In 2018, as a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee to the Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education (Board trustees, superintendent, teachers, administrators, community members), one of my goals was to introduce and implement an organic food lunch program for the students in the school district, and I was hoping that this endeavor would be embraced by the committee.

To my total surprise and disappointment, the idea was downplayed. It was pointed out that the school lunch program is funded by the state, and the discussion was left at that, with silence and blank stares. The schools abide by who provides the most funding. In this case, the state and corporations.

Does this mean that there should be no effort to introduce even one organic food item to the menu? The school district wasn’t interested in funding even one organic food choice. What are taxpayers’ dollars going to? No caring for what the students eat, as long as the school district receives its funding (and some perks)?

While the present menu for the kids appears to be good, if not organically grown, it is laden with pesticides and lab-created GMOs (genetically modified organisms). There are factory-farmed meat items on the menu. Period.

As an innovator in the nutritional supplements industry as well as teaching about the food system for 15 years in continuing ed classes and programs including the Queens Public Library Green Initiative, and having written many articles on such subjects as a contributing columnist for Blank Slate Media and Anton Media Group, I was trying to explain what organic means and why it is imperative for health, longevity, animal welfare, and Planet Earth.

Another suggestion I presented to the committee was placing safeguards against cyber-bullying, but that was again stifled. One more roadblock for trying to bring about positive changes for the kids.

Being disenchanted with its politics, after a couple of additional meetings, I emailed the committee members explaining that I am no longer going to participate as a member. There were no names of participants or minutes regarding these meeting conversation topics.

No matter which candidate you vote for in the school election, schools and libraries are going to collapse, created by design. The corporate agenda is to salvage the schools by owning and running them. Do you think this will be an improvement?

Just a footnote: As the grandeur in our minds of the Great Neck school system has been taken down, there is a connection to the empty storefronts in town and real estate to follow.

At this time of school elections, as a “highly educated” community and product of our educational system, what do you want for the kids?

Gary Feldman
Great Neck