No Free Lunch: The Effect on Jenks Students
By: Jes Cates
For the last two years, Jenks Public Schools has provided free lunch for all of its students. However, this year is different. Since the pandemic is in decline, the USDA has also made a change: they are no longer funding schools to provide universally free lunches.
This means that, for some students more than others, whether it’s their parents forgetting to refill their accounts or their family being financially unable to do so, free lunch is no longer something they can always rely on.
Lunch lady giving out lunch to JHS student.
Some students are eligible for the Free or Reduced Lunch program. To be immediately eligible, a family member must qualify and be a part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). To be a part of this program your family member can contact your state agency at their office (Department of Human Services, 5051 S 129th East Ave, Tulsa, OK) or their toll-free hotline at 1-866-411-1877.
Another way to qualify for free lunch is if your total household income fits the amount eligible or if you, the student, identify as homeless, fostered migrant, or a runaway. You can find the application here.
Even though this program allows for many different people who need free or reduced lunch to be able to get it, not everyone who needs it or who could benefit from it has access to it. It is a well-known fact that food is vital, and people who don’t have access to a balanced diet suffer, especially in school.
“When students wake up after an overnight fast and go to school without eating breakfast, they start the day with low blood sugar that just keeps getting lower,” said Lindsay Boyers, a writer for the SFGATE Newspaper. In her article on the benefits of students eating breakfast, “this can leave them feeling slow and sluggish and make it more difficult to get through the day.”
This feeling leads to an inability to focus in school, causing lower test scores and a slip in grades. It also can drain your mental energy and affect you in other ways besides academics. Withstanding hunger for long periods of time can drastically affect your mood and stunt your physical growth.
Lunch lady arranging sides for school lunch.
“Everyone should eat three balanced meals a day along with healthy snacks (nuts, fruits, etc.),” said Penny Gise, the Head of Nutrition at Jenks High School. “It fuels the body and the brain.”
Keeping a balanced healthy diet benefits your physical and mental health. It is a human necessity. When the school was able to provide free lunch, students didn’t have to worry about how they would eat at school, they just did. Now, that's changed.
“I knew that I was always able to get lunch at school, just in case I ran late,” said Mikala Gardner, 12. “It also helped my parents financially because lunches at the school are expensive.”
Lunches this year are $3.00, before the pandemic, they were $2.75. This can add up quickly, especially for parents feeding more than one child every day. Going from free lunches to $3.00 lunches has been quite the change, not everyone can afford to buy lunches every day or pack healthy/diverse lunches.
“I have to take home lunch now, which means I’m eating the same thing daily,” said Gardner, “and it is usually a PBJ and chips, since it’s easy to make.”
Having the same thing every day leads to an unbalanced diet, an excess of whatever, usually unhealthy, foods that you’re eating and a lack of potentially more nutritious foods. Plus, most people don’t appreciate eating the same things every day, it gets boring. But for some, it’s their only option.
The school offers many types of hot lunches during the day, and thankfully they provide programs for some students who are financially unable to purchase lunches daily, you can find the application for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program here
For more information on Boyer’s article click here.
For more information about stunt growth click here.
For more information about the SNAP program click here.