How does your school handle the lunch policy?

[MushyMushy]

http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/mostread/03-17-2010-c-greene

At the beginning of the school year our school nutrition group started a policy where if a kid didn't have money in their account, they wouldn't get a lunch. It used to be, a kid could charge on the account and they would send a bill to the parents. Now keep in mind that where I live, we have a HIGH number of kids getting free lunches, so this policy affects only the kids of working parents.

I'm torn on it. I give my daughter money every day, but she can be forgetful and leave it. She's a little slow and ditsy like that. Hopefully if she went without lunch a time or two, it would teach her not to forget her money! But on the other hand, I hate for her to go without ANYthing when she has volleyball or band practice after school. Couldn't they cough up a PB&J for the kids who have a balance? I think it's especially bad that they'll take the lunch away from the kid who owes and just throw it away.

I'm friends with teachers at one of the schools and they say there's a lot of controversy even among them with it. There have been a lot more incidents of lunches being thrown away right in the kid's face. To me, that's just WRONG.

What do you think?

 

[luvmy3]

Isn't it against the law for them not to provide lunch? I can see just giving them cheese sandwiches a milk and a fruit but to not give them anything seems illegal.

IF our kids do not have any money on their acct they are allowed to get the lunch, but no extras (snacks, ice cream, water bottles). We can pay online so there is really no excuse for a child to not have any money on their acct for a long period of time.

ETA, I think if they run up a tab and it isn't paid by the end of the year there should be some sort of restriction, like not getting your grades or not being able to participate in afterschool activities the next year, but I don't believe the kids should be left with getting zero lunch.


ETA (again) I get notices when my kid's acct drops to below $5. I get low balance emails everyday until I add to it, I cannot believe that these parents had no idea and if they weren't checking their kid's accounts that is not the schools fault. I don't agree with their policy, but it is what it is.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

At elementary school, I don't feel they should allow any kid to go hungry.

Middle & high school--different story.

In my elementary schools, they would front us the money if we forgot...in middle school, you learned real quick to remember your money--or how to bum your way a nickle at a time from all of your friends until you had enough for lunch. ( I was pre-computer/lunch account age.)

Tweens and teens are old enough to be held accountable, IMHO. But as friends, we kind of all looked out for each other, so if someone had a bad day, we'd share from our own lunches if we didn't have the cash to spot.

I don't fault the admin in the article for what they did. They say he stole the lunch and the lunch was now unsellable. How can the accusation stick if they didn't retrieve what he was not rightfully permitted to take?

 

[MushyMushy]

Isn't it against the law for them not to provide lunch? I can see just giving them cheese sandwiches a milk and a fruit but to not give them anything seems illegal.

IF our kids do not have any money on their acct they are allowed to get the lunch, but no extras (snacks, ice cream, water bottles). We can pay online so there is really no excuse for a child to not have any money on their acct for a long period of time.

ETA, I think if they run up a tab and it isn't paid by the end of the year there should be some sort of restriction, like not getting your grades or not being able to participate in afterschool activities the next year, but I don't believe the kids should be left with getting zero lunch.

I would think in a Title 1 school it would be illegal!

I like your idea of withholding grades or extracurriculars.

Another thing that gets me is that teachers and administrators are allowed to run a tab and do. I know for a fact that some teachers had run up really big balances by the end of the school year and weren't in a hurry paying it off. So to take away a lunch from a kid who owed $10?

 

[MushyMushy]

At elementary school, I don't feel they should allow any kid to go hungry.

Middle & high school--different story.

In my elementary schools, they would front us the money if we forgot...in middle school, you learned real quick to remember your money--or how to bum your way a nickle at a time from all of your friends until you had enough for lunch. ( I was pre-computer/lunch account age.)

Tweens and teens are old enough to be held accountable, IMHO. But as friends, we kind of all looked out for each other, so if someone had a bad day, we'd share from our own lunches if we didn't have the cash to spot.

I don't fault the admin in the article for what they did. They say he stole the lunch and the lunch was now unsellable. How can the accusation stick if they didn't retrieve what he was not rightfully permitted to take?

