Preschooler's homemade lunch replaced with nuggets

Yep, it was a North Carolina state agency. Not federal.

Oh, look - an update:
http://www.thetimesnews.com/articles/lunch-52587-barnes-child.html

RAEFORD - School and state officials say a misunderstanding resulted in a West Hoke Elementary School preschooler's homemade lunch being replaced with chicken nuggets.
...
The girl thought she had to go through the lunch line for a new meal, Barnes said.

The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that it is investigating. In the statement, the department denies that its employee inspected the lunch and denies instructing "any child to replace or remove any meal items."

Typically, if a teacher sees a student with a lunch that does not meet the nutritional requirements, he or she will offer the child the missing components free of charge, Barnes said.

In this instance, Barnes said, the girl misunderstood her instructor and believed she had to get a new lunch rather than receive an additional element.

"We are not the lunch bag police," Barnes said. "We would never put a child in any type of embarrassing situation. But we are responsible to see that every child gets a nutritious meal."

Barnes said it was not the job of the school system to assess the meal a parent provides, but rather to provide optional nutritional supplements.

It goes onto talk a little about how it gained national attention with coverage on Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

You say the problem is vanishingly small. Maybe. But I had horrible nightmares of what could have happened to that dear child. I think that if you had a child, you'd understand the sort of fierce love a parent has. Now I bring my computer to the patio and watch the children every minute they play. Maybe some people see that as overprotective, but the downsides are just too great compared to the little bit of freedom the children are losing.

I'm so glad that your niece is safe, and as a parent and grandparent, it is my sincere hope that your children remain safe as well. Always trust a good mother's instincts.

Uneatened is not a word!!! I thought the first one was a typo, but then I saw it again, sorry, but it is uneaten.

I actually tried looking up "uneatened" when it kept being underlined as misspelt, but I decided to use it anyway. Shows you what I know. I also decided to use misspelt even though it is underlined too. Guess that's just how I roll.

I heard a neighbor gentleman outside walking his dog stop to speak to her. "Where is your mom?"

She answered, "She's in the house."

"Does she know you're out here all by yourself up in a tree?"

"Yeah. She's fine with it."

Sounds like a good neighbor to me.

Someday I'll tell you about the awesome treehouse we built as kids.

I heard a neighbor gentleman outside walking his dog stop to speak to her. "Where is your mom?"

She answered, "She's in the house."

"Does she know you're out here all by yourself up in a tree?"

"Yeah. She's fine with it."

Sounds like a good neighbor to me.

Someday I'll tell you about the awesome treehouse we built as kids.

I wasn't mad or anything. I just thought it was kind of funny that it was noticed so quickly that I was giving her that bit of freedom, you know? I guess it's just so unusual to have a kid outside by herself nowadays...

The agency in question was a STATE government agency.

Our Federal Government often works by using state agencies to carry out it's edicts, under threat of lost funding.

Here's a quote from yet another article with some answers from NC officials

• To what extent are these regulations mandated by federal law, or made a condition of federal funding? Are they connected in any way to the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 or any regulations following from it?

These regulations are state regulations and are not related to the Hunger-Free Kids Act. The regulations were intended to align with program requirements set forth by the USDA, due to the fact that many programs in NC receive USDA funding and therefore must abide by those federal regulations.

I wasn't mad or anything. I just thought it was kind of funny that it was noticed so quickly that I was giving her that bit of freedom, you know? I guess it's just so unusual to have a kid outside by herself nowadays...

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.

Yep, it was a North Carolina state agency. Not federal.

Oh, look - an update:
http://www.thetimesnews.com/articles/lunch-52587-barnes-child.html

RAEFORD - School and state officials say a misunderstanding resulted in a West Hoke Elementary School preschooler's homemade lunch being replaced with chicken nuggets.
...
The girl thought she had to go through the lunch line for a new meal, Barnes said.

The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that it is investigating. In the statement, the department denies that its employee inspected the lunch and denies instructing "any child to replace or remove any meal items."

Typically, if a teacher sees a student with a lunch that does not meet the nutritional requirements, he or she will offer the child the missing components free of charge, Barnes said.

