OT: School Lunch Issue

[LuluLovesDisney]

Okay, I am losing it. Wasn't there a thread just like this about a year ago? I remember a boy who was charging up a lot of food, getting second helpings, cookies, extras, etc. even taking food from his sister. Posters suggested to disable the account, but the mom wanted her child to still be able to purchse lunches on occasion. Maybe it's just deja vu.

 

[Katd52]

I totally agree with you OP. I didn't even know this program was in place at my kids school until I got the notices last week that I owe. Like you the worst part is my DS10 brings his lunch to school everyday except Friday(pizza day) which I pay every week. So I was also pretty shocked to get a $34.00 bill! He informed me that he has been getting milk everyday since school started
I had NO idea!

 

[DisneyAprilFool]

Wow, $34! That beat my bill out by $14! Ouch!!! Who would have thought milk could add up to so much?

 

[Tikicampers]

Yes, you should have been told about the policy, and yes, it shouldn't have gotten to $20. However some posters seem upset that kids can charge at all. Several people have stated that the kids should go hungry if they forget a lunch. That means the teacher is going to have to deal with a cranky, hungry child who is not learning.
Also, many people seem to be under the impression that all parents are good about sending in a lunch or money. Many times I have had students that didn't have a lunch from home, not because they forgot it, but because Mom forgot to make it. These are Kindergarteners, so its not like they can do it themselves. The same parents only sporadically sent in money, and never checked folders.
The charging policies are in place so that these kids can get a real lunch every once in a while. As a teacher, I can't know if your child forgot his lunch, you forgot to make it, or you meant for him to buy lunch (or if it's in his backpack and he just doesn't get it out). We only have 30 min for lunch, and by the time I get the kids up to the cafeteria and seated, there isn't time to call parents and check.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

To the PP... Total agreement....

When I was a school and I had a choice between a sack lunch (with my mommy's cookies ) or school lunch You wouldn't have to worry about me charging up a bill. I can't believe some of the things that posters cafeterias are selling: cookies, cheeseburgers, LUNCHABLES!!! My goodness....No wonder so many poor children are morbidly obese. YUCK!

 

[DisneyAprilFool]

LOL- we could get the alternative after a certain age, which was french fries and hamburgers/cheeseburgers. By the time I was in HS, though, I'd usually stay in the ROTC room and get a Ramen soup

 

[mrs.beast]

i am a teacher, and i think our school is going to a system like this. thank you for posting. i will be sharing your story with our PTA president so that we can avoid these type of problems. (Yes our PTA provides our hot lunch program as a fundraiser)

 

[disney_fan_fam]

Plus, my darling son gets to spend the next two weeks helping the cafeteria ladies clean up instead of having recess. Mean, perhaps- but necessary.

Good for you mama! Hopefully he learned his lesson....

 

[GraysMom]

Aprilfool,

Thank you for your encouragement. I do love what I do, and I love the kids.
I am sorry for what you've been through. Sadly, no matter how hard you try to make a system work efficiently for everyone, there is always a possibility of a wrinkle. Sorry for yours. Hopefully it will all be worked out for next school year.

During my internship, I worked in a couple of high schools. It was in these schools that they did not allow students or teachers to charge at all. I think there feeling was, that they were old enough to not have to have parents keep up with their accounts. They hope of course that their child/student will have enough where withall to ask parents for lunch/account money. As far as teachers go, well, that to me is self explanatory. At the school I'm managing they do allow teachers to charge. This is something I hope to change for next school year. I feel they have no need to charge. They are adults after all. Need I say more?

Oh as for the student that owed $20! WOW! Does that school not have a limit on account balances? Most if not all of our schools do. When that limit is reached a phone call is usually made. This is not fortunately a regular occurance. As I said, our school limit is $7.50.

As a first grade teacher, I rarely bought anything in the cafeteria (caf food makes me ), but on occasion I would buy a carton of milk to put on the cereal I brought from home. I didn't bring my purse/wallet/money in to school because I didn't want to have to worry about someone stealing it (and I taught in a pretty well-to-do school, but there were still the occasional thefts-one by a second grader!) so just bringing in a couple of bucks every couple of months and dropping them into the payment box was sooo convenient. I also had 22 kids to get lined up in a certain order (packing, packing with extras, buying, buying with extras), make sure they had their lunches/cards/coats/hats/etc and get them down to the caf before I started my luxurious 20 min lunch. Remembering to grab my lunch money (didn't usually have pockets) before heading down with the class was the last thing on my mind (and I didn't want to spend 5 min of my lunch going back to my room to get the money). Just wanted to give you the teacher side thoughts on the charge system

 

[daisyduck123]

I'm a 1st grade teacher.

We have a system like this at our school, but I thoroughly explain it to parents at Back-To-School Night & it's mentioned in our school bulletins early in the year. It is hard to believe that this school doesn't have this mentioned in any bulletins. I think it's a great system. I also think the blame lies with the child. He knew he was throwing his mom's lunches away.

