Vegan teacher deserved an award

It's a pity that the Fox River Grove School Board chose to fire Dave Warwak - the art teacher who urged his students to go vegan. They should have given him an award and allowed him to hold nutrition classes for all the grades!

After seeing the type of food that is served to students in middle school and high school cafeterias, I wish teachers would urge my kids to go vegan! Recent visits to my kids' school cafeterias revealed sugary, high-fat, high-glycemic foods, foods containing tri-glycerides, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, and loads of preservatives, not to mention the general poor quality of the food, including over-cooking, extensive pasteurization, and use of genetically altered materials.

And for those kids who choose not to eat at the cafeteria, there are always extensively available vending machines serving much of the same or worse. Even if parents are able to control what goes into their kids' mouths at home, they face a losing battle at schools, which continue to serve food which is cheapest and easiest to prepare rather than that which is healthiest for the children.

The Fox River Grove school boards would do well to study the example of several Wisconsin districts who dramatically improved attention spans and reduced disciplinary problems at their schools by serving only healthy meals to students.

Mr. Warwak was definitely right when he told the kids that the type of food they were consuming would ultimately kill them. Perhaps his methods need honing, but certainly his message cannot be faulted. It seems ironic in our day and age that a teacher who tries to teach kids something of value should be fired for his efforts.

Marijana Ignjatovic

Mount Prospect