Her child got home with a frown, so she had to ask what was wrong. Natalee said that she was hungry despite her lunchbox being full. She asked her child why she didn't eat her lunch - that's when she saw the note in the container. It was from her teacher.
Getting Back Home Hungry
Leeza Pearson was having a day like any other until her precious daughter came home with a hungry tummy. Her lunch was untouched. It was normal lunch so Leeza couldn't understand why she hadn't eaten it. But she had never expected to find the note from the teacher.
Good Reputation
Aurora, Colorado was a town that had a good reputation for good citizens who were friendly and respected each other. This is the town where Leeza Pearson and her daughter Natalee lived. So the note from the teacher at Aurora's Children's Academy caught Leeza off guard. Natalee didn't deserve to have a note like this put in her lunchbox.
The Beginning Of The Troubles
Natalee was Leeza's world and she would always make her the priority in her life. Her daughter needed the best opportunities available so she put her in the best school in their area - Aurora's Children's Academy. But there were issues that would soon appear at the "perfect" school. So why did her daughter get a note? Leeza would fight this...
Everyone Approves
It wasn't a secret that the best school to put her child in was The Aurora Children's Academy and Childcare Center. Only 150 children could be enrolled so Leeza made an effort to get her daughter in. Every mother wished her child could be enrolled there and she would be crazy not to try. Leeza was happy that she could give her the best education possible.
Everything Was Good
Leeza finally felt settled in well to her life with her daughter. She had almost finished her degree and her daughter was in a great school. Leeza didn't know how quickly her seemingly perfect life could be turned upside down.
The Day That Sparked Controversy
It had almost been a year since Natalee had enrolled in the school and so far there hadn't been any problems. Leeza's husband supported her decision to enroll their daughter in the school. So on a Friday like any other, they didn't expect thins to take a turn.
A Busy Life
With most of her time working on her degree, Leeza didn't have much time to herself. She spent all of her free time taking care of the needs of Natalee. She worked full-time as a police officer. So managing to juggle everything was difficult. She even managed to pack her daughter a lunch every day. But the school would soon have a problem with it.
Packing Her Lunch
Even though she didn't pack her daughter's lunch with the most vegetables she decided that she would give her precious daughter a treat. She gave her a ham and cheese sandwich and some yummy Oreos to go with it. It was a Friday, why shouldn't she give her daughter a wonderful treat to start the weekend?
Are They That Unhealthy?
Oreos aren't very healthy but it was a Friday after all. But the school officials didn't think they were an acceptable treat. Little girls shouldn't be eating anything like that in their eyes. But the real question is should they have even gotten involved in her daughter's lunch?
Arriving Home Hungry
That Friday, Natalee arrived home from preschool with a sad expression on her face. Leeza asked what the matter was, and Natalee said that she was hungry. That’s when Leeza looked in her daughter’s full lunchbox and saw the note on top of the offending cookies, which were uneaten. But when Leeza read the note, she became furious.
An Insulting Letter
Leeza knew she needed to share the note with everybody and shame the school for their behavior. The note read: “Dear Parents, it is very important that all students have a nutritious lunch. This is a public school setting, and all children are required to have a fruit, a vegetable, and a healthy snack from home, along with a milk. If they have potatoes, the child will also need bread to go along with it.”
Sharing Her Anger Online
Leeza was absolutely furious. How dare the school dictate what her daughter could eat and what she couldn’t? The note also stated that “Lunchables, chips, fruit snacks and peanut butter are not considered to be a healthy snack.” She was so incensed that she decided to share her outrage online.
Causing A Stir
When she posted the note and her summary of the day on social media, Leeza was quickly met with support from other parents and general outrage about the situation. “I just got a bunch of outrage from friends I hadn’t heard from in years,” Leeza said later, noting that one of her friends summed up the incident as “ridiculous.”
The Era Of Obesity
From the school’s point of view, they were saving Natalee. We need to consider that the past twenty years has seen a huge rise in obese children. Whereas thirty and forty years ago, a larger person would have stood out and would have been acknowledged, today obesity is the norm and is being treated as such. The folks at Aurora’s Children’s Academy probably just wanted to set Natalee on the right track.
