Several Articles on Education

Holtz stated that numerous towns and cities in New York are raising school lunch prices, as are schools in other states. Some schools are raising prices of individual items such as pizza, sandwiches, fruits and vegetables (rather than milk, meats, and cheeses) and others are raising the price in general. Higher food and labor costs are the primary cause of these raises. The director of finance and business operations for the Brookfield Board of Education, McClain, stated that the price of lunch for kindergarten through first grade students is $2.00 and for grades five through 12 the price is $2.30. Increases in prices of lunches are in line with cost of living increases.

While the cost of living may be increasing, children still need to eat and schools need to provide quality lunches at affordable prices. Hungry children can't eat if they can't afford the lunch. A reasonable solution may be to increase the prices of extras such as cakes, ice cream, and juices. The loss ability to afford these items would not hamper a child's ability to afford foods high in nutritional quality.

Schools contribute to a child's health and welfare. School lunch programs contribute to child obesity, a growing concern in U. S. schools. The numbers of children and adole

efusing to change to the new model. It is argued that only areas with high truancy and dropout rates need to change to K-8 schools and other districts are better off remaining the same. Advantages of the middle school include that they allow for a focused effort on a specific age group. Teachers can provide activities that are more appropriate for this group. For example extra-curricular sports and clubs can be provided and classrooms can be structured to deal with older students. It is also argued that the students want to go to middle school and it is only the parents that fear this environment. The middle school idea, to provide a more appropriate environment than junior high used to offer, has not had a chance to prove itself. Aside from the arguments presented in the article, since data shows that K-8 schools are more appropriate for some districts, these school need to be considered. While the goal of a middle school may have been to provide a more personalized environment, large schools have been unable to do this. In addition, the at risk student is likely to fare better in a continuous environment such as K-8. "City students found less likely to indulge in risky behaviors" by Saulny (2004,ßOctoberß20). Sauln