A school lunch pro speaks: The universal school meals program is well worth it

The Minnesota Senate passed a bill providing universal free meals for Minnesota students. Photo by Getty Images.

Last week was National School Lunch Week, and as someone who has worked as a food service staff in the Minneapolis Public Schools for over 30 years, I’m always excited to celebrate our important but often overlooked work.

I’ve spent three decades getting to know our students, making sure they are fed and supporting them so they can successfully grow. I know I’ve made positive changes in the lives of thousands of kids.

Most everyone is familiar with my line of work, but I don’t think most people really understand what it is like — everything from the joys of being a trusted connection to our students all the way to the challenges of dealing with complex systems that too often make it harder to do what we want to be doing: feeding and supporting our students.

I want to take a moment to tell you a story about the time some years ago when I got called into the principal’s office as an adult. For most of my time doing this job, our management had a policy that we were supposed to refuse kids their meal if they didn’t have money in their lunch account. It was management’s policy, but they wanted us, as frontline staff, to enforce it.

But I didn’t take this job 30 years ago to keep food away from the kids!

When pressed on my unwillingness to do this, I told the principal, “I can’t turn down a kid who says they’re hungry and I’ve got food.” I have heard many members of SEIU Local 284, where I’m vice president, share similar stories about refusing to let bad policies and a broken system mean kids were refused food.

We didn’t know those kids’ life, and they’re not responsible for keeping that account full. They are kids who we want to be in school learning and growing, and that’s hard to do if you’re hungry.

That’s why I was so excited when in 2023, after years of pushing by many people, the elected officials we voted into office in November of 2022 made fixing this issue a key priority.

Thanks to the work so many people did together with Gov. Tim Walz and the DFL-majority Legislature, in 2023 “just feed the kids” became the policy in the state. With the passage of the universal free meals bill, all students, regardless of their family’s financial situation, have access to healthy meals every day.

It passed despite opposition and is proving to be wildly successful. Across the state and all over the country it has been rightly praised because it’s just common sense. Because of free breakfast and lunch, more kids are eating. Their bodies and brains run on food, and it’s a good thing for us to nourish them.

The members of my union, especially those working in nutrition services, have seen firsthand how this bill has helped our schools and improved students’ lives. Before it passed, too many children were showing up at school hungry, unable to afford breakfast or lunch. Now, as we make sure all kids have full bellies, it means fewer distractions in class and more students prepared to focus and learn.

Feeding the kids is simple but getting here was hard. This popular change was only possible when we elected candidates who care about our schools and our kids. As we settle into this school year, celebrate National School Lunch Week and head towards Election Day, I hope people reading this do their homework on what kind of government we want here in Minnesota.

I believe in a state where every student, regardless of their parents’ financial situation, gets breakfast and lunch at school. No shame. No meal debt. Just the nourishment they need to grow, learn and thrive. I’m glad a majority of the politicians in office these past two years agreed with me, and I hope we can continue being a state where we tackle issues like this and keep moving forward.