Some students may be skipping meals
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Classes may not be the only thing public school students are missing because of the teachers' strike.
With schools closed down, tens of thousands of students who receive free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches at school may be skipping decent meals as well.
"It is a concern of ours," said Eugene Kaneshiro, director of the Department of Education School Food Services Branch. "We do know that the breakfast and the lunch, especially the lunch, sometimes are the main meal for the kids. Even in this day and age, that's true.
"How they're going to get (a nutritious meal) is up to each household. That is a consequence of the teachers' strike."
Kaneshiro said about a third of the students, or 60,390 youngsters, qualified for the free lunch program in the 1999-2000 school year. Another 10 percent — or 18,300 students — qualified for reduced price lunches; they pay 20 cents each for lunch and breakfast instead of 75 cents.
Kaneshiro said more than half of the students who qualify for free or reduced price meals participate in the program.
Velma Omura, Palolo principal, said more than 260 of the approximately 280 students at her elementary school qualify for free or reduced price lunch.
"Normally we feed at least half of them in our breakfast program and all of our kids during lunch," she said. "So if they are not in school, I do have a concern over whether they are getting a good meal.
"A lot of times the parents may not be at home. Many of my parents are working two jobs, so the children are left up to their own devices and a lot of times they'll just eat whatever is there."
Linapuni School principal Helen Wong shares Omura's concerns. Nearly all of Wong's students are eligible for free or reduced lunches.
"It's kind of like summer or Christmas vacation — we're hoping that the parents are making sure that the children are eating a good breakfast and lunch, and they're not just filling up on the junk food," she said.
Whether these children are eating right is also a concern for House Health Committee Chairman Dennis Arakaki, D-28th (Kalihi Valley, Kamehameha Heights).
"For a lot of kids, that may be their only meal," Arakaki said. "If the strike goes on beyond this week, I think we should ask the DOE to at least serve breakfasts and lunches."
The lunch program is subsidized by the federal government, and the department can receive such federal assistance only when school is in session, Kaneshiro said. But he added that the department will explore ways to legally provide meals to students.
