Technolandy

Day 6 (of 2024/25) thank you John Oliver @iamjohnoliver for  @lastweektonightfocusing on school meals (Last Week Tonight Sept 8 2024)

For a really long time, longer than this blog/journal has existed, I have pointed out that Canada remains the lone G7 nation without a food plan for students. PEI finally introduced a lunch program for its students… some districts (mine- yay) have made monies available to ensure we had food… recently the federal and provincial government have dedicated $$$ targeted on the issue… but John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight reminded me of some key challenges – despite a lot of money being targeted… as with most of education monies, most goes to infrastructure and salaries – and in the example on sunday night, leaving about $1.25 for actual food per meal – and as so nicely pointed out – even Costcos hotdog/pop deal is $1.50 (something the owner has refused to budge on)

It’s expensive and it’s tricky – as pointed out, often considered “the biggest restaurant in the community”. And because Canada has had no plan for school meals – the vast majority are NOT equipped to cook anything. So pessimistic me looked at the $1 billion being provided by the federal government (targeting meals for 400 000 students each year (math time, 1 billion divided by 400 000 = 2500/ student divided by 180 school days = $13.90 but that does not consider the adults needed to put the food together. To serve it. Hot lunch? Not sure how much a good commercial kitchen costs – again especially with buildings not having kitchens nor cafeteria sitting areas… it’s why the episode shows that the $ per serving ends up being less than a toonie…

Sigh. At least it’s being looked at a bit more seriously. Though there are two other factors that also need to be identified (as LWT also repeated). The food needs to be good – not ‘a step above gruel’ – and spoiler, this was an issue at a school I was at that did have a lunch program (specifics as to why/what are not going to be shared here) and quality of food needed to be considered as well as appropriate for the community at large…and not repeating the unforgivable utterance: if they’re hungry, they’ll eat it. 

The second is around accessibility- it needs to be universal. Not for some. Not for low incomes (even though that’s the target audience) but all. It removes stigma as well as introducing a variety of foods to students that they may not get at home. If anything, John Oliver made this requirement not a ‘gold standard’ but ‘the’ standard. 

And I know on edutwitter there is a segment pushing this should not be a school issue and instead other ministries should support families specifically and directly. But as long as there is hunger at school, it is a school issue. It is why (in Canada) many educators have had granola bars and juice boxes in their storage cupboards. My bias –  that’s not a big step up from chocolate bars and soda pops. Sugar sugar sugar and empty calories. Those usually end up leaving me hungrier – and I can’t be the only one. And back in ‘that school’ we would always have a fruit tray in the office that included a variety of exotic fruits (some I had never heard of, but my principal partner was very keen on them) and it was fabulous how many were willing to try them – took some time to build up trust – including getting in trouble when we were insulted by some of the lunches coming in, and we weren’t the ones eating them… but when our food lady got angry, so did we. 

Food is always a challenging part of education. I’d love it to not be a school issue, but it is. 

So, thank you John Oliver because with your points and reminders, I have hope that future generations will have meal options in the future that are healthy and tasty – channeling a little bit of Jamie Oliver, and making choices knowing that there are costs to be borne, because it is good for learners in school. 

And now…. this