this is the tricky part...
what do you do about the 1st grader that arrives to school with a mountain dew and a snickers bar, every day, in his lunch box?
The kid is 7. That's what mom puts in his lunch box. "Soda give me energy and peanuts in the snickers give me protein".
Now, he firmly believes it's a good lunch, cause that what mom says. It's a horrible lunch, and the kid is in trouble every afternoon for being hyper, not to mention the fcked up development physically he must be having from lunch, and probably breakfast and dinner being equally shitty.
The SOLUTION? The school lets him keep that lunch, they don't take it, but they ALSO give him a free school lunch to eat. He doesn't HAVE to eat the chicken and rice and applesauce and milk... but it's given to him. And usually, the kid will smell the meat and nibble on the free lunch too, and at least get some nutrition.
I was a teacher for 7 years - and it's NOT about some "we want to control your children". It's more about "this poor 7 year old is hungry every day cause mom sends a water bottle and a cookie, and nothing else". What this school is doing is stupid, way overboard, but the overall argument "school shuoldn't give my kid a free lunch", well, the kid should have all the nutrients he needs to grow too.