happy. I loved my two cent stick pretzel that I could roll around my mouth until all the salt and coating were gone. And if I was lucky I got a broken pretzel for a penny and could get twice as many with my four cents. Good memories.

Oh Patrick, a union would NEVER truly represent our children. Unions are part of the problem. Remeber, they represent the teachers, not the children.

25 min. is not enough time for kids' lunch. It is unhealthy for kids to be inhaling their food and they aren't getting enough time to eat what they have. We were buying, but then decided she'd have more time to eat and better food if she took lunch. I go to her school for lunch and was upset by the teachers with microphones telling them to be quiet the whole time...seemed more like a prison. I thought that was down time for them. Also, last year my then 2nd grade daughter came home and told us that they were serving lunches on styrofoam trays. Not only do we teach our kids that styrofoam is bad for the environment and isn't biodegradable, they happened to be discussing recycling about that time...sending mixed messages! Do as I say, not as I do.

My son looks at the menu calendar ahead of time and pretty much only buys on pizza day. That is fine with me because I prefer him to bring lunch from home so I know what he eats.
And yes, my son gets 10-15 minutes for lunch and that leaves about 10-15 minutes for recess. THAT IS INSANE! My son has always eaten very slowly and he does come home with lunch in his lunchbox that has been untouched.
The one good thing is that his teacher allows a quick snack time in class. Same as last year. He needs that to keep his blood sugar and FOCUS in check.
It's funny, with all of the free time and creative, physical cut backs in school classes, the kids sure are not excelling as much as the state has planned. And please know that I do not mean that children are idiots, I just think having more free time and creative time in the past meant for better behaved, more creative problem solvers. I volunteer at my boys school weekly and have for 3 years now. I love the kids and they know me by name.