What would Michelle Obama do?
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A Colorado mother says she was shocked when her daughter returned home from preschool without being allowed to eat part of her lunch, along with a sternly worded note from the school criticizing her nutritional choices.
“We noticed last minute that we ran out of fruit or we would have put that in there instead,” Leeza Pearson, 22, told Today. “So we threw some Oreos in there.”
According to Syracuse.com, four-year-old Natalee returned home from the Children’s Academy in Aurora, Colorado and showed her mother a note that read:
Dear Parents, it is very important that all students have a nutritious lunch. This is a public school setting and all children are required to have a fruit, a vegetable and a healthy snack from home, along with a milk. If they have potatoes, the child will also need bread to go along with it. Lunchables, chips, fruit snacks, and peanut butter are not considered to be a healthy snack. This is a very important part of our program and we need everyone’s participation.
Natalee’s lunch also included a ham and cheese sandwich and string cheese, reported KUSA-TV.
“I think it is definitely over the top, especially because they told her she can’t eat what is in her lunch,” Pearson told ABC News. “They should have at least allowed to eat her food and contacted me to explain the policy and tell me not to pack them again.”
Officials at the Children’s Academy refused to comment to media outlets, and Syracuse.com reported, the director of the school refused to speak with Natalee’s father or receive a letter from him when he went to the school.
However, Patty Moon, a spokesperson for the Aurora Public Schools which provides some funding for students to attend private school alternatives during pre-school, said the note is not standard practice.
“We want to inform parents but never want it to be anything punitive,” Moon said.
Natalee was offered an alternative snack, Moon alleged, but Pearson refuted the claim and stated her child came home hungry.
Pearson may want to consider herself fortunate that her daughter doesn’t attend school in Hawkins County, Tenn., where WJHL revealed earlier today that meat dating back as far as 2009 — with what was described as a horrible smell — was served to students just last week.
Meanwhile, the young mother is worried the school is inserting itself into her personal decisions as a parent.
“What the school thinks is healthy for her is not what I think is healthy for her,” Pearson told KUSA. “That’s between me and her and our doctor — not the school.”
Perhaps Michelle Obama might catch wind of the dispute and offer to mediate between the two parties — the First Lady is renowned for her commitment to health, especially among children, and even started an advocacy group (Let’s Move) to further the cause.
If arbitration isn’t in the cards, perhaps Pearson should just ask herself one question a more regular basis: “What would Michelle do?”