Emphasis On Healthy Foods
The Children’s Academy was just keeping a watchful eye out. It’s no secret that there’s an obesity and health problem in America, and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act came about to encourage healthier lunches for kids in schools. They are not going to allow their students to eat “poor lunch.” Seeing Natalee open a pail full of carbs and sweets and zero veggies must have set off a lot of alarms among the staff.
Educating The Masses On Health
We must keep in mind that the Children’s Academy is a place where toddlers aim to higher their education. They can’t do that with a pail full of Oreos. Studies have shown that healthy food does help children learn more efficiently. “Students who eat regular, healthy meals are less likely to be tired, are more attentive in class and retain more information,” said NYU Associate Professor of Economics and Education Policy Sean Patrick Corcoran. Natalee definitely wasn’t eating healthily.
What No Parent Wants To Hear
No parent wants to be made an example of and no one wants to be accused of poisoning their child with bad food. The school basically went out of their way to make Leeza feel like a bad mother. One can’t deny that she’d probably spend nights tossing and turning in bed whilst questioning her own parenting methods.
Leeza Felt “Shamed”
Leeza would later tell the media that her biggest problem with the issue was not that the school wanted students to eat healthy foods, but that the school “took it over the top.” She said she felt “shamed” and that it was wrong for the school to say what her daughter could or couldn’t eat.
Overstepping Their Boundaries
Leeza believed that by telling Natalee what she could and couldn’t eat out of her lunch, the school had overstepped its boundaries. “What the school thinks is healthy for her is not what I think is healthy for her,” she said. “She needs to eat what she’s going to eat. That’s between me and her and our doctor – not the school.”
Natalee Showed No Signs Of Obesity
It would be one thing if Leeza’s daughter was 100 pounds and waddling through the class hallways. By all means, at that point show some concern, but she was otherwise a thin and active little girl. This made the accusations all the worse.
Defending Her Decision
Leeza said she was particularly unable to understand the school’s response considering that her daughter is healthy and not overweight. “It’s not like I was offering cookies to the entire class, and it’s not like that was the only thing in her lunch,” Leeza said.
Were They Hypocrites?
To add fuel to the fire, Leeza alleges that the school once offered her daughter treats, making their actions hypocritical. “They say I can’t decide what to feed her but then they sometimes feed her junk food,” Leeza said during an interview with ABC News.
Standing Up For Her Rights
After the controversy that ensued, Leeza defended her decision to include Oreo cookies in her daughter’s lunch. “We’re not the parents that send junk food every day,” she said later in an interview. “She has a full, healthy lunch. And this was Friday! Why not give her a special treat?”
School’s Bad Reputation
The accusation is a bit strange, especially seeing as schools aren’t exactly sporting reputations that associate them with healthy food. The meals that kids usually get in school cafeterias are usually full of mystery. The meats will taste rubbery and everything else will commonly share a disgusting texture. Also, candy is too commonly handed out in class.
Against School Policy
At the time, Brenda Dean worked as the Children’s Academy’s director. She said to the media that she was looking into the note, but that the note was not in accordance with school policy and should not have been sent home to a parent in such a manner.
Wasted Lunch
If you are picturing this little girl getting her lunch ripped from her grasp and tossed in the trash, you might be getting this story all wrong. Nobody exactly took the girl’s lunch and left to starve for the rest of the school. As the plot thickened, the whole truth came out.
The Plot Thickens
Aurora Public Schools Chief Communications Officer Patti Moon said that although the school did prefer to keep parents informed about healthy choices, such actions should not be “punitive.” She did, however, say that Natalee had been given the choice to have another snack and therefore did not have to go home hungry.
Problem Solved?
That means that Natalee took a stubborn stance and refused to eat the meal that was further provided for her. That said, amid over a hundred children eating she sat there and wouldn’t eat anything. She decided that going through the day hungry was better than giving them the satisfaction.
Where Do Schools Stand?
When it comes to the feud between Leeza and the preschool that her daughter attended, it seems the drama was dropped when Natalee started elementary school. One has to wonder what schools and parents learned from the situation.
Moving On
In the end, the public school system certainly reevaluated its stance and definitely won’t be sending any more notes home to parents. Meanwhile, Natalee moved on to elementary school and hasn’t had any other issues. However, the situation definitely shined a light on what role, if any, public schools should have in what kids can and can’t eat for lunch.