My youngest daughter, Alia, recently started pre-kindergarten at a private preschool. It's free, because it's part of the Georgia pre-kindergarten program, but the school isn't the same as a public school. I was really bummed that she didn't get into her zoned school! Anyway, one crazy difference, is the private school has this CRAZY rule that you have to pay $19 per week for your 4 year old to eat lunch! I mean that they actually have a rule where you can't pack your child's lunch and you have to pay almost $4 per day for the school lunch! For a 4 year old!!
Luckily, my child is on a special diet, so I was able to get a WAIVER to pack her lunch. I actually had to produce a doctor's note to be eligible for this special privilege. Unbelievable!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
$4 a day?! That's absurd...unless, of course, they're serving loads of fresh fruit and veggies, whole grains, and humanely-raised meat.
Which I doubt.
It really IS absurd. They have to be making a profit on those lunches!
my kids go to a catholic school grades pre-k through grade 8. The pre-k tuition is $5000 a year or $500 per month. The church doesn't subsidize any portion, but lunch is provided as part of the pre-k day and for some reason is mandatory, no lunch boxes allowed. I'm pretty sure there are kids who go free because the church has benefactors who anonymously donate so nobody is turned away from a catholic education due to financial reasons.K-8 grade is subsidized by the church and tuition is about $3500 per year but you have option of buying for $2.20 per day or they can bring their lunch. Your $4 lunch seems pretty high. Our school has a federally funded lunch program so I know kids can apply for free/reduced. Does your school offer that?
Our local elementary school charges $5 for kindergarten lunch, and it is loaded with fruits and veggies, humane meats, no-added-hormone milk, made from scratch, in compostable containers. It's catered by an outside company. The kids who qualify for the free lunch program get a brown bag lunch made in another district. That bugs me; don't the poor kids deserve a healthy lunch?
I'm packing lunch for my son, since that's allowed here (how obnoxious to be told you can't!) My daughter will have to have her meals packed since she has food sensitivities.
Whoa -- pretty unbelievable!! Hey, I think I met you on Kristen's blog and you left such a nice comment -- thank you! Love your blog -- my daughter just turned 21 but i still love to read about families with little kids -- makes me wistful. I just can't believe this -- offer "free" preschool but extract payment anyway -- geez! It's sad when you have to be grateful for a special diet :)!
That was me on Kristen's blog!
Hi, I came across your blog through The Frugal Girl's blog.
I find it curious that all these nonpublic schools are requiring that children buy their lunches on the premises instead of bringing their own. Could it be because of the plethora of allergies kids seem to have nowadays?
I attended Catholic elementary school (OK, this was nearly 15 years ago, so I wonder if it's different now!), and we didn't even have an in-building lunch program, except for the occasional Treat Day. :)
Post a Comment