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.

 

[mickeylove2]

In my DDs' ES it used to be that they would get a ham and cheese sandwich, piece of fruit, carrot sticks and a white milk. Now, the kids can charge up to $10.50 before they go the route of the "brown bag lunch." We can add money on line too, so there's no reason for a kid to go hungry, every Monday they bring home a note with their account balance and if they owe or not.

ETA- after reading the actual article, I have to wonder...the mother says her child wasn't stealing he was very open about it. If he had been in a grocery store and opened a package and began to eat it as he was walking out and a manager stopped him, would that not have been stealing??? Of course it would have been, and they would have had all rights to call the police! Her child stole a lunch and got suspended for 1 day, he's lucky he wasn't charged with shoplifting!

Now, I would agree that maybe MS and HS staff could have a little more leeway, but we don't really know what the routine is for this kid. He was $7 in the negative, is he always in the negative? I think his parents should make sure he has money in his account, he's old enough to go home and say Mom I need lunch money. There could be more to this kids story than what is written in that article.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

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.

But he wasn't sleazy at all?

I think we are being too sympathetic to the plight of this high schooler. It hasn't been established that he was a poor starving Title I child.

But it puts a great spin on the story.

 

[HelenePA]

I get a bill everytime my kids owe money. Last week my dd did not hand in her lunch money and her account was -11$ I did give her the money she just forgot to hand in her envelope for almost a week (I was not happy about that!) I dont know how negative they would let it get before they would stop letter her "charge" it. I'm sure if one of my kids saw another kid with out a lunch they would share theirs with them. I dont know if its against school policy to let kids share or not but I would not stop them even if they got in trouble for it.. or I'd pack the kid an extra lunch.. no way should kids go hungry in school

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I do not think they should be allowed to charge their accounts. After working in several school cafeterias this is just not possible financially.

Now in TX they would provide a cheese sandwich and a milk for kids with no money.

This applies to MS/HS.....

If they came up and would get food knowing they did not have money (repeat offenders) they would get a talk from the principal.

Sometimes the cashiers would flip them money out of their own pocket and the kids would pay them back.

Also the same kids who "didn't have money for lunch" would buy junk food with cash. They would send a friend up to get it for them. They know they "owe" and don't want to pay up.

It is not as cut and dried as you think, the kids in MS/HS can be sneaky as well. You are forgetting that sometimes parents give the kids cash and the kids take it.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Here we participate in Mealpay plus which allows parents to deposit funds into a child's account which is deducted throughout the year. From what I understand, even if a child's balance goes into the negative a child is never sent away hungry. The child will be given a basic meal and the School District will attempt to collect from the parents. However, even if the parents refuse to pay the child will still be fed. Personally, I think it is unconscionable that we send relief money to other countries yet kids right here aren't being fed properly. Why don't the school districts set up programs where parents who do have can make tax deductible donations to these particular programs? Things like this forever boggle my mind.

 

[Mermaid02]

For what we pay in taxes school lunch should be provided.

 

[MM27]

In the school where I work (elementary) kids can get a voucher if they don't have money and they can still get a regular lunch. They then send the parents a bill for the amount owed. If their tab gets too high they stop giving them the hot meal and they get a cheese sandwich and a milk.

 

[Tink888]

Our district will provide a child who has run below their account with a PB&J sandwich and milk. I'm not sure if or at would point the account would have a negative balance before they gave the child nothing.

I do agree with refusing a child, regardless of age, lunch if their account reaches a negative balance at say 10.00 to 15.00. I realize that sounds cold but no child, even in the elementary level, is going to starve by missing one lunch.

Our district will accept, cash, check & online payments. They will send notices home and will even call to let you know when your account goes beyond zero.

