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Teachers told to spy on pupils' packed lunches

London -- Education and Employment Committee - House of Commons, British Nutrition Foundation, Local Authority Caterers Association

TEACHERS are being urged by MPs to spy on their pupils' packed lunches to check the nutritional content.

Too many parents send crisps and confectionary instead of fruit, says the Commons education and employment select committee. The MPs fear the popularity of packed lunches will undermine efforts to re-introduce minimum nutritional standards for school dinners by 2002. They recommend that head teachers work with governors and parents to agree ways to monitor lunch boxes.

The MPs are also concerned by the segregation of children eating hot meals and those taking packed lunches. Children frequently said they gave up dinners so they could sit with friends taking lunch boxes. Schools should make it a priority to provide enough space for them to sit together. "We would prefer peer pressure to work in the direction of encouraging pupils to opt in rather than opt out of school meals."

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NY governor blasts Board of Ed for having dead children on school attendance rolls

NEW YORK (AP) -- A state commission investigating possible attendance fraud in New York City's public school system has found widespread, systemic abuse, including listing dead children among those reporting to class each day.

Gov. George Pataki said Monday that the Moreland Act Commission's findings showed "a conscious pattern of abuse and fraud" aimed at inflating school rolls and getting state allocated money.

He renewed his call to abolish the city Board of Education.

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