TOWSON, Md. — Matthew Reedholm was ready well before they called his name at the Baltimore County School Board meeting.
"I noticed people were just throwing away the school lunches and breakfast and they didn't even get fed."
With his poster board of pictures.....this 10-year-old from Warren Elementary came armed with some pretty nasty looking school lunches.
"Does this look like a lunch to you? Would you eat this? I'm gonna guess your answer was no."
"We took pictures of school lunches to show how gross they were because it was visual."
“This is a bagel. They flipped it over and saw it was moldy on the bottom."
“There's something inside of there that does not look good."
"It's soggy apples in a bag that's probably most likely old."
"It's basically a meat stick with a bunch of snacks, and apparently they consider this is a lunch."
"A good lunch should have better nutrition and healthy choices like fresh salsa, pasta, soups and healthy sandwiches," says Matthew.
Mom was very proud of him.
"To speak in front of the school board can be nerve racking. I've done it on a couple of occasions myself. The butterflies are there, so to have a 10 year old do it. He did really well."
While Matthew didn't expect to close the kitchen at BCPS he's grateful they listened.
"Maybe they might just make a change and it'll help the community.
And since he's only in fourth grade.....he'll be back.
"Isn't it common sense to provide food that is nutritious and appetizing. Kids aren't dumb. They know this isn't, right and it needs to be addressed. You're the adults. You're the ones that can fix this. Thank you for your time."
We reached out to the school district and learned Baltimore County Public Schools serves roughly 6 million school breakfasts and 8.7 million school lunches in a normal school year. The district works with a variety of vendors for food products and contracts are reviewed every five years.
