For the past few years the concern over childhood obesity has dominated school lunch discussions. But the economic crisis facing the nation is spilling over into schools. Susan Phillips, a teacher at Enfield Elementary School, in rural Enfield, New York, recently noticed that one of her fourth-grade students was always cranky and distracted at the start of the week but turned mild mannered by Tuesday.
The verdict, he was hungry. It wasn't a case of the Monday-morning blues -- it was hunger. Her student ate pretty well on subsidized school breakfasts, lunches, and after-school snacks, but over the weekend, he just couldn't get enough food at home. "We would feed him practically nonstop throughout the day, and by Tuesday he was back to his usual self," Phillips says.
Schools across the nation are developing solutions and most strategies are dependent federal school lunch program funds. More on the Edutopedia article called: Hunger Pangs.