 

[mrs.beast]

i had posted earlier that this was good information for my school and felt that i didn't really have an opinion on what was being said, but the more i read i realized i did. I completely agree with the op that the system is flawed, however as a teacher, i agree with some PP that it is hard for the teacher to do anything about it. my class goes to lunch without me and is supervised with the rest of the 1-3rd graders by the 2,yes only 2, lunch ladies. I have gone on 2 fieldtrips that required my class to bring a bag lunch in the last 2 weeks. On the first trip i had 6 out of 20 kids forget a lunch even though it was on the permission slip, homework sheet signed by the parent each night, and sent home as an email reminder the night before. The second trip, 5 school days later, i had 4 without lunches. Even though i had taken the same precautions and asked every child what special thing they were bringing the next day as they walked out the door (answer: bag lunch). I called each of the parents and all but one brought a lunch (the one said he could eat when he got home from school. she was to busy and had forgot to pack his lunch. so i shared mine with him.) If the children go without lunch they are miserable all afternoon. I should not be punished because a child doesn't eat. they don't learn any lessons either. the same kids come all the time without lunch, and most of the time it is the parents fault, not the childs. So as a teacher under the system described, i would probably let a child charge if he/she did not have a lunch because parents forget (quite often actually.) it is absurd for it to get to $20, but i really think charging a lunch or 2 without permission needs to be allowed to prevent hunger. A hungry child does not learn as well and can disrupt class with constant complaining about being hungry. If a child abuses the system repeatedly, it is a parenting issue, not a school issue. It seems as if the OP son has learned his lesson, so on the bright side, there should be no more suprises from the cafeterial. At my son's school they have a similar system, and you have to prepay for ALL meals, no charging with out money in the account, and they send home a monthly statement. We dont use the hot lunch (IMO very unhealthy) but others are really happy with the system. If kids are out of money, another child often buys lunch and the parent pays the friend back.

 

[Momto3Disneyprinces]

In our system, all lunches are bought and paid for a month ahead of time...They have a choice but once you send in the menu with payment, they are getting the lunch they chose. (hot entree, sandwich, "bagel fun lunch", or "Veggie fun lunch". On the one or two occasions that my son has not had a lunch from home..(once I forgot, I thought I had ordered a lunch, and I was looking at the wrong week on the calendar. The other time, my son said he "couldn't find" his lunch in his backpack Honestly, it's not that big.......He is a 2nd grader, FWIW), he was given a "bagel fun lunch" so as not to go hungry....(Believe me, he is on the chunky side, and skipping would not have been the death of him!!!), and I got a letter home that day, looking for payment. If he ever had more than one or two days of no lunches, I am sure DSS would have been at our door, wondering if there was a bigger problem.....How in the world could they ever let your DSS get to $20.00. No one thought to ask if their was a bigger problem, than just a forgotten lunch? My son's school eats lunch in the "cafetorium", so there is no place to buy any extras....

 

[CaliGirlB]

My daughter is five, and she knows that i only allow her to get an ice cream on Tuesdays. That is the rule and she know that if she breaks it she will be in trouble. Also, I am not sure about other schools but $20 would only be 4 lunches at my daughters school. I would think by the time a child is 11 you should be able to tell him "don't charge" and that should be the end of it.

 

[mom2alix]

This is a little OT - but does eveyone have these "extras" available in the elementary lunch room? DD starts K next year so we'll be doing lunch for the first time. We never had extras when I was a kid, just the standard tray lunch (entree, 2 veg, starch, maybe a cookie on a good day). I may have to chekc out this cafeteria stuff a little more. It sounds like it's much more complicated than "the good old days" Now I feel really old.

 

[DisneyAprilFool]

It really sounds like it's a school by school type thing. The best thing I can recommend is calling the school NOW and asking- that way you'll know before the school year even begins!

 

[Tess'smom]

In our district, a child may "charge" their lunch. The cafeteria sends home a note letting the parents know they owe $2.10. If the child charges again w/o the parents paying the money, the child may choose only PBandJ as long as there are no peanut allergies involved. A parent can pay in advance for a number of lunches or pay day by day.

The parents know and the children know the expectations. This seems to work well.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

In our school the children in K may not get any extras. I guess they think there are too many temptations for the younger ones.

 

[happygirl]

I don't understand what you want the school to do, If you sons says he's hungry what are they supposed to say I'm sorry you can't eat?? how do they know if he brings a lunch?? what if he eats on the bus or leaves it on teh bus?? I would rather them let my kid eat then my kid be hungry

 

[DisneyAprilFool]

I have explained repeatedly what should have happened and in fact, the school agrees with me. Please read the whole thread - a lot has been said, back and forth, and a lot has been learned.

 

[dbmarie]

A hungry child does not learn as well and can disrupt class with constant complaining about being hungry. If a child abuses the system repeatedly, it is a parenting issue, not a school issue.

I don't think this thread is about a parent forgetting to bring in lunch or lunch money it is about extra's. The problem is temptation if a child is allowed to get extra's or an extra lunch they may not always make the right choice. Being a child is a learning experience and parents are not in school to guide the child to make the right choices and it is up to the school to provide good guidance in making these choices. Which I believe is why many schools are revamping their lunch menus.