Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 4-22-22

Editorials
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN
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Without Congress’s Help, Kids Will Go Hungry This Summer
Without swift action from Congress, children in Florida are at risk of losing access to meals this summer and many more next school year.
That’s because critical child nutrition waivers will soon expire and so far, Congress has failed to authorize USDA to extend them.
These waivers are an important tool that allow schools and community orga- nizations to serve meals in ways that work best for their communities while they grapple with ongoing pandemic-re- lated challenges like supply chain dis- ruptions, rising food prices and staffing shortages.
But in a few months, meal programs will once again be turned on their heads, forced to transform how they operate; many won’t be able to operate at all.
Without flexibility from the waivers, many schools will be unable to open summer meal sites. Children in rural communities, who already face barriers to accessing summer meals, will be at particular risk when meal providers will no longer be allowed to meet kids where they are by reimagining traditio- nal summer meal service.
School food budgets, already taking a hit from rising food costs, will go dee- per into the red because of decreased reimbursements.
Congress and the White House must work together to fix this. Senators Rubio and Scott, please don’t pull the rug out from under schools working to feed kids. Doing so would fail the 1 in 5 kids facing hunger in Florida.
Sky Beard, Director, No Kid Hungry Florida, sbeard@strength.org.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
Ban The Child, Not The Book
e support parents who don't want their children to read certain books. However, the parent should have the right to ban their child from reading a book, but
not the book. If they don't want their child to read books that show nudity, same-sex couples, certain symbols, curse words, etc., then they have the right to prevent their child from reading a book he / she thinks is not appropriate. No! That parent does not have the right to keep other children from reading the book.
Therefore, the parents should let the school know what books they don't want their child to read and the child will be placed on a list of children whose book selections should be restricted. Technology should allow a school to identify a child with book restrictions which will prevent them from checking out books or entering certain sections of school books in the library reserved for older children or children whose parents allow them to read books without limitations. Books with content not agreeable to the parent would be sep- arated from other books. This allows children whose parents want to ban books to ban the child but not the book.
Indeed, we oppose a minority of people dictating to the majority as to what books are available to everyone. In fact, we suggest rating books in the same manner we rate movies. It would make more sense if the subject matter determined the rating for the books.
We must say that we wonder if the same parents will blindfold their children when Jane and Gloria move next door with their three children. We pray their children won't go blind if they mistakenly open the bathroom door while mom is taking a shower. God forbid how they will handle lit- tle Joey telling little Susie that he has something she doesn't have. Don't forget when most of us learned all the curse words and everything about sex that was wrong on the play- ground.
We can think of several inappropriate diddy's we learned while jumping rope less than 50 ft. from our house. Little Johnnie will no longer be able to go outside to play with other children who might tell him something his parents don't want him to know. Moreover, we've always wondered why parents are too scared to talk to their children about sex, when the child already has more information than some of the parents. Pretty soon television commercials will be banned because some parents think they are inappropriate, too.
Book Banning in America and worldwide has too often led to book burning. . It has caused civilization to take an unnec- essary backstep. History does not have to repeat itself. Ban- ning books does not have to lead to the banning of common sense and democracy. Once a book is banned, it will be easier to ban the writing of the ideas in the book.
W
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