Hands Off

The North Carolina lunch inspection incident, in which a state inspector replaced some elementary students’ homemade lunches with chicken nuggets, has quickly stirred up national outrage, media coverage, and now a “lunch-in” protest in D.C. hosted by a conservative think tank.

"Hands Off My Turkey Sandwich!" (Photo: weeklystandard.com)

Could this be the birth of a movement?

When you look across to the country, you can see how lunch-tampering can ultimately backfire. Since the L.A. Unified School District stopped serving flavored milk, pizza, and various fried foods, students have gone around the system and created a black market for junk food. (Capitalism at work.) The new lunch menu has flopped so badly that the district ended up bringing back some of the foods it canceled.

Of course, LAUSD is the same district that was somehow employing pedophiles as teachers for years. As we now know, some LAUSD students were forced to ingest things much, much worse than sugary drinks and greasy fries. It’s time for public schools to refocus on educating and protecting students and to leave food decisions to the parents.