TBD.
The purpose of this paper is to provide realistic avenues for making changes to school lunch systems wherever and whenever such alterations might seem desirable. While the perceived need or urgency for such changes would vary from one district to another, the findings of this paper general enough to have application to a wide variety of scenarios, within the United States, and countries that similar systems. Additionally, even those cases where there are sufficient differences such that the recommendations of this paper seem not to apply, it will be found that the methodology provides a starting point for finding solutions to other school lunch systems. The system in the United States is well established, of high quality by international comparisons, and is complex enough to assume that other systems would not have quite as many barriers or obstructions that would exist here, and might have simpler approaches than what was taken to produce the results indicated here.
The primary approach taken was to apply as systems modeling toolkit to the overall problem to discover true barriers and obstacles to change, in order to identify realistic avenues for creating the right projects and programmes. The result of this method is:
To validate the systems model, as far as it can be validated, the author relies on a variety of primary and secondary source materials about the current and historical states of school lunches in a variety of areas across the United States, along with personal experience, since the author attended public schools in the United States that were highly representative of the norm across the country, although it cannot be said that this experience was completely representative.
An additional method was employed to determine what it means for a lunch to be high or low quality, and what constitutes a lunch that we can characterize on a gradient from low quality to superior quality, from one locale to another, and more generally. This method includes the use of the primary systems architecture method, and research regarding:
These two approaches provide a comprehensive picture of two primary aspects:
On the basis of these approaches a conclusion is provided to guide the reader to make informed decisions and take next steps in whatever district he/she finds him/herself in.
TBD.
TBD.
Cavanaugh, C. & Ryan, A. (2019). Implementing Healthier School Lunch Programs. Unpublished Graduate Term Paper. Boston: Harvard University. Retrieved from https://canvas.harvard.edu
Harris, D. (2017). Why managed competition is better than a free market for schooling. Retrieved from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/science/article/pii/S074937971830014X
GAO. (2014). School Lunch - Implementing Nutrition Changes Was Challenging and Clarification of Oversight Requirements Is Needed. Retrieved from: https://www.gao.gov/assets/670/660427.pdf
USDA (2017). Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. Retrieved: from https://www.fns.usda.gov/schoolmeals/healthy-hunger-free-kids-act
USDA. (2012). Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Retrieved from: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf
Avey, T. (2015). The History of School Lunch. Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/food/thehistory-kitchen/history-school-lunch/
CNN. (2013). Students say no to healthy school lunch. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsoPxtL7sRw
Reuters (2018, July 10). Food deliveries are remaking school lunches. https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/food-deliveries-are-remaking-school-lunch
Ryan, K (2017, September 11). Meet the Companies Changing the Way Kids Eat Lunch. https://www.inc.com/kevin-j-ryan/startups-are-changing-the-way-kids-eat-school-lunches.html
I am a retired executive, software architect, and consultant, with professional/academic experience in the fields of Moral Philosophy and Ethics, Computer Science, Psychology, Philosophy, and more recently, Economics. I am a Pandisciplinarian, and Lifetime Member of the High Intelligence Community.
Articles on this site are eclectic, and draw from content prepared between 1980 and 2024. Topics touch on all of life's categories, and blend them with logical rationality and my own particular system of ethics. The common theme connecting all articles is moral philosophy, even if that is not immediately apparent. Any of my articles that touch on "the good and virtuous life" will be published here. These articles interrelate with my incipient theory of ethics, two decades in preparation. This Book and Journal is the gradual unfolding of that ethic, and my living autobiography, in a collection of individual books that fit into groups of book collections.
This Book and Journal is already one of the largest private websites and writings ever prepared, at nearly 1 million words, greater than 50,000 images and videos, and nearly one terabyte of space utilized. The entire software architecture is of my creation. Issues of the book for sale can be found under featured. These texts are handmade by myself, and are of excellent quality, and constitute the normal issues of my journal that can also be subscribed to. The entire work is a transparent work in progress. Not all is complete, and it will remain in an incomplete state until death.
I welcome and appreciate constructive feedback and conversation with readers. You can reach me at mattanaw@mattanaw.com (site related), cmcavanaugh@g.harvard.edu (academic related), or christopher.matthew.cavanaugh@member.mensa.org (intelligence related), or via the other social media channels listed at the bottom of the site.