Letter to the Editor

Dear Kaye,

Firstly, I want to acknowledge your response to my 'Letter to the Editor.' I appreciate your use of genuine sources and information from reliable dietary programs and 'laying it all out,' per se. I also learned things our school does that I never would have known otherwise (I thought we were allowed only one trip to the salad bar; who knew?) I appreciate your effort in responding and using facts instead of opinions when it mattered.

I felt great sympathy for you and your tight situation when I wrote my initial letter. I understood that government regulations make nothing fun for anyone, and I believed that you had the interests of us kids at heart, that you didn't want to serve us these things and, if you weren't so whipped by time, money, and regulations, you'd cook us lunches with love and care. That's how I saw you every day when you served me; that's how I perceived you.

Your response to my letter was horrifying and reflected none of that. My letter was a genuine expression of frustration from many students, not just myself. Your response to our students' concerns was to:

• Belittle it, reduce it to nothing more than a child's tantrum.

• Said my letter was so bad that it's a good thing I didn't attach my name to it

• Called me sad, spoiled, and ignorant

• Implied that other schools have it worse, which is an entirely justifiable reason not to improve our own

• You said you were being bullied (it's criticism, not bullying).

• Claimed that I was not a student at all or 'had help' with writing my letter (way to have faith in the next generation's intelligence, a very nice touch from a school worker)

• Called me immature

• Implied I had no clue about nutrition and how to feed myself correctly

• Reduced my entire point to this imaginary fact that I was whining because I 'just don't like vegetables'

• Made snide comments about the letter to students the next day as you served them (I heard it from multiple students as well as myself when i went to get my lunch.)

Those are merely the things I know of that you did publicly. I'm sure you restrained yourself heavily in using colorful language and whatnot. Lord knows what you have said about me, a student, to your friends and family. I don't care to know, personally.

I find it very interesting that we kids are raised with this sort of 'go-get'em' attitude about making a difference, about participating and speaking up about what's wrong with the world and how 'we can make a difference, just put your mind to it!' until teachers are blue in the face. But the moment a kid actually does that, and it challenges the adult's sense of comfort and status quo, all those niceties are out the window, and we are treated like nuisances and that we don't know any better, right from wrong, up from down, a cheesy-pull-apart from a slice of pizza.

I am not mad at you. I'm disappointed and shocked but not mad. I'm mad at the systems that allow this to happen, the constant slivers of plausible deniability of 'just eat breakfast,' 'just suck it up,' and 'just pack a lunch' that is fed to us instead of anyone actually making an effort

to lift a finger and solve the problem. This is not your fault, Kaye. This is the school system we are both working under that I am talking about.

So, sure. I'll dip my veggies in Ranch and I'll get over it. It won't fix anything; nothing will be changed, and it'll all blow over in two months. The status quo will return, students will remain dissatisfied with their lunches, the teachers will laugh and feign pity, and everyone will shrug their shoulders and go, 'What am I supposed to do about it?' and nothing will come of this letter. However, the students who read your response will remember the lack of action the adults took about the issue, and they will remember your hostility towards them when they speak up about what bothers them.

Thank you for your time.

Name Withheld By Request