I felt very angry and disgusted yesterday at work. I was supply teaching at the First Nations' School of Toronto and one of the staff members was talking about the school's nutrition programs. Many programs got saved from the chopping block in Toronto's city budget that was voted on this week, but these important initiatives were not among them.
Essentially, the school - along with every other school in the Toronto District School Board - lost their funding to provide healthy snacks to students. That amounted to $7000 that the First Nations' School will no longer receive. Luckily, a donation of that exact amount of money was made to the school to save the program for this year. But what about future years? And what about the hundreds of other schools around the city that didn't get such a generous donation and can't raise 7 grand through fundraising? I don't know about anyone else, but I find it disgraceful to find money in the budget to pay for a plethora of other programs, but not for food for school children. Where do the priorities for this perplexing government lie?
These nutrition programs are important and must be saved for a variety of reasons. First of all, especially in the case of this particular school, many students come from poor families and don't get much healthy food to eat at home. Breakfast usually ends up being the meal that is skipped most often, meaning that some students have nothing to eat from the time they wake up until lunch time. In extreme cases, they may not have lunch either and might not eat until dinner. Imagine being 6 or 7 and trying to concentrate on academics when you are that hungry. Many of the families at the First Nations' School are not well off and can't afford a lot of food, so many students would be in dire straits without the nourishment they receive at their academic institution. Some pupils even receive school-provided lunches and would be left to starve if these programs are cut.
Additionally, these nutrition programs are a valuable part of the education students are getting at TDSB schools. The fruits and vegetables etc. that are provided daily are examples of healthy snacks that are good for the physical and mental health of students, thus making it easier for learners to achieve good results at school. They also serve as good examples for parents of the types of snacks that students should be eating at home.
It easy for politicians to see they can save millions of dollars by taking away funding for nutrition and food programs at schools. It is easy for them because many of the current administration are business managers who never spend time in schools and never see the huge positive impact providing nutritious meals for students has. I challenge Rob Ford and his inner circle to spend a day at the First Nations' School, or at any of the other schools in the city, and not want to start funding food initiatives again after seeing the faces of starving children who depend on them to satiate their hunger. If he has a shred of compassion and empathy in him, he won't be able to do it.
I will concede that there are well-off neighbourhoods in this city in which the majority of students eat breakfast at home and bring snacks and lunch to eat during the day. They are also often the ones that can fundraise to run nutrition programs for those that don't bring their own food to school with government funding. On the other hand, there are a great many neighbourhoods in which the people are mostly middle class or live below the poverty line. The latter is in the majority and it is for these people and their children that the city started funding healthy eating initiatives for.
Let's not let the city save money on the backs of the poor any more. Let's give them a chance to succeed in life by giving them a good education and a good start to life, including the nutrition they need to maximize their academic potential. It really makes me furious to think that the "haves" are able to make decisons that will directly hurt the "have nots" without losing any sleep over it.
The municipal government can't get away with this outrage. It is just not right to take food out of the mouths of needy children. It is time to campaign to get funding restored to nutrition and food programs in Toronto schools. Who's with me?
I watched The Greatest Movie Ever Sold this weekend and thought of it while reading your latest post. How would parents feel if advertising banners were plastered high along the walls of schools? The teachers and administrators in this movie found ways to bring in much needed revenue after budget cuts through billboard/banner advertising + the controversial Channel1 program. The idea makes my stomach churn- though there will be enough of that happening at your school in the years to come if a solution doesn't come together soon.
ReplyDeleteI am worried about the same thing. I am also worried that big corporations and many politicians with ties to said companies want it this way. The policy makers cut corporate and high-income taxes, leaving no budget for much-needed programs like this nutrition initiative.
DeleteThen,the companies that lobbied for the tax cuts step in and say they will fund school and day care programs at little or no cost. The only catch is that they get to put their name, products and advertisements all over the school. Thus, we get the Nike schools and other things that are already present in the States. This path has already been traveled by them and they are much further down it than us.
Governments need to fund these programs because we don't need our kids brainwashed and exposed to more ads and more marketing than they already are. How can a school be a place where students learn critical thinking and media literacy when there are ads all around them and when there is pressure from the sponsor company to portray them in a favorable light.