Slushy Discrimination
Dear Editor:
I am the mother of a 5 year old little girl who is a kindergartner at H.B. Williams Elementary. She is a VERY picky eater with some allergy issues. I have to pack her lunch everyday. I am careful to give her a well balanced lunch. I deposit money into a snack account for her at school so she can get snacks or eat lunch at school if she desires. She came home from school this week very excited because the school has a new “slushy” machine and asked if she could get one. I said “of course” and explained that she had money in her account. My child came home from school and said she was not allowed to get a Slushy since she did not buy lunch from school, she can have ice cream, etc… but no Slushy which is 100 per cent juice and I am told very healthy.

I thought surely there was a misunderstanding so I called the Cafeteria and spoke with an employee who told me that it is true she could not have one of the new slushy drinks because they had to lay off 2 employees because they were not making enough money on their school lunches. I still could not believe that so I called Mrs. Brown, the school principal, and she confirmed what I had heard from the lady in the cafeteria. She said that the school board bought that machine to raise money and required a school lunch be purchased in order for the children to get a slushy; this was their way of increasing lunch sales. I asked her for her bosses name and number and she gave me the number to Mrs. Linda Becker who is the school nutrition director for Sumner County. I spoke with Mrs. Becker who was unaware of this policy; she informed me that the slushy machine was donated by the company they buy their juices from. She also told me she would look into this and get back to me.

My husband and I decided to go to the school to speak with Mrs. Brown in person. My husband expressed that we were upset about this because we teach our children to be fair and her school is discriminating on which child gets to get one of these new slushy’s. We feel that it should not matter if the child is black, white, a car rider, bus rider, lunch buyer or a lunch bringer - they should all get the same treatment which brings me to another point that we brought up to Mrs. Brown, the “fund raisers”, which the children must be a part of. If your child does not sell enough cookies, wrapping paper, or whatever the case may be, they have to sit in their classroom while other kids get to have a party on the “Party Bus” or have a pizza party. Mrs. Brown told us she has to have those incentives in order to get money. She told us that what this whole situation boils down to, is that she is on a year to year contract and last year her budget was down $14,000 and that she has to bring that up this year.

I personally feel like Mrs. Brown’s budget should never be more important than the tender feelings and emotions of our children. And what about their nutrition? Does it make any sense that kids can buy ice cream but not a healthy juice drink? I don’t know how anyone else feels but I couldn’t care less whether she makes her budget or not when it comes down to innocent children suffering from her choices. When did raising money take precedence over everything else in school?

My husband is more diplomatic than I; he just asked that she reconsider her decision. Mrs. Brown’s answer was an emphatic, NO! I personally am concerned about someone running our school showing no concern or consideration for issues important to our children or the parent’s opinions. I hope more parents agree and let the school board know how they feel. I would also like to ask any parent who agrees with this to STOP buying lunches until something is done about this problem. I personally am not happy that a person, who has no sympathy for children, should be a leader of our school system. Mrs. Brown is putting her own well being in front of the children that she is supposed to be instilling values and morality. If any one is interested in calling the Board Of Education, the number is 451-5200 and the school’s number is 672-6432.

Michelle Ferguson
White House