How does your school handle the lunch policy?

[luvsJack]

The article was dated 3/17/10 months after they started using the website. I agree that it would be a nice courtesy that the school informs you of your balance however I disagree with the fact that there is no way of knowing. I ask my kids what they get for lunch everyday, so even if I couldn't check their balances, or get my reminder emails I would still have a god idea of how much money they have. Also I know that if I put $25 on their acct, that means they have about 2 weeks worth of lunches, provided they aren't buying water bottles and ice cream everyday, so even if I didn't ask I as a parent could pretty easily figure out that its been awhile since I had given them money for lunch.

Sorry, but I have got way too much to do to sit around figuring up what my child has or doesn't have in her lunch account. They should be able to tell them each day how much is in their account or, if they are not going to do that, the office or cafeteria should loan the money to buy lunch.



My problem with the whole thing is, they THREW the food away!! So they saved money by doing this? How exactly did they come out cheaper by not giving the kid the lunch and letting him bring money tomorrow or sending a note to dad or whatever it is they do?

 

[FayeW]

Being Canadian, I don't understand the whole "school lunch" business anyway. Our elementary schools, for the most part, don't have cafeterias or provide lunches (I am sure there is an odd one here or there, private schools maybe). We have milk programs, but that is just where we prepay for milk for several months at a time. We also have special days where they bring in pizza or hotdogs, and we get an order form home and have to send the money in advance.

Why don't parents just pack their kids a lunch?

 

[MushyMushy]

Sorry, but I have got way too much to do to sit around figuring up what my child has or doesn't have in her lunch account. They should be able to tell them each day how much is in their account or, if they are not going to do that, the office or cafeteria should loan the money to buy lunch.



My problem with the whole thing is, they THREW the food away!! So they saved money by doing this? How exactly did they come out cheaper by not giving the kid the lunch and letting him bring money tomorrow or sending a note to dad or whatever it is they do?

Yep, that's EXACTLY where they lost my support. I didn't have a problem with their new policy until that started happening, and I think a lot of the outrage from parents and teachers is coming from that as well.

 

[DizBelle]

Sorry, but I have got way too much to do to sit around figuring up what my child has or doesn't have in her lunch account. They should be able to tell them each day how much is in their account or, if they are not going to do that, the office or cafeteria should loan the money to buy lunch.



My problem with the whole thing is, they THREW the food away!! So they saved money by doing this? How exactly did they come out cheaper by not giving the kid the lunch and letting him bring money tomorrow or sending a note to dad or whatever it is they do?

Re: bolded - but that is part of your job as a parent.

 

[marcyinPA]

We just got a letter home a few months ago regarding this subject. There have been a lot of "non-payers", leaving the school district with a large bill (this does not include those on free lunch...) Parents are encouraged to set up a lunch account and add money to it on-line. If the child starts carrying a balance, and it isn't paid, the district is not obligated to give them anything other than a PB&J and an apple, and milk (cheese sandwich for those with allergies). This is only for grades K-6 though. Once they hit HS, if there is an outstanding balance on the child's account, the district is not obligated to give them ANYTHING. So, yes, this means that they will go without lunch.

I feel really bad for the children in this situation. Seriously, if you as a parent cannot afford lunch, and you fall within the guidelines, then you apply for free/reduced lunch. If you don't meet the guidelines, then pack your child a lunch for goodness sakes! (or at least provide them with food to make their own lunch!). And if you don't want to pack, then cough up the money so your kid can eat! Geesh!!

 

[marcyinPA]

Sorry, but I have got way too much to do to sit around figuring up what my child has or doesn't have in her lunch account. They should be able to tell them each day how much is in their account or, if they are not going to do that, the office or cafeteria should loan the money to buy lunch.



My problem with the whole thing is, they THREW the food away!! So they saved money by doing this? How exactly did they come out cheaper by not giving the kid the lunch and letting him bring money tomorrow or sending a note to dad or whatever it is they do?

Our district uses MealPay Plus. You just go on-line, and managed your child's account. It's really convenient. You can add money using a credit card, and you can actually see what your child purchased (and what time) each day. They even have an option for adding money in automatically when the balance gets low. Easy Peasy!!

