IÂ’ve never been a fan of the notion that schools, rather than families, are responsible for all the basic needs of kids. But now one school district is making the feeding of students a criteria for evaluating schools and their administrators.

In a locally unprecedented move, the School District of Philadelphia will hold principals accountable for the number of students eating breakfast in their schools.

Breakfast participation will be part of the report card that rates principals each year, along with categories such as attendance and math and reading performance.

All 165,000 students in Philadelphia public schools, regardless of income, are eligible for free breakfasts. But just 54,000 ate breakfast last year, district figures show.

The new system, which begins this year, is expected to increase the number of students eating breakfast, said Jonathan Stein, a lawyer with Community Legal Services, whose efforts - along with those of Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) - helped bring about the move.

Now set aside the argument that the school system should not be feeding every kid on the taxpayer dime because that is not one of the missions of a properly run system of education. But what does it say when we require a principal to discourage parents taking responsibility for the care and feeding of their own kids as a part of determining whether or not the principal (and the school) is doing his/her job? What we are encouraging in such situations is nothing less than womb-to-the-tomb dependency on government rather than self-sufficiency and personal responsibility.

What next? Feed the kids dinner before leaving school? Or perhaps turn-down and mint-on-the-pillow service provided by the district, which will ensure that all students get to bed at a reasonable hour?

Posted by: Greg at 11:15 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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