School Lunch Payment question..

[Mskanga]

I work in the school district and our policy is you can borrow two lunches and all for less than $5 , if after the second borrowing the student still has a balance owed, then they get peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We cannot hold the report cards , that is against the law here. We have a lot of people owing $50 to $100 or more, people that don't care if their kids get PBJ all year long.
My kids usually have money in their accounts , and when they start signing the first day after they run out , they let me know and I send in more money. Sometimes when I work at their school I just check their account and pay more money without my kids knowing it.

 

[Twigs]

In my district they have prepaid lunch tickets, like what some of you have described above, you pay in advance for 10 or 20 lunches, and the cafe. workers mark off as they use it. If they run out and forget to tell me, the workers will let them "charge 2 or 3 lunches". After that they would get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or some other basic type sandwich. The same is true for any child without money or lunch. They do not let any child fo without a lunch. If it goes on too long, a note is sent home for what the child owes. Does your school have a PTA and a nutrition representative? These are the kind of things that our PTA rep would deal with.

 

[disneysnowflake]

In our school district there are about 70% of the kids who either get free or reduced cost lunches.

In the elementary there are no "snack foods" for sale like there is in the high school. If a child forgets their lunch they can charge a lunch. The parents usually pay it.

The high school is where our school district has the problem. With 70% of the kids getting free or reduced lunches the problem comes from the school's sale of snacks and sodas. The kids were allowed to charge these junk foods to their accounts, then the parents refused to pay the bill.

The high school (grades 7-12) would allow these kids to charge junk all year, then they'd send a note home where the report card wouldn't be given out if the bill wasn't paid.

We had incidents where 7th graders had $300 tabs to be paid because 18 year old seniors were forcing the 12 year old 7th graders to buy them and their friends ala carte snacks every day. No one at the school would do anything about it, and the 7th graders was scared to death of these seniors. The parents were outraged by this, but the school didn't care. The parents had no idea that the kids had these huge bills until May when the school year was about to end.

Finally they wised up. The school has a computer system where the kids have pin numbers to punch in. They are only allowed to charge $5 in food. If they don't have the money then they can't have anything. They are also only allowed 1 junk food item and 1 soda per day. That cuts down on the bullying of some kids into buying 8 people chips, ice cream, candy bars and sodas every day.

 

[Mishetta]

My son attends a small private school & his hot lunches are $2. We can write a check to be turned in on Monday for that week. If we forget the check, we have to give cash. If a child forgets their money or lunch, they will provide the child with a hot lunch but a note goes home asking for repayment.

I just wonder if it may be different in a large public school where there can be so many students, possibly they can't provide free lunches? (My graduating class was 800+) But heaven's, can't they keep PB&J somewhere to make these kids a sandwich? I would be outraged if my son forgot his lunch or money & they left him hungry!

 

[crazyme5kids]

Twigs that is how my district works too. This morning my son wanted to bring lunch, I put three small powdered donuts in the bag and told him to share with his friends. He reminded me that the children are not allowed to share food (only with family is how he put it), I'm sure that is a precaution in case a child has food allergies.
We also live in an area that for the most part is well to do, but I am sure there are children whose parents are going through a rough time financially. I would hate to see these kids go hungry because it is assumed that their parents can afford it. There are always people that take advantage of the system, but children should not be penalized for it.

 

[piratesmate]

Our schools allow the kids to go to the office to borrow $$ for the day. I don't know what happens if someone doesn't pay the next day though.

We have the debit card type thing for lunches & they are supposed to tell the kids when there is only enough for 2 more lunches. They rarely do, however.

They wait until the kids get in line & try to buy lunch...then send them to the office to borrow the money & get back in line. This uses up nearly all of their lunch period - usually <5 min left to actually eat.

I just wish they were more organized.

 

[disykat]

Well, I guess I'm alone here because my 11 year old 5th grader would be toughing it out. Maybe that's why he's never forgotten and makes a habit of always being prepared.

My child never has had the option of being given something if he forgets (our elementary school gives peanut butter sandwiches, which he can't eat). Because of that, he always remembers. If you know you have a safety net it is easy to get lazy.

I don't think it's abuse - I think it's teaching. Logical Consequences, Love and Logic, etc. I'm surprised to see so many here against these methods. I think 5th graders + are old enough to live with the consequences of one hungry afternoon - it would probably be enough to nip the forgetting problem in the bud.

 

[Mimi Q]

Lunch is $1.35 at my DD's middle school- grades 6-8. They can charge their lunch for up to 3 days. If you owe money at the end of the nine weeks, they hold your report card. We can prepay for lunches- any amount, any time.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

Originally posted by sharbear
I am going to play Devil's Advocate for a min. I want to state that I think that all children should be able to eat lunch.

Our PTO runs our lunch program. It's a long story but our school still has open luch periods and the school doesn't have a cafeteria so PTO runs a lunch program and brings lunches in. I live in a school district where everyone can afford to pay for their kids lunches. Every year there are people who forget to pack their kids lunches, pay for lunch, etc. In the elementary school if a child forgot lunch they could charge. But there were people who abused the system repeately. The kids would charge all the time, the parents would not pay.

I know that the treasurer felt like she was a collection agency. I know that there were kids who could not charge because their parents would not pay the bill. These are not people who can't pay, they for whatever reason forget to pay.

Maybe the school got tired of trying to be a collection agency. I have found that most of the time, it is a few people who ruin it for the rest of us.

When I helped out in the lunch room I always felt sorry for the kids and would slip them food if they forgot their lunch. I'm just saying that there are two sides to every story.

That's why they don't give a credit to the middle school kids here. Too many parents aren't paying up. Also a bunch of people apparently bounced checks to the school last year, so none of us can write a check to the school for anything!

