First of two parts
[img]1940|right|||no_popup[/img]To the dismay of kvetching pessimists and previously undefeated old-fashioned mamas who have failed to update their Book of Bromides, there is a free lunch in this world.
For six weeks this summer, down the street at La Ballona Elementary, a first-time experiment in Culver City, a comprehensive plan to not only feed but otherwise qualitatively challenge thousands of students with a variety of activities.
Just as the School District feeds its precious students throughout the school term, from late August to mid-June, they know that kids get hungry at the same rate when school is out.
The Free Summer Lunch Program, for all students 18 and under, will debut on Monday, June 24, the first weekday after school is out, and continue exclusively at La Ballona until Friday, Aug. 2.
Five days a week, from 11:30 to 12:30, lunch will be served, and for another 30 minutes, until 1 o’clock, there will be an agenda of organized activities, if students are interested.
Then it will be time to get ready for the new school year that begins on Monday, Aug. 26, the day after Fiesta La Ballona ends.
[img]1456|left|Supt. La Rose||no_popup[/img]Racing to the finish line of his first year in Culver City, Supt. Dave LaRose is the man with answers, as he has been since four minutes after he landed here 11 months and 15 minutes ago.
Why this program?
“It is my belief and experience that learning never stops growing, and our influence never stops.
“We have calendars. We have structures, summer breaks and all those types of things.
“But learning and growth and development happen all the time,” said Mr. LaRose. “Any way we have to enhance that influence, we should embrace it.
“We should also recognize that when there are gaps from the formal structure of teaching and learning, there is the potential for gaps in that learning and growth. Particularly our extended gaps (like summer’s two-month vacation from routine and regular food).
“So the question is, how do we continue to insure that our kids – using my Whole Child language, Whole Child whole year, Whole Child whole summer – that their nutrition will not stop or not markedly slow down?
“Anytime we have been instrumental in providing basic needs,” Mr. LaRose said, “you don’t want to lose that sustenance so that they can live and grow.”
(To be continued)
