A seemingly insignificant incident at a Colorado school has ignited a powder keg of controversy and sparked much-heated debate between teachers and parents. When a young student came home complaining about being hungry, her mother questioned her.
Leeza Pearson was shocked, then, when her daughter came home later in the day with the Oreos uneaten, and a note from the school.
Leeza received a pretty aggressive note after she put some Oreos in her 4-year-old daughter’s lunch for a snack. She says she doesn’t usually do that, but she was out of fruit and vegetables for the week. The note includes an odd demand that if a child shows up with potatoes, they will need bread to go with it.
“Dear Parents, it is very important that all students have a nutritious lunch. This is a public school setting and all children are required to have a fruit, a vegetable and a heavy snack from home, along with a milk. If they have potatoes, the child will also need bread to go along with it. Lunchables, chips, fruit snacks, and peanut butter are not considered to be a healthy snack. This is a very important part of our program and we need everyone’s participation.”
Leeza always had her children’s best interests at heart.
Every day she woke up extra early to prepare their packed lunches with nutritious and delicious food that would keep them going throughout the day at school.
Being a single mother, juggling her career and children was challenging at times, and especially food shopping was a difficult task. However, no matter what challenges faced her, she did her best at all times to ensure that her cupboards were filled with delicious and nutritious ingredients.
Leeza could not believe that the teacher was trying to micromanage what she provided as a snack for her child. She is doing the best she can as a parent and doesn’t need her child’s teacher, adding additional stress to her already overwhelming life.
“They don’t provide lunch for my daughter,” Leeza said. “I provide lunch. It’s between the doctor and me in terms of what’s healthy for her.”
When Leeza didn’t get a response from the school’s director when asked about the incident, she vented some of her frustration on social media. To her great surprise, many online users were just as frustrated as her by the school’s imposition. “I just got a bunch of outrage from friends I hadn’t heard from in years,” she said.
Patty Moon, a spokeswoman for the Aurora Public School District, said that an alternate snack was provided for the girl, but Leeza disputed this, saying that her daughter came home hungry.
Leeza said that Oreos are not an everyday staple in Natalee’s diet and that she will give them to her as an occasional treat.
“She is not overweight by any means, and I usually try to feed her healthy,” said the mom, who added that it’s between her and her doctor what is healthy for her daughter.
Watch the video report here: ABC10/Youtube
Source: AWM
