NYC's Free Halal, Kosher School Lunch Program Still Half-Baked

NEW YORK CITY HALL — New York City lawmakers and advocates on Tuesday touted a new effort to start serving free halal and kosher school lunches.

But such meals won't be on Muslim and Jewish students' plates when public schools reopen Wednesday – it's uncertain when the $1 million pilot program will actually start.

The city will eventually provide meals at no cost to students with religious dietary restrictions at two public and two private schools, said Councilman Chaim Deutsch (D-Brooklyn), who spearheaded the effort.

The initiative, which lawmakers and advocates hope to expand, is funded by the city budget that the Council approved in June. But Deutsch said several logistical questions have yet to be answered more than two months into the fiscal year — including which schools will participate.

"There are a lot of obstacles — when you roll out a new program, you want to make sure it’s done right," Deutsch said at a news conference promoting it.

Muslim and Jewish advocates have pushed for free kosher and halal meals since Mayor Bill de Blasio and then-schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña rolled out universal free lunches last school year.

The courtesy should be extended to religiously observant students who may not be able to eat the typical free meal, supporters say — especially given that the city already provides kosher and halal meals to inmates in its jails.

"The mayor didn't recognize that universal meant universal — that it needed to mean that every child in the City of New York, regardless of where they went to school and regardless of their religious persuasion, would have the same entitlement to a free, nutritious school lunch as every other child in this city," said Allen Fagin, the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union.

But there are still several hurdles to clear before the program is fully cooked, Deutsch said.

Officials still have to determine which agency will administer the program — possibly the Office of Management and Budget — and then find providers for the meals, Deutsch said. Then the city will choose the schools to participate and gauge demand for the program within them, he said.

"One million dollars might not last throughout the year. This might start at three months, four months, we’re not sure yet," Deutsch said. "But first we need to get all the logistics put together and discussed and then we will roll this out."

Lawmakers also want to prevent additional bullying of Muslim students, who are already bullied more than students of any other religious group, Deutsch said.

"We need to make sure that when a child receives specialized foods, that they do not get bullied, and if this pilot program expands to too many schools it could get out of hand and out of control," he said.

The Department of Education did not immediately answer questions about the program Tuesday afternoon.

Once it gets rolling, the initiative will serve just a tiny fraction of the city's Muslim and Jewish students as it will touch only two of the more than 1,800 public and charter schools.

About 430,000 public school students are Muslim or Jewish, and it's possible that thousands of them don't participate in the city's school lunch program because of their religious beliefs, according to a May report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Stringer's report noted that it would take time to survey vendors, solicit feedback and "experiment with different models" in order to "design a program that is both cost effective and embraced by schools and students."

(Lead image: Debbie Almontaser of the Muslim Community Network, at podium, speaks alongside Councilman Chaim Deutsch, to her left, at a Tuesday news conference about a program to provide free halal and kosher school lunches. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)