.........And Then They Came For The Packed Lunches.......

First they came for the smokers . And we spoke up .
Now they come for the packed lunches:

Parents' anger as primary school teachers check kids' packed lunches

H/T Angry People In Local Newspapers

A CITY primary school has sparked anger after asking staff to confiscate food and drink from pupils’ lunch boxes.

Some parents of children at Childwall Valley CE primary say they are incensed at the lunchtime policing, and are considering feeding pupils at home instead - claiming their children have been left dehydrated and hungry.
The new healthy packed lunch policy started on Monday.
It has seen school staff scrutinise children’s lunch boxes at dinner time, with banned items removed.
The school today insisted all items are returned at the close of the day and pupils are offered healthy replacements for any items seized.
But parents have accused the school of double standards with the school’s own menu including chocolate brownie and ice cream.
The parents are furious the food seizures have gone ahead even though it took two days for the school to issue a letter clarifying exactly what items were banned.
These include fruit juice - something listed as permitted when the new policy was confirmed in a letter on March 19.

So, as the Nanny State develops into the Bully State, "Helping People Make Healthy Choices", turns into theft. Theft from smokers, with the blessing of the police, and now theft from children's lunch boxes. And who is responsible in both cases? Schools.

Schools are supposed to exist to educate the nations children. Education does not involve encouraging stealing. Be it by the children or from the children.

The school’s headteacher Kevin Basnett last night stressed the changes were done after a questionnaire and extensive consultation of parents, 86% of whom supported the move.

He said the policy met government guidelines and had been approved by Liverpool council and Liverpool PCT.
He stressed pupils’ bags were not searched and “everything taken is given back at the end of the day.”

This man has no business being employed by the education system. It is no business of his or anyone else's, what parents choose to feed their children. Giving the food back at the end of the day does not make it right. It is still theft and it is still state interference where it does not belong

I would like to see how extensive the consultation was and how he got 86% of parents to agree to it. I'm sure he didn't ask, "Are you ok with us dictating what you feed your children?".

GOVERNMENT backed, The School Food Trust encourages schools to adopt packed lunch policies to support healthier eating.

Support healthier eating or enforce it?

It also states “there is no statute which explicitly bans school staff from looking in a lunch box.”

Really. Well there bloody well should be. Even so, just because something is not specifically against the law, does not make it right. One of New Labours favourite policies was to legislate against every possible contingency. That's why there are now so many laws, you can't leave the house without breaking one. Common sense has been legislated out of British society. Common sense at least should tell this moron of a head teacher that what they are doing is just plain wrong.

If anyone wants a spleen vent, here's how:

Childwall Valley Primary School
Craighurst Road
Liverpool
Merseyside
L25 1NW
0151 7222544
childwallvalley-ao@childwallvalley.liverpool.sch.uk

They even have a Guestbook



Story also reported here