In a move that smacks of a nanny state, a Florida school district is debating installing video cameras on cafeteria dustbins so that it can monitor what its students are throwing away.
The Lake County School Board is considering the extreme food-salvage method because of the thousands of dollars lost through food wastage, Fox News reported.
Officials claimed that more than $75,000 worth of fresh fruit and vegetables have found its way from kids' plates to the trash can since the Obama Administration launched a policy in January forcing schools to be more healthy.
'It’s fairly specific recipe of what they would like us to serve,' Lake County School Board member Tod Howard told Nbc News.
'Unfortunately, much of it has to do with fresh fruit and vegetables and it seems to be going into the trash. And that’s not okay.'
Not everyone is happy about the potential filming, however, including parents who do not want to see ht trash cams adopted.
'So we’re going to spend how many more thousands of dollars to put cameras on
trash cans to document the thousands of dollars in food the kids are throwing
away,' one parent wrote on ClickOrlando.com
'This is a no brainer, kids are not going to eat the stuff served at school. Has anyone really looked at these lunch trays?'
Among objections are that kids and parents themselves run the risk of being caught on camera themselves and personally penalized.
'Because no matter what they say, they are going to try to identify the kids
throwing the food away and then social workers and courts will get involved,'
wrote another disgruntled commenter.
'If your child doesn’t eat his school lunch, you will face punishment. Think
I’m wrong? There are cities and states that punish the adults if the children
are truant or get in trouble with the law in any manner.
'Your kid threw away a carrot? Go to jail. This is what we are coming to.'
But Howard is adamant that the cameras will serve a quality purpose.
'If we just can’t get kids to eat broccoli and 90 percent of it is going in
the trash – that’s a waste of taxpayer dollars – and the federal government
needs to look at their mandate,' he said.
'We have no choice in the matter. This is just a tool to help us document he
issue.'
A decision has yet to be made.