Congratulations Appleye!
You're right, standing up can bring great results as it did in your case. We had a lot of chaos on our playground some time ago, and when several parents expressed their upset at the lack of adequate supervision, the principal didn't want to hear it. But we persisted by bringing it up at every meeting and talking to every parent, etc. until it became an issue that was dominating the culture of the school. We're small so that was pretty easy. The upshot was that the problem was decisively corrected and the playground is now apleasant place for all children to be, even the little guys.
Not that ya'll asked for an update, but here's one anyway...when my group of concerned parents got to the school board meeting tonight there was a sign saying that the vote for the use of disposable trays in the school lunch program had been permenantly taken off the agenda. Which means they will install the dishwasher and only use the styrofoam trays when there is an emergency. Our voices were heard and our school board responded to our concerns. Sometimes standing up for something you believe in really works!!!
Well,yesterday some concerned parents and faculty had a meeting with the School Nutrition guy and our school board rep. They had an answer for every question we had. It seems like there are sooooo many schools that are using disposable trays that I can't believe that I've not heard anything about this before now! We did manage to have this topic moved from the "Consent Agenda" to and "Action Item" at tonights School Board Meeting. This means that it can be discussed instead of just a vote being held. There will be quite a few people ready to speak to it tonight, should be interesting to see what happens at this point! I just have a hard time teaching the kids conservation measures and to love the earth and then giving them lunch on a styro tray. Just doesn't seem right to me. Thanks for your responses.
Our current building was "rebuilt" (we "recycled" a former KMart) and in our kitchen we have a washer but use foam plates. I don't know about the recycle thing but remeber years ago a good friend of mine was a Manager at McDonalds and at that time there was no way to recycle items that have been used for food in the matter that these items are. It's somethign to check into though.
I remember trays and hated getting a freshly washed tray, too hot to handle and how noisy they are! Clean up is faster too!
My children attend a brand new school in Delaware and I am glad to say we use plastic, washable trays. I do not believe it is a health issue, because restaurants don't use disposable products. Our school even tried using metal utensils, but too many of them were being thrown away. It probably wouldn't do any good, but I think I would make a fuss about the trays.
