Free Lunch Project

[Kat Kanning]

Maybe Maine would be good:

Lisbon school plans to use fingerprint ID in lunch line

AP | June 20 2006

LEWISTON, Maine --A big change is in the works next winter in the hot lunch line at the Lisbon Community School.

The elementary school, with an enrollment of more than 750, will be shifting to fingerprint identification technology -- broadly known as biometrics -- to track lunch orders and eliminate the need for meal cards or numeric codes.

Lisbon is believed to be the first school system in Maine to shift to fingerprint ID in the lunchroom.

James Damsgaard, nutrition director for the Lisbon schools, has been fingerprinting students' index fingers in preparation for the launch. Each finger is linked to an in-house debit account loaded up by parents.

Technical glitches and concerns among parents have dissuaded other school districts in Maine from taking similar steps to upgrade lunch lines.

"When you mention fingerprinting, (parents) just go off the wall," said Walter Beesley, an education specialist at Child Nutrition Services in the state Department of Education. "There's been a lot of noise about it."

Alaska has been finger-imaging students for years, Beesley said, but he was unaware of any schools in Maine that have tried it.

A handful of families in Lisbon have objected to the practice, according to Damsgaard. "That's their prerogative," he said, and those students will get bar codes to swipe.

The lunch line package, which includes the image reader, costs between $10,000 and $12,000. Besides the high-tech ID, the new software better tracks what kids eat and spend, and can relay that information if parents ask, Damsgaard said.

The growing use of biometrics has been touted as convenient, accurate and theft-proof, but the trend is not without its critics.

"Compiling this information in a database is extremely dangerous. Government entities don't have a good track record with maintenance of private information," said Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union.

[Kat Kanning]

Do the poor migrate to receive higher benefits?

http://www.faculty.econ.northwestern.edu/faculty/meyer/MIGRATEFullPaper1.pdf

[Kat Kanning]

Another article on welfare and migration:

http://www.prb.org/cpipr/demography/De_Jong.pdf

[Braddogg]

Massachusetts might not seem like such a good idea for the FLP . . . for those who want fluffernutters for their lunch, anyway.

http://cbs4boston.com/topstories/local_story_170083031.html

"But with too many kids eating unhealthy amounts of sugar and fat, his son's report that he could get a fluffernutter for lunch at school each day prompted State Senator Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) to call for a tight limit on how often schools can serve up the local delicacy."

[Pat McCotter]

Time to set up a fluffernutter stand near some MA schools.

[dead_hobbit]

oh lord. when i first started reading this, i thought russel had become a socialist.

then i realized it was a joke when i got to page 2

[toowm]

In selection of the 10 potential states, preference must be given to high population states. FLP membership will be representative along all lines of disempowerment. (In fact, membership will be restricted once any given quota is met.) However, the group rights of 20,000 individuals clearly could never be representative of the rights of millions. High population states will allow the project to enhance the local sheep culture and enhance free lunch opportunities.

You have to include my home state of Illinois. Recent laws:

• Meth registry
• More gun bans
• Foie gras ban
• Cell phone ban
• Nuclear free zones
• Fatty food tax

[NC2NH]

Ohhhhhh that is a very good reason to pick Mass.

So when should we pick the 10 candidates?

I propose that we conduct a forum poll beginning July 1. In the interim, if a state you favor has not been mentioned, please post it in this thread so that it can be included in the poll.

The poll should include all nominated states, and each person would vote for their "favorite" state to be the Free Lunch State. After this poll concludes, we should drop the states with the least number of votes to get the list down to a maximum of 10 states. Then a later runoff would be held among the 10 choices.

If, however, we start with 16 states and only 10 states get any votes, then the top vote-getter would be the selected state and there would be no need for a second vote.

The 16 states nominated so far:

California
Connecticut
DC
Hawaii
Illinois
Louisiana
Maine
Massachusetts
Minnesota
New Jersey
New York
Oregon
Rhode Island
Vermont
Washington
Wisconsin

[FrankChodorov]

Maine and Vermont were on the original 10 state to choose from for the FSP...

[NC2NH]

Maine and Vermont were on the original 10 state to choose from for the FSP...

Their small populations (under 1.5 million) weren't enough of an advantage for the FSP and might be a hindrance for the FLP. This will be interesting.

[Braddogg]

Maine and Vermont were on the original 10 state to choose from for the FSP...

[Bruehound]

My vote goes to Illinois where not only the lunches are free but they are made by someone's brother-in-law.

"Don't send no one that no one didn't send" is how we hire.

[Lex]

We moved from IL and I can attest to the socialism there. It would be #1 on my list for the FLP.

[Kat Kanning]

Shouldn't Jersey be on that list?

[NC2NH]

Shouldn't Jersey be on that list?

Definitely.