The Hoke County, N.C. teacher who made headlines for swapping a preschool student’s homemade lunch with chicken nuggets has been suspended indefinitely.

In a letter to parents dated Feb. 28 and recently obtained by the Carolina Journal, Hoke County Schools Assistant Superintendent Bob Barnes wrote that a substitute teacher would be taking over the class until there is a “resolution to this issue.”

“As I am sure you are aware, we recently experienced an unfortunate situation where a failure to follow district policy resulted in the substitution of a Pre-K student’s lunch at West Hoke Elementary School,” the letter reads. “This letter is to inform you that Ms. Emma Thomas will be a substitute in [your child’s] classroom until we can bring resolution to this issue. We are pleased that [your child] is enrolled in our Pre-K program and we are confident that Ms. Thomas will continue to provide [him or her] with a very positive educational experience.”

A firestorm erupted last month when reports came out that a state employee inspecting homemade lunches determined that the meal a 4-year-old’s mother had made, which reportedly contained a turkey sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips, “did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines.”

The now-suspended teacher replaced the lunch with a cafeteria tray of chicken nuggets, a sweet potato and bread.

Bruce Alexander, director of communications and governmental affairs with the USDA, told WGHP FOX8 that the state employee inspecting the meals was a “North Carolina Education staff member conducting a review of the child care center.”

“A teacher apparently was nervous during this state review and mishandled the situation,” Alexander said.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/06/nugget...z1oRf9j0Go

School lunches suck, hard.

Good.

Pre-K is a problem unto itself.

I can see if the parent sent the kid to school with a bag of Skittles, two Moon Pies, and a Jolt cola, there being a problem with 'nutritional guidelines'. But, a turkey sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips, seems to be healthier than most kids eat.

And most school lunches suck, hard.

(03-07-2012 10:49 AM)zyxwvutsru Wrote:  I can see if the parent sent the kid to school with a bag of Skittles, two Moon Pies, and a Jolt cola, there being a problem with 'nutritional guidelines'. But, a turkey sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips, seems to be healthier than most kids eat.

And most school lunches suck, hard.

Disagree....school pizza rules.

(03-07-2012 11:27 AM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 10:49 AM)zyxwvutsru Wrote:  I can see if the parent sent the kid to school with a bag of Skittles, two Moon Pies, and a Jolt cola, there being a problem with 'nutritional guidelines'. But, a turkey sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips, seems to be healthier than most kids eat.

And most school lunches suck, hard.

Disagree....school pizza rules.

there are always exceptions to the rule. . .

From the high school graduation class of 2006 and even the pizzas suck now. I might send my kids to private sschool just to get away from school lunches.

(03-07-2012 10:49 AM)zyxwvutsru Wrote:  I can see if the parent sent the kid to school with a bag of Skittles, two Moon Pies, and a Jolt cola, there being a problem with 'nutritional guidelines'. But, a turkey sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips, seems to be healthier than most kids eat.

And most school lunches suck, hard.

What?! You would agree with a government stooge taking a kid's lunch away?

And when the hell did they start inspecting kids' lunches? Nutritional guidelines my a$$. Holy cow does this piss me off. What in the wide world of sports is going on here?

(03-07-2012 10:29 AM)WMD Owl Wrote:  A firestorm erupted last month when reports came out that a state employee inspecting homemade lunches determined that the meal a 4-year-old’s mother had made, which reportedly contained a turkey sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips, “did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines.”

The now-suspended teacher replaced the lunch with a cafeteria tray of chicken nuggets, a sweet potato and bread.

For those here losing weight via low carbs ... let us compare before and after:

Turkey Sandwich, Banana, Chips
Lean protein and moderate carbs, vitamins and moderate carbs, high carbs

Chicken nuggets, sweet potato, bread
Lean protein and high carbs, ENORMOUS carbs, moderate carbs

His mom did a better job than the school. If mom swaps out the apple juice for a skim milk or two percent milk or even a diet coke she's probably doing alot better then. Note the only thing of meaningful nutritional value in the school lunch is the protein in the chicken nuggets, which they covered in dense (high carb) bread and then deep fried in fat.

(03-07-2012 11:27 AM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  Disagree....school pizza rules.

Since I never missed chicken finger and tater tot days, I've been a bit perplexed by the concern that they gave her chicken nuggets....

I mean, jeeze. Chicken nuggets are like manna from heaven.

(03-07-2012 01:49 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 11:27 AM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  Disagree....school pizza rules.

Since I never missed chicken finger and tater tot days, I've been a bit perplexed by the concern that they gave her chicken nuggets....

I mean, jeeze. Chicken nuggets are like manna from heaven.

Those aren't school chicken nuggets. Btw, the pizza we had in high school sucked.

(03-07-2012 01:52 PM)RobertN Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 01:49 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 11:27 AM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  Disagree....school pizza rules.

