Kevin Salazar

PPE 310: Health Literacy for Schools

Merritt
10/25/2015

At Tres Rios Elementary School, it is a free-reduced lunch school. The requirement for a
student to be on free-reduce lunch program is that the family income needs to be below the
poverty level for total income in the household. In 2013, if the total family income was below
$43,568, if a family income was below this then it would be considered reduced lunch and if was
below $30,615 then the student would be considered for free lunch. The school would be
reimbursed for the breakfast and lunch provided to the child while following some of the
requirements such as increasing the fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
A child would meet the requirements for fruits from eating an orange, apple juice, and a
banana throughout the day. The child could be approaching if he ate all the macaroni and cheese
for lunch and the muffin for breakfast. The child would also be approaching for dairy when he
had the cheese in macaroni and cheese as well as the milk he had for breakfast and lunch. The

child did not have any protein for the day and the only vegetables he consumed were from the
salad that is optional and served as a side for lunch.
Some changes that I would make to a typical days meal would be to take out salad and
add fresh vegetables like carrots. I prefer to eat carrots that I can possibly dip in some ranch
rather than a salad. Adding more protein or at least some protein would be beneficial for the
students. Protein can come from vegetables for from lean meat. Something else that I would add
that is something every child would want is more options of that actually taste good and want to
be eaten by the children.
I know school lunches have always been an issue. That the students do not like to eat the
lunches that are served because the students do not like the way the food tastes. I personally have
heard that the students say that the school lunched give them have stomach aches. Other times
the students have complained that the lunches that are being served are not following what the
calendar says what the lunch should be. If I were a parent to one of these children, what I would
do is find ways for my students to get the meals and nutrition they need. If the school is not
going to do their part, as a parent I would do what I can at home to prepare lunch for my child to
take to school. I was fortunate enough that I grew up with the resources for my grandmother to
make me lunch every day and if I was still hungry, then I would use my free lunch for the
something that I felt like eating.

References
National School Lunch Program (NSLP). (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2015.