“孩子们正在挨饿”:为什么学校很难让学生吃饱饭

“孩子们正在挨饿”:为什么学校很难让学生吃饱饭

Six months into schools' pandemic-driven experiment in distance learning, much has been said (and debated) about whether children are learning. But the more urgent question, for the more than 30 million kids who depend on U.S. schools for free or reduced-price meals, is this:

学校在流行病的推动下进行的远程教育实验已经进行了六个月，关于孩子们是否在学习，人们已经说了很多(也争论了很多)。但对于3000多万依赖美国学校提供免费或减价膳食的孩子来说，更紧迫的问题是:

Are they eating?

他们有饭吃吗?

The answer, based on recent data and interviews with school nutrition leaders and anti-hunger advocates across the country, is alarming.

根据最近的数据和对全国学校营养领导人和反饥饿倡导者的采访，答案令人担忧。

Among low-income households with children who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals, only about 15% have been getting those meals, said Lauren Bauer, a researcher at the Brookings Institution.

布鲁金斯学会的研究员劳伦•鲍尔表示，在低收入家庭中，只有15%的孩子有资格享受免费或减价学校膳食。

Anecdotally, school nutrition directors across the country tell a similar story.

坊间流传的说法是，全国各地的学校营养主管都讲述了类似的事情。

"Every day I worry about them. Every day," said Alyssia Wright, executive director of Fulton County Schools' nutrition program in Fulton County, Ga. "We come up with ways every week to find a new way to get meals to our kids."

“每天我都为他们担心。佐治亚州富尔顿县学校营养项目的执行主任艾莉西娅·赖特说。“我们每周都想出新办法让孩子们吃到饭。”

Because the old ways, from just a few months ago, aren't working anymore.

因为几个月前的旧方式已经不适用了。

Before COVID-19, Arizona's Tucson Unified School District served roughly 35,000 meals a day. So far this school year, according to Lindsay Aguilar, the district's food services director, that number has plummeted by nearly 90%.

在COVID-19之前，亚利桑那州的图森联合学区每天供应约35,000份餐食。据该地区的食品服务主管林赛•阿吉拉尔说，本学年到目前为止，这一数字下降了近90%。

The drop is "disheartening," Aguilar said, "because in our district, 70% of our families qualify for free or reduced-price meals. So I know there's a need."

这种下降“令人沮丧，”阿吉拉尔说，“因为在我们这个地区，70%的家庭有资格享受免费或减价膳食。”所以我知道有这个需要。”

In Charlotte, N.C., school leaders have seen "a huge difference" in meal distribution, said Reggie Ross, who works for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and heads the national School Nutrition Association. So far this year, Ross said, school meals in Charlotte "were down about 89%."

北卡罗来纳州夏洛特市的学校领导看到了膳食分配上的“巨大差异”，在北卡罗来纳州公共教育部工作的雷吉·罗斯说，他是全国学校营养协会的负责人。罗斯说，今年迄今为止，夏洛特的学校伙食“下降了大约89%。”

In many districts, the majority of children who qualify for subsidized school meals aren't getting them — often because they can't get to them. And some districts said their meal-service budgets are being stretched so much by the pandemic that they could soon face cuts and layoffs.

在许多地区，大多数有资格享受学校补贴膳食的孩子却得不到——往往是因为他们无法享受到。一些地区说，他们的膳食服务预算受到疫情的严重影响，可能很快就会面临削减和裁员。

Right now, Bauer said, about a third of U.S. families with children are suffering from food insecurity. "More alarmingly, 1 in 5 families say that the children themselves don't have sufficient food, and the families don't have enough resources to purchase more."

鲍尔说，目前，大约有三分之一的美国有孩子的家庭正遭受着食品不安全问题的困扰。“更令人担忧的是，五分之一的家庭表示，孩子们自己没有足够的食物，而这些家庭也没有足够的资源购买更多的食物。”

For some children, school meals may be the only ones they get in a day. And with school feeding programs reaching fewer and fewer families, Bauer worries that "children are going hungry."

对一些孩子来说，学校餐可能是他们一天中唯一的食物。随着学校供餐计划惠及的家庭越来越少，鲍尔担心“孩子们会挨饿。”

When schools closed for remote learning in the spring, most districts quickly shifted into a familiar model of food distribution: their summer plan. Under this model, districts chose a handful of schools, in neighborhoods with the greatest need, where families could drop by each day, often between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and pick up a bag with lunch and often breakfast.

当学校在春季因远程教育而停课时，大多数地区迅速转向了人们熟悉的食物分配模式:他们的夏季计划。在这种模式下，学区选择了少数几所位于最需要帮助的社区的学校，家庭可以每天(通常是在上午11点到下午1点之间)来这里，拿起一个装有午餐和早餐的袋子。