This September, our school food service started offering free meals using funding provided by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). We were told that they would last until December 31, 2020, or until available funding for the program had been exhausted. This option was also made available to fully remote students, who could schedule a pick-up of the no-cost meals. Three months later, this blog article is a reflection of the program and how it has benefited us as students.
The food options offered by our school include bagels and string cheese, vanilla fruit yogurt parfait, a hamburger/cheeseburger, chicken or spicy chicken sandwiches, ham and turkey sandwiches, chicken caesar wraps, garden salad or crispy chicken salad, pizza, and a daily hot meal. The hot meal options can be found on the school menu available on our district website. Daily fruit and vegetable offerings are also available: apples, oranges, apple juice, apple cherry juice, carrot sticks, and celery sticks. It is impressive to consider that all these foods are free, particularly since there are an abundance of options. This program has provided students access to nutritious food throughout the nation, regardless of financial circumstances surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. In October, Secretary Perdue stated, “As our nation recovers and reopens, we want to ensure that children continue to receive the nutritious breakfasts and lunches they count on during the school year wherever they are, and however they are learning.” Some students in our school have been impacted by the pandemic worse than others, whether academically, financially, or related to mental health, but the free food options have brought a sense of normalcy and stability to all of us. In this way, our free food program has had overwhelmingly positive results. If nothing else, it’s made buying lunch absolutely painless when I’ve forgotten to bring food. In the past, my grandfather used to buy sandwich foods for me to bring to school, but right now we are trying to distance ourselves as much as possible. So instead of cooking, preparing a thermos, or bringing junk food with me (neither is a good option), I’ve been able to get a great quality free lunch instead. Reported by Michael Khalfin 2020 has been a bizarre year on just about every front. No one should have realistically expected the contentious U.S. Presidential elections to have been immune from also being “unprecedented” in nature. Nearly one month has passed since the November 3rd election between incumbent President Donald J. Trump and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and there is still an ongoing debate between them as to who will be officially sworn into office on January 20, 2021.
President Trump held a fairly strong lead based upon voting on Election Day leading some to believe the President was sailing smoothly into a second term. However, there were still millions of mail-in ballots that needed to be counted after Election Day and this process took nearly a week to complete in many key electoral states. When the counting was ultimately finished, Biden had over 80 million votes; a new voting record that was nearly 6 million more than Trump. More importantly, Biden appeared to have passed the important “270” mark of electoral votes necessary to win the White House. President Trump refused to concede he had lost the election claiming election irregularities and fraud in six different states as the reason for the difference. Trump filed various lawsuits in different states alleging that local election officials failed to follow the law when counting ballots, leading to Biden’s accumulation of fraudulent votes. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani headed up the President’s legal challenges. The media widely discredited Trump’s claims and pronounced the former Vice President as the next President-elect. The battle between Trump and Biden continues and has already reached the federal appellate courts. The nation may hear a final determination in the matter from the United States Supreme Court. However, one federal court hearing President Trump’s claims of corruption and cheating has already weighed in with its own opinion this past week stating in its recently published legal decision that “free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious, but calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.” So far, the courts have generally not been supportive of President Trump's various challenges, and many public officials, including some Republicans, have called for him to concede the election to Biden. President Trump has continued to dispute Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory and there appears to be no immediate end in sight. President Trump has remained generally defiant despite recently authorizing his administration to begin working with Biden on a transition- which some thought may be a signal that Trump will ultimately respect the process and acknowledge Joseph Biden as the 46th President of the United States of America. However, a new resolution signed more recently by Pennsylvania House Republicans, has called upon state leaders to withdraw the presidential election results in favor of Biden and appoint their own electoral college delegates which would presumably work in Trump’s favor in the critically important state of Pennsylvania. The President appears to be working on the local level to convince state legislators to hand him over electoral votes despite the popular count of votes in favor of Biden because of his claims of voter fraud. The road ahead for success on the local level is arguably going to be difficult for the incumbent President. Recounts and election lawsuits themselves are nothing new. In the 2000 presidential election, a slim margin of victory by President Bush in Florida ultimately triggered a recount in all counties. Al Gore later filed a lawsuit to force hand recounts in several Florida counties. However, ultimately Gore conceded that he had lost and the nation went forward. We predict that there will be an end to this debate shortly, with more national Republican members ultimately telling President Trump that he has lost his challenges and needs to immediately cooperate in the transition of power to the next President, Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. December will be a very intriguing month as we close out this unprecedented year. There is no doubt more drama and twists will grow in this presidential story. Reported by Jesse Ray Sheps |