Palm Springs Unified's free school meals will 'nourish' all in the Coachella Valley

The Desert Sun Editorial Board | Palm Springs Desert Sun

Have you ever tried to accomplish anything of real importance when you were hungry?

Sure, you can push through finishing up the lawn or paying your bills or maybe even the job you’ve been doing day in and day out, but concentration when your stomach is growling is difficult at best. Learning something new and complex, already tough in ideal conditions, is put to the test when hunger is added to the mix.

Palm Springs Unified School District recently announced some good news along these lines that should cheer up students and their families – and should pay dividends for the entire community. Beginning in the coming school year, all students – regardless of family income – will be able to grab a free breakfast or lunch at school.

Ensuring that all children are fed will help stressed families at all income levels of our community. We need to make sure all our children are in the best position to learn.

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“The Board of Education is excited about expanding the school nutrition program to include ALL of our students,” Board President James Williamson told The Desert Sun’s Joseph Hong. “A child who is hungry cannot learn. The district is committed to doing anything we can to ensure a supportive learning environment.”

According to the American Psychological Association, in 2014 there were 15.3 million children in the U.S. who were food insecure.

Hunger contributes to “toxic stress – the strong, unrelieved activation of the body’s stress management system,” the APA says. In addition, people spend their limited mental reserves on resources that they lack. That means hungry schoolchildren are focused on food rather than their lessons.

According to the nonprofit Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, 3 of 4 teachers surveyed in spring 2017 said they see students who regularly come to school hungry. Nearly half of students asked (46 percent) told researchers they do so every day.

Strong majorities of educators reported that there were clear signs hungry students have trouble concentrating, struggle with academics and have more behavioral and discipline problems.

Some 59 percent of the educators surveyed in the SOS study said they regularly purchase food for hungry students.

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Most of the detrimental effects of hunger fall on low-income students whose families don’t have enough to make ends meet and either go without some meals or simply have less when they do eat.

Another positive aspect of this new move? It takes the stigma away from poor families having to fill out forms specifically to qualify for free meals since everyone will now be eligible to get them. All students in Palm Springs Unified will benefit from the USDA Community Eligibility provision under funding provided for the next four years, the district says. (Some specific campuses in Desert Sands Unified also qualify for the federally funded program.)

Our society must prepare new generations to become the best they can be. These children will become our neighbors and future leaders. We owe it to ourselves to provide such a basic need now.

Good health goes hand in hand with a good foundation for learning, which is key to a successful future. It is important children have this good foundation and a universal approach covering all students will help ensure educational efforts are not squandered. This is money well spent.