Title: These Days, School Lunch Hours Are More Like 15 Minutes : The Salt : NPR
Headings: These Days, School Lunch Hours Are More Like 15 Minutes
The Salt
Eating And Health
These Days, School Lunch Hours Are More Like 15 Minutes
The Salt
This Is What America's School Lunches Really Look Like
Business
Moms Sell Healthy Lunches For Kids At School
Fund public radio's future

Content: The lunch period is often the first place they look to steal time. " [They've] got to get in this many instructional minutes, and this is our expected annual yearly progress on the test," she says. " You've got two important and competing priorities there." Exacerbating the time crunch, nationally, is the reality that more students are taking part in the free or reduced-cost school lunch programs. Many schools are now adding free dinners as well under a new USDA dinner program launched this year. Bauscher is also the nutrition services director for Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky. She says in her area, 70 percent of the students are participating in meals programs — including free dinners for some. "We've got a higher number of students eligible for free and reduced meals than ever. So as more of them take advantage of those programs, you get longer food lines," she says. Some possible solutions — such as adding lunch periods, more food stations or service workers or lengthening lunchtimes — can be costly.