 

[elgerber]

The lunch would have been unsellable anyway. They pick up the lunch from the line, then when they get to the cash registers, if the kid owes, they throw the lunch away. It's not like they can put the food back on the shelf.

That's what bothers me about the whole thing. There's just something so disrespectful and sleazy about taking food off of a hungry kid and tossing it in the trash. Surely there's a better way to handle it.

We just had this exact discussion last night at dinner. My kids are in middle school and high school. They are NOT allowed to charge a lunch. And yes, they take the lunch from them and throw it away when they go to pay if they have no money. What a waste. I can understand that they need to be responsible and they aren't a charity case. But I think if it's a first time offense, they should be allowed to charge one. Then if they don't have money the next time then it's different. I was told they get a wheat bun with a slice of cheese and a milk if they are out of money in their account. No fruit or other items.

 

[DizBelle]

We just had this exact discussion last night at dinner. My kids are in middle school and high school. They are NOT allowed to charge a lunch. And yes, they take the lunch from them and throw it away when they go to pay if they have no money. What a waste. I can understand that they need to be responsible and they aren't a charity case. But I think if it's a first time offense, they should be allowed to charge one. Then if they don't have money the next time then it's different. I was told they get a wheat bun with a slice of cheese and a milk if they are out of money in their account. No fruit or other items.

Agreed - throwing away the food is just dumb. What they should do is check before they get the food and prevent them from getting it in the first place if they do not have the funds in their account.

 

[elgerber]

The other thing that our district does that is dumb is this. You are allowed 1 entree and 2-4 sides including milk. If you take the entree and only 1 side, you are charged ala cart, which comes to almost a dollar more than the normal school lunch fee. That makes no sense to me. So then the kids, if they are not really hungry, or don't like much that day are charged extra unless they take another side, that they will probably just throw away anyway.

 

[shortbun]

Kids would never tell their parents they needed more money if there was not some drama attached. Why haven't you deposited to your daughter's account so she doesn't need to 'remember' money? My son's account always has money in it and he has our permission to buy his friends lunch but tell us so if we feel someone is abusing it we can cut them off. That, we would only do to kids who's parents can afford to feed them but no one is communicating. There are others who are not so lucky, most of them though are on free lunch.

 

[luvmy3]

Sorry, but I have got way too much to do to sit around figuring up what my child has or doesn't have in her lunch account. They should be able to tell them each day how much is in their account or, if they are not going to do that, the office or cafeteria should loan the money to buy lunch.



My problem with the whole thing is, they THREW the food away!! So they saved money by doing this? How exactly did they come out cheaper by not giving the kid the lunch and letting him bring money tomorrow or sending a note to dad or whatever it is they do?

But here you are with time to post on the DIS Sorry, if its available on a website there is no excuse for a parent to not know how much money is in their account. If you can speak and your kids can answer then there is no excuse why they can't tell you what they ate. What a sad comment that you don't have time to keep track of your own money in your own childrens lunch acct.

I agree that its such a waste to throw the food away and I do not believe that the school should withold lunch (I have stated that already in this thread). However, it is not the school's job to keep track of how much your child spends at lunch, its your responsibility to do it and your responsibilty to make time in your busy day to.

 

[MushyMushy]

Agreed - throwing away the food is just dumb. What they should do is check before they get the food and prevent them from getting it in the first place if they do not have the funds in their account.

That's what they should do, make it more like an ordering system where they enter their account number up front.

 

[luvsJack]

But here you are with time to post on the DIS Sorry, if its available on a website there is no excuse for a parent to not know how much money is in their account. If you can speak and your kids can answer then there is no excuse why they can't tell you what they ate. What a sad comment that you don't have time to keep track of your own money in your own childrens lunch acct.

I agree that its such a waste to throw the food away and I do not believe that the school should withold lunch (I have stated that already in this thread). However, it is not the school's job to keep track of how much your child spends at lunch, its your responsibility to do it and your responsibilty to make time in your busy day to.

Oh good grief. My child's lunch gets paid for very well, in fact we usually end the year with a credit so its really not something I worry about and so have no reason to keep up with it. I am certainly not going to spend our time in the evenings going over how much they spent in the lunch room each day. I would rather do things like spend time doing things together and FUN stuff (see, not so sad at all )

As for it not being the school's responibility. How the heck do they know if we owe money if they don't keep up with it? Somebody must be posting the money the student's bring in each day. That person must know how much is in the account. It would take them 2.5 seconds to tell the student.

