On being a chicken

If you lined up all the teachers and staff in my school in a search for who might possibly write a blog like this, I would be one of the last chosen.

In my professional life, I don’t make waves. I avoid conflict. I’m a “yes” man. I do what I’m told, but I love my job so it’s not hard.

In my personal life, I’m more opinionated and although I’m a deeply private person, I tell my friends and family exactly how I feel.

Few coworkers have crossed over into the actual “real life friend” category. So it’s very easy for me to compartmentalize.

Before this project happened.

Now I’m feeling majorly exposed. I could absolutely lose my job over this. In just the first ten days of school lunches I’ve gotten a bigger response than I expected. It makes me nervous.

Most teachers do feel the same way that I do about the lunches served in the building. So that’s reassuring. We’ve all discussed the lunches and how bad they are in passing. Then we go back to teaching. No one has done much.

I’m not a hero, but I am a whistleblower. But instead of calling a “tip line,” I’ve shouted it to thousands of people. Oops.

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57 thoughts on “On being a chicken

  1. Found you quite by accident and read up on your quest. I was fascinated by the fact that a lot of the things you show are the same that we get down here in Tx.
    You havent said anything about having gas after eating lunch. To me that's the worst part; having to smell all that lunch caused student gas…wheeeewww ha ha ha I'm sure you understand.
    From one teacher to another good luck and keep up the good work! Fight the good fight, girl!

  2. Okay, I don't know where you are and don't care but as a teacher for almost 20 years let me give you some advice. If you haven't yet, then join whatever teacher union/s you have available. TEA or whatever you have wherever you are. The legal advice they can provide can be invaluable if you should get in trouble.
    I know you are treading a fine line here and it could go badly so do yourself a favor and get some backing. If you have the courage you might even give them a "heads up" on this and get some advice. You can take it off your taxes too!
    Hang in there, eating those lunches takes a LOT of courage!

  3. So here's my question, you're calling out the quality of school lunches. Yes, you are using your school's lunch as a primary example, but it is a broad calling out. You aren't name calling or dissing anyone. So why could you be fired?

  4. Well, someone has to do it. As a student, I eat school lunches often, although I usually skip the nastier bits(i.e. fake meat), and its disgusting, and I'll be the first to admit that as far as lunch programs go, my schools is pretty good. Furthermore, you're not only helping to generate a ton of good karma for yourself by calling out the disturbing nature of school lunches, but you're making a differance. When one person stands up, so, generally, will the rest of the room. Kudo's to you, and best of luck!

  5. Fellow teacher here. Pickles are a vegetable, and the food is more like carnival food (pizza, nachos, corn dogs) than actual food. I ate it my first year, 10 years ago, and gained 10 lb. Now I'm sure my reduction in exercise not walking across a huge college campus contributed, but I know a big part of it was that school food. Also…I pay more, why do I get the same amount as a Kindergartener??? And why do K kids get the same amount as 6th grade boy???
    I hope your experiment brings about some change. I keep seeing ads for Jaime Oliver's new show, wishing that change could come to my community.

  6. High School Student,
    near graduation,
    State: North Carolina.

    Surpised am I at the variety of food I'm seeing in your blog.

    Mainly my school is made up of lower to middle class students. My county has one high school, and we pay the highest taxes in North Carolina:Fact.

    I pay full price for my meal, $1.65. It's normal for my food to be cold, skimpy or obviously recooked. I'm the editior of our newspaper and actually wrote an editoral on it not to long ago.

    Three out of five days a week I throw my food away due to the factors listed above. The food I'm seeing in your blog not only looks tastier, there's alot more of it. Lucky you.

    Please continue, I applaud your cause. Although, I did laugh when I thought of you eating the food here.

  7. There is nothing wrong with being a catalyst for change. I have been one my whole life. I am not the person who "wants" to be the cause of something happening, I just want something to happen! Sometimes change takes the "quiet" individual refusing to move from her seat!

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