Middle school lunch is $1.40 here. My daughter is in the 7th grade and almost 13. She's old enough to remember her lunch or money. She gets home by 2:10pm so she's certainly not going to starve.

 

[Aurora63]

From a former elementary school teacher's standpoint...


I don't think children should ever go without lunch. It is bad enough that half of them (or more or less, depending upon your area) come to school hungry. If they don't eat, they can't concentrate, and they can't learn. They either fall asleep or jsut can't get it together.

My old school would let kids charge, if it got to be over a certain number of charges, then they got PB&J. When a kid had to charge, it was usually because a parent, who would normally write a check for a bunch of lunches, didn't realize their child's account was at zero, didn't get the repeated notes, etc, until multiple charges had been made. Even so, this child still needs to eat.

Thankfully, the kids whose parents might be having money problems could qualify for free or reduced lunch. So it wasn't an issue for them!

 

[nsyncraider17]

Geez, I was never allowed to "charge" a lunch in elementary school! If you forgot your money, they would give you a PB&J sandwich if you wanted one, but they never let me just get a lunch and pay for it later! I went to 3 elementary schools in 2 states, and I don't remember being allowed to do this at any of them.

When I got to middle school (5th grade), I don't think they even gave us a PB&J. My teacher was nice enough to loan or give students money occasionally if they forgot, and usually kids would share a little bit of their food with you if you didn't have a lunch.

I guess I could understand elementary school students being allowed to charge a lunch, but by the time kids get to middle school, I think they should be learning a little bit of responsiblity...I understand that their parents are paying, not them, but can't they just make sure that their parents give them money every morning? If they are allowed to charge lunches all the way through middle school, what's going to happen when they get to high school? I'm pretty sure that the cafeteria workers would laugh in my face if I asked to "charge" a lunch.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

I'm a cook in an elementary school cafeteria. Our elementary schools let the kids charge lunch...they will either get a PB&J or a cold sandwich (cheese or bologna & cheese). When they get to middle school (6th-8th grades) they can no longer charge. You would not believe the amount of money our school alone, there are six elementary schools in our district, lose every year from parents who didn't pay back their child's charges! We can't hold the report cards until they pay up. On average, our school has, at least, 3-5 kids every day, who either forgot their money or don't have anymore money on their accounts! They can't charge snacks, but some have charged lunches then got in line to spend $2, which is what our lunches cost, to buy snacks! We have a computerized system, with PIN numbers. Parents can send in money to put on their accounts. We have a lot of parents calling to find out why "little Susie or Johnny" brought home the notice that their accounts were low. We can go back and print out everything they bought, from the beginning of the school year (which is one of the best things about this system!) and show them everything they bought. I agree with the posters who said that, by middle school, the kids should be responsible for remembering either their lunch or their money.

 

[jfulcer]

Having seen this in elementary school with DD, I can give you a reason that has been said a few times before:

If you allow the kids to 'charge' there are many that abuse the system and don't pay. With no way to 'force' the issue, they can keep calling and complaining, but parents ignore the notes and calls. DD's kindergarten teacher explained it this way: "Let's say 3 of your children forget their lunches everyday. That's $6.00 a day on average the TEACHER must spend. That's $120 a month the teacher has to take out of her pocket every month." Of course, she still paid it but it's gotta be bad when you tell parents, send them notes, etc and it's obvious it's not a money issue at home. It's frustrating.

The burden of feeding your child should NOT be the schools, it is YOUR child and your duty to make sure they have something to eat. Parents punish their kids by sending them to bed without dinner - the kids aren't going to die by missing one meal but you can be sure that the child will remember to ask the next day if they missed their lunch.

 

[tkd lisa]

I thought of something else that has changed recently about our elementary school lunch program. Apparently, the situation that Sharon mentioned has become an issue at our school, where kids have been using their lunch money for snacks,and when it's gone, the parents are surprised to find out what the kids have been buying.

Now if you want the money to be available only for lunches, you can mark your check (or send a note) "lunches only". If they can charge any item, it's marked "lunch account". Under the Lunches only system, the child can only use cash to buy snacks.

 

[kadaten]

Originally posted by disykat
Well, I guess I'm alone here because my 11 year old 5th grader would be toughing it out. Maybe that's why he's never forgotten and makes a habit of always being prepared.

My child never has had the option of being given something if he forgets (our elementary school gives peanut butter sandwiches, which he can't eat). Because of that, he always remembers. If you know you have a safety net it is easy to get lazy.

I don't think it's abuse - I think it's teaching. Logical Consequences, Love and Logic, etc. I'm surprised to see so many here against these methods. I think 5th graders + are old enough to live with the consequences of one hungry afternoon - it would probably be enough to nip the forgetting problem in the bud.

You're not alone! My 3 year old remembers to ask for her snack every day....you better believe I'll expect her to keep up with her lunches when she's in middle school!

Originally posted by jfulcer
The burden of feeding your child should NOT be the schools, it is YOUR child and your duty to make sure they have something to eat. Parents punish their kids by sending them to bed without dinner - the kids aren't going to die by missing one meal but you can be sure that the child will remember to ask the next day if they missed their lunch.

Amen, amen, amen!! The only time a school is required to feed a child is if/when they qualify for free/reduced lunch....and if this was the case, this discusstion would be moot.

Should I ever forget my child's lunch, do I hope there's something in place to tide them over....whether it be charge, money lent from a teacher, or a friend willing to share? Sure I do. I'd never *want* my kid to go hungry. But I sure don't expect this safety net, and won't be surprised if they come home upset once or twice! But I do expect my kid to keep me informed if they are missing lunch or low on funds!!