At our school, a lady sits at the end of the line with a computer. The student gives her their number and she puts it in. They either hand her money or a check or she says "ok, you have $X left in your account after today" or she says "oops! No money in your account, go to the office and borrow $x for lunch". Done. Kid gets to eat, school is paid and all is right with the world.

 

[NotUrsula]

I used to be able to prepay my child's lunch for the entire year; I loved that system. Now I can only prepay it for the month, and we have to tell the school ahead of time which days they will be eating; they cannot change their minds and buy that day. Each morning the homeroom teachers give out lunch tokens to kids who are on that day's lunch list; they turn in the token when they enter the line. (There is a different colored token for kids who buy milk only.) There are no individual cash transactions in the cafeteria; they are either eating the hot lunch with money in their account, or they are not.

Kids who forget lunch or don't have any money in their accounts get a package of cheese crackers and a cup for tap water; that is the school freebie these days.

 

[mum4jenn]

How many of you can walk into McDonalds or any other place that sells food and tell them that you will pay later? If you do not have the money to pay in those places you do not get the food.
The lunch money is the same thing. You know your kid is going to school so send the lunch money. Send it in a check so the child can not spend it on anything else. If you can not keep up with when your child eats or not then call the lunchroom or food service office to check on your child's account.
Lunchrooms struggle anyway with making money and when parents do not or will not pay then it makes it even harder. If you have circumstances where a parent has lost a job or something then fill out the paperwork to see if you can get free or reduced lunch.
I only get paid once a month but one of the first things I do is write a check for a month's worth of lunch and breakfast. Sometimes my dd does not always eat breakfast so once a month I check to see what her balance is and adjust my check accordingly. It is not a hard thing to do.

We get parents that tell us all kinds of lies about why they are not paying. I have heard it all...I lost my checkbook...I am out of checks....I get paid tomorrow..(which goes on over and over and over). I did not wake up in time....I could write a book.
I wish we would get tougher with this. Our county treats the parents like they are snowflakes also and will not get tough on this.

 

[luvmy3]

Oh good grief. My child's lunch gets paid for very well, in fact we usually end the year with a credit so its really not something I worry about and so have no reason to keep up with it. I am certainly not going to spend our time in the evenings going over how much they spent in the lunch room each day. I would rather do things like spend time doing things together and FUN stuff (see, not so sad at all )

As for it not being the school's responibility. How the heck do they know if we owe money if they don't keep up with it? Somebody must be posting the money the student's bring in each day. That person must know how much is in the account. It would take them 2.5 seconds to tell the student.

At our school, a lady sits at the end of the line with a computer. The student gives her their number and she puts it in. They either hand her money or a check or she says "ok, you have $X left in your account after today" or she says "oops! No money in your account, go to the office and borrow $x for lunch". Done. Kid gets to eat, school is paid and all is right with the world.

Thats great that your kids lunch is all paid up, however you made a comment about not having time to keep track of that, implying that you don't really have to take on that responsibility (that the school should be doing it for you), and thats what I meant by its sad. Thats where you are misunderstanding the role of the schoo l knowing how much is in the acct, its so they can keep track of their money, its not so that they can notify every parent of their child's lunch acct. Is it is nice that some schools do tell you, sure, mine does, they send little notes home, but again it is not their job to keep track of your money on your child's account and make sure that they do not fall into the negative, that is yours as the parent.

 

[MushyMushy]

How many of you can walk into McDonalds or any other place that sells food and tell them that you will pay later? If you do not have the money to pay in those places you do not get the food.
The lunch money is the same thing. You know your kid is going to school so send the lunch money. Send it in a check so the child can not spend it on anything else. If you can not keep up with when your child eats or not then call the lunchroom or food service office to check on your child's account.
Lunchrooms struggle anyway with making money and when parents do not or will not pay then it makes it even harder. If you have circumstances where a parent has lost a job or something then fill out the paperwork to see if you can get free or reduced lunch.
I only get paid once a month but one of the first things I do is write a check for a month's worth of lunch and breakfast. Sometimes my dd does not always eat breakfast so once a month I check to see what her balance is and adjust my check accordingly. It is not a hard thing to do.

