Dear editor; The Quay County Maternal Child and Community Health Council deeply regrets the decision made recently by the Tucumcari School administration to suspend the lunch program that provided food at no cost to all students. The USDA Food Programs in the schools nationwide were instituted to assure quality nutrition for every school child in this nation. Communities like ours qualify for free lunch for students because of our high poverty rate. With the free breakfast and lunch program, families in our community could be assured that their children had food twice a day. That assurance was an important one for many of our families. Because many of our families work very hard to keep things together economically, the free lunch made a $30 to $35 per month difference in their budgets for each child as well. Nationwide, the school breakfast and lunch programs have been shown to increase learning and test scores and decrease discipline problems. We realize that our schools are struggling under the pressure of assuring the success of each and every student. With nutritious food a component of successful learning, it seems ill-advised that the school would turn its back on this opportunity without further effort to work on solutions to the problem. It is quite interesting that a school district with over 60 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced fee meals in school would have such low usage rates. Last year there were enough low-income students eating to qualify the school for free lunches and breakfasts for all. What has caused the numbers to go down so drastically? We hope that the school will continue to strive to provide tasty and nutritious food in a pleasant atmosphere. As the school continues in its effort to improve its food service, we feel certain that families will encourage their students to participate in the school food program. It is only when everyone is working toward the same goal - the best for our children - that we can be assured of the success of each child in our community and thus our community’s success. The Quay County MCCH Council encourages Tucumcari Schools to reconsider its decision to suspend the free lunch program for all students. Maria Thornton-Rodriguez Chair-Quay County MCCH Council Tucumcari