Threat to school lunch leaves a bad taste

A food fight is brewing in the School District of Philadelphia.

One side is led by Mayor Nutter, Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators and a host of other elected and school officials, who yesterday vowed to fight for the continuation of a one-of-a-kind breakfast-and-lunch program that has fed low-income students since 1991.

On the other side is the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which in August gave notice that it plans to halt the program at the end of the 2009-10 school year.

Thereafter, to retain their children's eligibility for free and reduced-price school meals, parents would have to submit applications, according to an Aug. 12 letter sent to the state Department of Education from James E. Harmon, the USDA's regional director of special nutrition programs.

Currently at 200 of 280 district schools where at least 75 percent of the students live in poverty, no forms are needed - all students are eligible.

If the USDA change takes effect, 67,000 children at those 200 schools would need to apply to remain in the program, while about 53,000 would remain eligible without applying because their families receive welfare services, said Wayne T. Grasela, senior vice president of the school district's Division of Food Services.

"This is one of the most cruel and inhuman decisions that any government could make," Nutter said. "It's further indication of just how much of a wrong track this country is on."

He made his remarks at a noon news conference at Laura Waring Elementary School, in Spring Garden, during which the senators said they would do what it took to stop red tape from preventing children from receiving fuel for learning.

"We don't need obstacles being thrown in our way; we don't need something that is going to make this school district less efficient," said Michael Masch, the district's chief business officer, who linked rising student test scores to participation in the feeding program.

U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah said, "There's no doubt that there is a direct tie, obviously, to the need for breakfast and lunch being provided, especially in a school district like ours where 85 percent of the children are at or below" the federal poverty rate.

U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County, said that at the city's poorest schools, "the percentage of children who qualify for free or subsidized lunch is so high, it just makes sense to make it available to every child in that school."

And U.S. Sen. Robert Casey said: "It makes no sense at all in a bad economy - maybe the worst economy that we've seen in a generation, or more - to say to 67,000 families, 'You've got to fill out paperwork because some bureaucrat in Washington thinks we've got to change the program.' "

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, the only Republican to speak during the news conference, said that he was prepared to fight the Bush administration, but believed that the issue would be resolved before the program is slated to end in 2010.

"My sense is that when they see us geared for battle we'll work it out," Specter said, drawing applause. "If not we'll fight it through, and there's no doubt in my mind that this program will remain in effect beyond the year 2010."

Nancy Montanez Johner, undersecretary of USDA's Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, said that the USDA won't let poor students go hungry.

"The Food and Nutrition Service is committed to ensuring that all eligible children receive a nutritious meal at school," she wrote in an e-mail to the Daily News. "We will continue to work with the Pennsylvania delegation on this and other issues related to nutrition assistance." *