Monthly Archives: May 2012

Chicago’s lunch ladies score big for students!

News

Recently I blogged about the demands of Chicago’s lunchroom workers. I’m pleased to announce that their advocacy resulted in a new contract that addresses their main concerns.

In the agreement, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) committed to stop transitioning schools from cooking to “warming” kitchens with the exception of one school. Additionally, CPS will be soliciting input from lunchroom workers in the form of a monthly “Good Food Committee” and a bi-annual survey for all lunch staff. The Good Food Committee will consist of five lunchroom workers and five CPS employees and will be dedicated to discussing issues related to food service. Finally, each lunchroom worker will receive two full days of training in how to prepare fresh, healthy, appetizing and sustainable food.

I’m encouraged by the actions of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to acknowledge and answer the demands of lunchroom workers. I think that by addressing workers’ concerns, they recognize how valuable lunchroom staff is to each and every school. I could not do my job if it weren’t for school cafeteria workers’ dedication to feeding the students and helping them prepare for a day of learning. There’s a video on realfoodrealjobs.org that I think speaks to all that lunchroom workers do — from the mouth of a woman who has been a lunch lady for 12 years. Lunchroom workers provide more than just food to the kids. They provide a stable presence in students’ lives and are often the first people that kids see when they enter a school building. Additionally, lunch staff are some of the few adults in the school that kids interact with every day who don’t give them a letter grade.

What I have learned from my experience at different schools with lunchroom staff is that they create bonds with some students, usually some of the at-risk youth. Although it’s super brief when a student chats with lunch ladies, those interactions can really support a student who needs a little lifting up in the middle of the day. Sustenance in both food and spirit. Additionally, lunchroom staff wield tremendous power in the school. Admittedly, I’ve been semi-terrified by the lunchroom managers at one of my previous schools and one of my current schools. To be clear, *I’m* scared of them — the kids aren’t. Teacher know they need to stay in the good graces of lunchroom staff or life could be rough for us.

There’s always work to be done, but last week’s announcement about the move towards fresher food made me happy — and it sounds like lunchroom staff members are feeling satisfied with the agreement, which is critical.

CSA 2012: Week 2 — Little White Orbs of Yum

CSA Boxes

More lettuce!

We hadn’t even gotten a chance to get through all of our previous greens and now we have more! I’ll tell you everything’s official name at the bottom of this post. It’s a challenge to use up all the food and a reminder that if you eat seasonally, you will eat more healthy foods. This week we also got these fantastic little turnips:

They are terrific oven-roasted with just olive oil and sea salt (my favorite roasting combo — please enlighten me if you do something else). What I did was quarter the bigger ones and roast the little ones whole. I doused them in olive oil and salt and cooked them for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Because I wasn’t sure if they were done, I then increased the over temperature to 425 and kept the turnips in for an additional 15 minutes. They were so tasty.

Spinach

Spinach is easy — just heat a little water in a pot and put the spinach in with a touch of salt. Yes, I boil/steam my spinach. Thankfully my whole family likes spinach this way as a side at dinner. I know that it has to be the most common way to cook/serve spinach. I would love your input if you have any other “go-to” spinach recipes.

I did some stir-frying of this veggie — you can see that it *looks* like there are two different kinds. I didn’t realize this at first and cooked them all at once. Each tasted differently. My son wouldn’t eat the green on the left, under the bok choi-like veggie. Lastly:

One little bitty bag of the pretty purple lettuce. It is great in a little side salad. We made it through another week!

Official names of the veggies in the box: “Lettuce”, Hakurei turnips, Spinach, Vitamin Green, Bok Choi, Red Rain

Parenting sucks sometimes

Mrs Q

Henry Vilas Zoo; Madison, Wisconsin

My son is struggling at school at the moment. He’s not listening, he’s throwing things, and he’s screaming at teachers and students. One of the directors even looked at me and asked point blank, “What’s going on with you guys?” Um, uncomfortable much?!

It did come on quite suddenly (age three and a half). We’re seeing similar behaviors at home, but I think we’re better able to control him through some behavior modification techniques I’ve learned working with kids with behavior disorders of varying severity. I count  with Charlie — though I count backwards “3, 2, 1…” and that works most of the time. I talk about being on “green, yellow, and red” at home. We have a little hand-drawn stoplight on the wall — we don’t need it now that he gets that “yellow” is a warning and that “red” is serious. Normally things don’t escalate to the point of being “on red,” but sometimes they do. Then he loses one of his toys.

Tantrums happen when he doesn’t get his way. He screams and even sometimes throws himself on the ground. Charlie does this at home and he even did it at the library. He wanted to check out a superhero book that was a board book, but was way too mature for him and I told him no. He threw himself on the ground, demanding the book. I told him I was leaving and started walking away. He screamed at me at the top of his lungs…but then he stopped when he noticed I was walking towards the door.

I guess we got a pass when Charlie was two. I remember him tantruming then and thinking it was “bad,” but really it was much easier to redirect him and to get him to forget about whatever bothered him. Now, he remembers! And then he shouts insults like “poopy head” and “you’re a bad momma!” It sounds tame and even funny sometimes, but it has to be dealt with. He gets a time out for “naughty words.”

Admittedly I’m grateful that the bad behavior we’re seeing is coming at a time when the book writing, publicity, and events are over. I can be home with him on weekends and he needs that right now. I cannot even imagine how my husband and I would have managed this when I was in the thick of writing — the book would never have been completed.

Charlie is going through a growth spurt. Just tonight I realized that he’s almost out of 4T pajamas. I wasn’t ready for that! And of course Charlie knows that we are moving. We don’t have family in the area and so when we are out looking at houses, he has to come along. We know it’s unsettling for him, but we feel like we have few options. Also, the women in charge at the “school” he attends are much older, like older than my mom. I think they are out of ideas in terms of discipline — and I’m worried they are not terribly consistent.

Working with special needs children professionally, I have sat in eligibility meetings and IEP meetings where I’ve had to deliver bad news to parents. It never feels good and it’s something I dread (though many parents are relieved that their children qualify for services — it can go either way). Now that I get a bad report every single time I pick up my son from childcare, it has given me a chance to feel what it’s like to have a child struggle in school. Frankly, it sucks beyond belief.

So I’m stuck. We are planning a move this summer and I really had hoped that he could hang in there a bit longer so that he (and I) could finish out the school year before a transition to a new care setting. If we weren’t moving, I would have already pulled him out of the school and found a new place for him. But we are moving and I just want to minimize the transitions he has to face over the next couple months. I want my work/school to end (June 15th!) and that be his last day at that child care. Then we would have the summer together for him to relax with Mom. I am looking at some half-day camps for threes — they sound perfect and he thinks they sound fun, too. We both are ready for a change. And we both can’t wait for the summer to arrive…

Playing polar bear with Daddy