In this instance, Barnes said, the girl misunderstood her instructor and believed she had to get a new lunch rather than receive an additional element.

"We are not the lunch bag police," Barnes said. "We would never put a child in any type of embarrassing situation. But we are responsible to see that every child gets a nutritious meal."

Barnes said it was not the job of the school system to assess the meal a parent provides, but rather to provide optional nutritional supplements.

It goes onto talk a little about how it gained national attention with coverage on Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

It was originally reported by a North Carolina newspaper. And there has been other original reporting indicating that there was some kind of inspector there. So, there are some conflicting reports.

I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh, so I have no clue what he has to say about it. I'm guessing the original poster, Steve P, doesn't listen to him either. So to me, he's completely irrelevant to this topic.

I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh, so I have no clue what he has to say about it. I'm guessing the original poster, Steve P, doesn't listen to him either. So to me, he's completely irrelevant to this topic.

I don't get why you decided to pick on my mention of him in my reply. I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh either, but he's clearly relevant to the topic. Rush Limbaugh was mentioned in the article I posted and quoted. The original post came from Fox News. Rush Limbaugh helped this story gain national attention. Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are closely related. So he's part of the reason our original poster was treated to the story in the first place.

I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh, so I have no clue what he has to say about it. I'm guessing the original poster, Steve P, doesn't listen to him either. So to me, he's completely irrelevant to this topic.

I don't get why you decided to pick on my mention of him in my reply. I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh either, but he's clearly relevant to the topic. Rush Limbaugh was mentioned in the article I posted and quoted. The original post came from Fox News. Rush Limbaugh helped this story gain national attention. Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are closely related. So he's part of the reason our original poster was treated to the story in the first place.

You are the one that brought up Rush Limbaugh, so clearly you think he's relevant somehow. I was only noting my disagreement about that. I wasn't trying to pick on anything

I do like it when stories like this go national. It's more important to talk about these issues than the latest celebrity deaths or divorces. Just my opinion though.

Original story was produced by the Carolina Journal which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the John Locke Foundation which is a right wing think tank .... http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?ti ... Foundation ... Basically this is political propaganda by the right to invent a story and put forth their case. The Right wing Echo chamber machine picked up on it and amplified it as usual.

I actually looked it up too, because I thought maybe it was an Americanism like spoiled and the Brits say spoilt, also spelled and we say spelt. Glad you took it in the joking way I meant it.

Uneatened is not a word!!! I thought the first one was a typo, but then I saw it again, sorry, but it is uneaten.

I actually tried looking up "uneatened" when it kept being underlined as misspelt, but I decided to use it anyway. Shows you what I know. I also decided to use misspelt even though it is underlined too. Guess that's just how I roll.

Original story was produced by the Carolina Journal which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the John Locke Foundation which is a right wing think tank .... http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?ti ... Foundation ... Basically this is political propaganda by the right to invent a story and put forth their case. The Right wing Echo chamber machine picked up on it and amplified it as usual.

Gary, thank you for helping me make the point I didn't even know I was making but in the end I guess kind of meant to make. No snark intended whatsoever.

I actually looked it up too, because I thought maybe it was an Americanism like spoiled and the Brits say spoilt, also spelled and we say spelt. Glad you took it in the joking way I meant it.

Uneatened is not a word!!! I thought the first one was a typo, but then I saw it again, sorry, but it is uneaten.

I actually tried looking up "uneatened" when it kept being underlined as misspelt, but I decided to use it anyway. Shows you what I know. I also decided to use misspelt even though it is underlined too. Guess that's just how I roll.

Life is too short to get hung up spelling. I do make lots of typos, so I don't mind corrections.

That doesn't stop me from spelling things the way I want though.


Or even making up words, even after the dictionary has given me ample warning.

Original story was produced by the Carolina Journal which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the John Locke Foundation which is a right wing think tank .... http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?ti ... Foundation ... Basically this is political propaganda by the right to invent a story and put forth their case. The Right wing Echo chamber machine picked up on it and amplified it as usual.

One should always consider the source, but facts are facts. So, if your so called Right wing Echo chamber picked up the story but it's really true, then what's your objection?

Is this something that we should be worried about or not?