Since I never missed chicken finger and tater tot days, I've been a bit perplexed by the concern that they gave her chicken nuggets....

I mean, jeeze. Chicken nuggets are like manna from heaven.

Those aren't school chicken nuggets. Btw, the pizza we had in high school sucked.

After eating high school pizza for 8 years I'll bet you don't like it...

(03-07-2012 01:53 PM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 01:52 PM)RobertN Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 01:49 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 11:27 AM)ImMoreAwesomeThanYou Wrote:  Disagree....school pizza rules.

Since I never missed chicken finger and tater tot days, I've been a bit perplexed by the concern that they gave her chicken nuggets....

I mean, jeeze. Chicken nuggets are like manna from heaven.

Those aren't school chicken nuggets. Btw, the pizza we had in high school sucked.

After eating high school pizza for 8 years I'll bet you don't like it...

Cute .

(03-07-2012 10:29 AM)WMD Owl Wrote:  Bruce Alexander, director of communications and governmental affairs with the USDA, told WGHP FOX8 that the state employee inspecting the meals was a “North Carolina Education staff member conducting a review of the child care center.”

“A teacher apparently was nervous during this state review and mishandled the situation,” Alexander said.

If the teacher was nervous, it suggests to me that the government ALREADY has too much power and the teacher (part of the same governmental power structure) knows it. She wasn't worried about the young child but her own sorry @ss.

Mishandled it? She butchered it. Maybe some time at home will make her re-think what she did. For some reason, I doubt it.

This is what happens when you take government dollars to fund programs. Too many strings and hoops to jump through, and too many opportunities for the government to be heavy handed and exceed their authority.

(03-07-2012 02:19 PM)MileHighBronco Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 10:29 AM)WMD Owl Wrote:  Bruce Alexander, director of communications and governmental affairs with the USDA, told WGHP FOX8 that the state employee inspecting the meals was a “North Carolina Education staff member conducting a review of the child care center.”

“A teacher apparently was nervous during this state review and mishandled the situation,” Alexander said.

If the teacher was nervous, it suggests to me that the government ALREADY has too much power and the teacher (part of the same governmental power structure) knows it.

Knows it...and supports it. Most teachers LOVE the power structure of big, intrusive government.

This teacher only imagines she was wrong in some mechanical detail, not wrong in the reasoning behind what she did.

(03-07-2012 02:32 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 02:19 PM)MileHighBronco Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 10:29 AM)WMD Owl Wrote:  Bruce Alexander, director of communications and governmental affairs with the USDA, told WGHP FOX8 that the state employee inspecting the meals was a “North Carolina Education staff member conducting a review of the child care center.”

“A teacher apparently was nervous during this state review and mishandled the situation,” Alexander said.

If the teacher was nervous, it suggests to me that the government ALREADY has too much power and the teacher (part of the same governmental power structure) knows it.

Knows it...and supports it. Most teachers LOVE the power structure of big, intrusive government.

This teacher only imagines she was wrong in some mechanical detail, not wrong in the reasoning behind what she did.

You know most teachers?

Torch probably does not know them all.

I do know from my time in that industry that power hungry DOES describe some in the field but I wouldn't necessarily even say it describes half of my former colleagues. Despite their silly ideology, most teachers I knew were dedicated to trying to be a good, if not great teacher. We all know that not all have the aptitude to be great or even good. The best indicator is feedback from former students.

Colorado is not a real strong union state, unlike where I came from (Michigan). In strong union states, teachers tend to be more militant. For example, I was shocked to learn from my incensed sis-in-law that she was now going to have to contribute SOMETHING (a small %) towards her healthcare insurance premiums. When I left the field 8 years ago, I was paying for about half of the cost of my premiums, which was a substantial cost each month. Her attitude was one of entitlement.

As for the power trip, all one needs do is peruse the newspaper articles about any number of dunderheaded decisions/actions of educators today to see that SOME get drunk on power to the point where they can't see the stupidity of their own decisions and/or actions.

(03-07-2012 10:49 AM)zyxwvutsru Wrote:  I can see if the parent sent the kid to school with a bag of Skittles, two Moon Pies, and a Jolt cola, there being a problem with 'nutritional guidelines'. But, a turkey sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips, seems to be healthier than most kids eat.

It doesn't matter what the kids bring to eat. They are, and should be, allowed to eat it.

(03-07-2012 04:11 PM)OrangeCrush22 Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 10:49 AM)zyxwvutsru Wrote:  I can see if the parent sent the kid to school with a bag of Skittles, two Moon Pies, and a Jolt cola, there being a problem with 'nutritional guidelines'. But, a turkey sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips, seems to be healthier than most kids eat.

It doesn't matter what the kids bring to eat. They are, and should be, allowed to eat it.

Kids will always choose candy over the alternative, especially pre-k kids. There are problems inherent with this.