We get parents that tell us all kinds of lies about why they are not paying. I have heard it all...I lost my checkbook...I am out of checks....I get paid tomorrow..(which goes on over and over and over). I did not wake up in time....I could write a book.
I wish we would get tougher with this. Our county treats the parents like they are snowflakes also and will not get tough on this.

Children are not legally required to attend McDonald's for 7 hours a day, and not every parent really gives a crap whether their kid eats or not. It's easy for a responsible parent to SAY "well they should do this, this, or this," but the fact of the matter is that some don't and never will. So is it *really* fair to take food out of a kid's hands and toss it in the trash when it's the parent being irresponsible? Why not take it to the court system or some other way to make the parent pay rather than the child who's caught in the middle?

 

[luvsJack]

Thats great that your kids lunch is all paid up, however you made a comment about not having time to keep track of that, implying that you don't really have to take on that responsibility (that the school should be doing it for you), and thats what I meant by its sad. Thats where you are misunderstanding the role of the schoo l knowing how much is in the acct, its so they can keep track of their money, its not so that they can notify every parent of their child's lunch acct. Is it is nice that some schools do tell you, sure, mine does, they send little notes home, but again it is not their job to keep track of your money on your child's account and make sure that they do not fall into the negative, that is yours as the parent.

I am not saying they should send home a detailed account statement!

I work with student accounts every day. The student gives me their student number, I key it in and bring up their account. It tells me what they have charged (books, meals, etc.), what has been paid, etc. I can tell them in 3 seconds what they owe; everyday if they want me to.

Most school's lunch systems are going to work the same way. Student takes their tray, walks up to the cashier and gives her their student number, the computer tells her -$10.00 (as in they have a $10 credit on their account and have enough to buy lunch) or $0 (as in they have used all of their credit) or $4.00 (as in they owe money)--how much effort does it take to read that number to the student????? I am not saying anyone needs to do anything extra! All I said was that person at that computer can take 2.5 seconds and say "you won't have enough in your account to buy lunch tomorrow". She is already sitting there, she is already looking at the number--it doesn't take that much effort.

I am not asking anyone to pay for my child's lunch. That is my responsibility. When the cashier tells dd "you only have $1.50 left in your account" or some such (as is her JOB to do); I send a check for $25 or so and we continue on. I am not asking for a phone call or an email or anything. Its dd's responsibility to tell me what she said so I am not asking for the lady to take that on. I am not saying they should do anything they are not already doing--all they have to do is open their mouth and SAY THE WORDS.

I guess tomorrow I will tell our college students, "nope, it is not my responsibility to tell you this number I am clearly looking at. It is your responsibility to keep up with it".

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Children are not legally required to attend McDonald's for 7 hours a day, and not every parent really gives a crap whether their kid eats or not. It's easy for a responsible parent to SAY "well they should do this, this, or this," but the fact of the matter is that some don't and never will. So is it *really* fair to take food out of a kid's hands and toss it in the trash when it's the parent being irresponsible? Why not take it to the court system or some other way to make the parent pay rather than the child who's caught in the middle?

But alas--the article that inspired this lovely conversation....

The kid was being irresponsible.

The food is thrown in the trash b/c he handled it. It cannot be provided to another student.

Again--the schools have limited resources as it is, they are not in the business of debt collections.

Is it fair? ABSOLUTELY. The kid in the article stole the food. He was not an impoverished starving child. He was an unruly teenager that tested authority and lost. Handled food cannot be redistributed. It is the teen's fault that it got tossed, end of story. (ETA: He was toldhe couldn't take it when it was revealed that he already had an outstanding deficit from forgetting his moeny other times. The kid took it to a table anyway. )

 

[mum4jenn]

Also my cashier tells each student that either owes or is getting close to owing that they either need lunch money or will soon. She does this at breakfast and at lunch and even has to call parents. She also sends a reminder once they owe $5 and resends it again if no response. We have lots of kids that LIE and tell their parents that we never told them they needed lunch money when I know for a fact she does.