The recent article, “Yes, there was such a thing as free lunch, and we all loved it,” (The Day, Feb. 13) by Mr. Gauthier on the "value“ of free breakfast and lunch at public schools is, at the least, a poorly-researched piece of propaganda. For example, let us look at the cost of a "free breakfast."

One can prepare a nutritious breakfast at home for about $1.25 or less. I would estimate that the school breakfast costs the taxpayer somewhere around $4to $5, perhaps higher. Therefore the "free" breakfast is costing the taxpayer about $3.75 or more every school day. That is $675 per year.

He also mentions that the program allows parents to sleep in later, because they do not have to get up with their kids. First, may I suggest that parents who are too lazy to get up with their kids should reevaluate having kids in the first place. Secondly, by the time I was six, I was certainly able to prepare my own breakfast.

Tom Sullivan

Ledyard