Ghost of Midnight

Stowe school eases lunch crunch

Lisa McCormack wrote in the Stowe Reporter recently…

Stowe Middle School students no longer have to gobble and go. After parents and students complained that lunch periods didn’t allow enough time to finish a nutritious meal, school administrators decided last week to expand them to 20 minutes…

Student Kenzie Bruce posted on Front Porch Forum last week that the changes were already having a beneficial effect. “I, and others, are very grateful for the change,” Bruce wrote.

Parent Elizabeth Croes says her daughter no longer comes home from school with a lunchbox full of half-eaten food. “I was glad that enough parents expressed concern that they were able to change it quickly and positively,” Croes said. “It was good to have children see that it’s OK to express concern in a respectful way and to have the community respond to support them… “

Croes posted comments about the issue on Front Porch Forum, drawing responses from parents, students and community members who urged that lunch periods last longer. “As more and more people became aware and said, “˜Wait, this isn’t good,’ it was wonderful to have the support of parents and community members, even people without children in the school system,” Croes said…

A recent study by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health warns that short lunch periods don’t serve students well. It found students with less than 20 minutes to eat school lunches consumed significantly less of their entr©es, milk and vegetables. One author of the study told Croes that Stowe Middle School’s 12-minute lunch was the shortest he had ever heard of.

Croes sees the Front Porch Forum campaign as “a perfect example of social media being used for good.” In an age in which parents might not always know one another, it made the community aware of what was going on and helped bring about beneficial change, she said.

Read the full story here.