Education

Fla. school board considers trash cameras to monitor what food students ditch

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In the wake of recently implemented federal regulations requiring school cafeterias serve more fruits and vegetables, one Florida school board is considering putting cameras on trash bins to learn how much of it students are throwing out.

Students in Lake County threw away $75,000 worth of produce schools were trying out the new rules last year, according to the Orlando News Sentinel, before the new nutrition rules were officially implemented at the beginning of this school year.

“It’s a big issue, and it’s very hard to get our hands around it,” Todd Howard, the school board member who suggested the trash cameras, told Local 6 News in Orlando. “They have to take (the vegetable), and then it ends up in the trash can, and that’s a waste of taxpayer money. It’s also not giving students the nutrition that they need.”

The proposed rule is still being debatec, but regardless of whether the cameras are installed, school leaders say that they will now record the faces of students who throw out food.

Meanwhile, some local parents object to the new federal nutrition regulations because believe it is not the schools’ job to get children to eat their greens.

“I think it starts at home with the parents,” Laurel Walsh who has a daughter in the Lake County school system told Local 6 News. “If the kids just don’t like it because they’ve never been given it at home, they’re not going to try something new here.”

The new school food regulations have also received criticism in recent weeks from parents and students who believe the restrictions are too limiting and leave students hungry.

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