Hunger Pangs: Addressing Food Insecurity in Schools

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Originally published in TEACH Magazine, September/October 2019 Issue

By Adam Stone

This past summer, the Wyoming Valley West School District in Pennsylvania sent home an alarming letter to parents. If they didn’t pay off their kids’ school lunch debt promptly, “the result may be your child being removed from your home and placed in foster care.”

Clearly, something is very wrong in the world of childhood nutrition. While a range of programs in Canada and the United States aim to ensure kids have ready access to healthy meals throughout the school day, many K–12 students aren’t getting the food they need.

Here we’ll take a look at the scope of the problem. We’ll explore some of the government and non-profit efforts that address the issue, and we’ll look at steps schools and teachers can take to ensure that hunger does not become a distraction in the classroom.

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Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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Adam Stone
Adam Stone
Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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