Posted by Anonymous, a resident of the Martens-Carmelita neighborhood, on Jun 21, 2011 at 11:36 pm

Craig is doing a fine job, he knows our district well and has done some great things for us. It is great that he is truly passionate about bringing up the low income and ELL education level and test scores.

I'd like to see those same kids also likely on the low cost lunch program get a more nutritional lunch, too. It Would be great if the district found a better hot lunch provider. Sedexo (I think is the provider name) is terrible. The menu looks great but it's horribly deceiving. The food is nearly inedible for all the students. It breaks my heart to see the teachers get a full on, near mandatory, parent provided, lunch buffet smorgasbord once every week, while the kids get a terrible hot lunch, or like our kids, get standard home bag lunches 180 days a year (they won't eat the hot lunches.) Too often our elementary school runs out of low low quality microwave burritos, mac and cheese, or white bread ham sandwiches, and I have seen kids crying going with out lunch. Though the lunch program indicates it meets nutrition requirements, you too will question that if you see what they pass off as nutritionally acceptable.

By comparison, Los Altos kids get a local restaurant food choice once a week or more, for just a couple dollars more....

All we ever hear about is bringing up the lowest test scores. I also hope the district will save some bandwidth and not forget to support the kids at the other end of the spectrum, raising their test scores too; engaging and supporting the brilliant stars of tomorrow, so all our MV kids can realize their "highest potential" as it states on their home page.

From the MVWSD home page:

" In the Mountain View Whisman School District, we prepare all children for the world ahead by providing the challenge, inspiration, and support our children need to reach their highest potential and thrive in a world of constant change.

Our District's mission is to "demonstrate, daily, a relentless commitment to the success of every child."

Posted by Parent, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Jun 24, 2011 at 7:05 am

I agree that the Sodexo food is not great. The high school food is not great, either, and I don't think that is Sodexo.

As for the Los Altos hot lunch program -- that is a completely different animal, so it's not a fair comparison. Los Altos doesn't have enough low-income kids to get the type of food subsidy that MVWSD gets. PTAs run the "hot lunch" program there as a fundraiser. But even if the PTAs if MVWSD wanted to do this, by doing so I think they would jeopardize the lunch subsidy, and then the kids who need free or reduced lunch would be out of luck entirely; one of the strings attached to the subsidy is no outside food, and food cannot be taken off-site.

Find out what they are doing in Los Angeles -- I think that's where chef Jamie Oliver tried to pulicize the lunch food issue and get them to offer higher-quality food. Alice Waters was trying this also a few years back. If you are really interested, you should research the pitfalls and successes there and see if you can work with the district to make some improvements.