NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said Tuesday that he thinks kosher and halal meals should be offered to public school students.
On WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show," Johnson said that the Department of Education should help students with religious dietary needs.
Johnson was responding to a question from a caller who said that her son's Lower East Side school did not offer halal food. "They should be offered because there are a lot of children who otherwise can’t get food that works for them and their families," Johnson said.
“So I support us figuring out how we expand halal and kosher food across the entire system."
In 2018, Comptroller Scott Stringer proposed a two-year pilot project to offer halal and kosher meals in some schools. At the time, he reported that approximately 430,000 children – more than one-third of public school students – were Jewish or Muslim.
Both Johnson and Stringer are in the running for the 2021 mayoral race.