Ultimately, parents need to be responsible for making sure their kids have food. If by 10.00 to 15.00 in arrears, they still can't manage to make a payment to the account, then maybe having the child come home hungry will swing them into action.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Here we participate in Mealpay plus which allows parents to deposit funds into a child's account which is deducted throughout the year. From what I understand, even if a child's balance goes into the negative a child is never sent away hungry. The child will be given a basic meal and the School District will attempt to collect from the parents. However, even if the parents refuse to pay the child will still be fed. Personally, I think it is unconscionable that we send relief money to other countries yet kids right here aren't being fed properly. Why don't the school districts set up programs where parents who do have can make tax deductible donations to these particular programs? Things like this forever boggle my mind.

I guess my dilemma is deciphering between a truly starving child that is impoverished and a brat of a kid who can't keep his/her brain on straight to remember money or a lunch from home.

The mom in this article has made no plead of poverty--but would paint as though her son has suffered horribly by having his stolen lunch taken away from him.

This did not happen when I was in school (clarification--given free lunch as a teenager b/c I "forgot"). Amazingly, I survived and I could even tell the difference between me going hungry over my forgetfulness and an impoverished child with limited resources to feed themselves.

 

[luvmy3]

Here we participate in Mealpay plus which allows parents to deposit funds into a child's account which is deducted throughout the year. From what I understand, even if a child's balance goes into the negative a child is never sent away hungry. The child will be given a basic meal and the School District will attempt to collect from the parents. However, even if the parents refuse to pay the child will still be fed. Personally, I think it is unconscionable that we send relief money to other countries yet kids right here aren't being fed properly. Why don't the school districts set up programs where parents who do have can make tax deductible donations to these particular programs? Things like this forever boggle my mind.

There are programs for kids who truly can't afford lunches but I don't see the need to fund kids that use all their money for junk, or take the cash and use it for something else, or parents who forget, or are too lazy to check their kids lunch accounts. I know a couple women who work in our district cafeteria's and like a pp said, its not always cut and dry. Sometimes there are kids who just don't think that they should have to pay for their lunches. I agree that the school should never let kids go hungry, but that money has to come from somewhere and I don't believe that a charity should be set up because parents and kids are just irresponsible, KWIM. Those people should be paying themselves and be made to in some form or another.

 

[Sleepy]

Now, I would agree that maybe MS and HS staff could have a little more leeway, but we don't really know what the routine is for this kid. He was $7 in the negative, is he always in the negative? I think his parents should make sure he has money in his account, he's old enough to go home and say Mom I need lunch money. There could be more to this kids story than what is written in that article.

I agree with this. I have no sympathy. Parents need to pay closer attention to these things. The kid also is responsible. If his parents are not responsible enough to pay the money, then he could take care of himself by bringing food from home and sticking it in his locker for emergencies so he won't have to worry about being hungry. This looks like a case of bucking the system to get a reaction.

 

[golfgal]

There is nothing that says a school has to offer any lunch program at all. It is a convenience to the families, nothing more than that. In our elementary years if a child didn't have lunch money they got ONE DAY of charges then after that they could have peanut butter sandwiches. In middle/high school you didn't get lunch if you didn't have money on your account (you put your PIN number in before you went through the lunch line). We can put as much money on their accounts as we want-I couldn't imagine having to remember to give them lunch money every day. We can actually load money on their accounts over the internet if we want.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I just read the OP's article. I have no sympathy for the brat. He deserved what he got.

 

[golfgal]

Here we participate in Mealpay plus which allows parents to deposit funds into a child's account which is deducted throughout the year. From what I understand, even if a child's balance goes into the negative a child is never sent away hungry. The child will be given a basic meal and the School District will attempt to collect from the parents. However, even if the parents refuse to pay the child will still be fed. Personally, I think it is unconscionable that we send relief money to other countries yet kids right here aren't being fed properly. Why don't the school districts set up programs where parents who do have can make tax deductible donations to these particular programs? Things like this forever boggle my mind.

Huh??? There is a federal program that first, subsidizes school lunches for ALL kids, and second provides free or reduced priced lunch for those needing assistance. In our district the reduced price for a meal is $.60, free is free obviously. The regular lunch is $2.12/day.

 

[happygirl]

Our school policy is you have a week to get caught up. After a week the student doesn't get a hot lunch they get sandwhich a piece of fruit and water.