WP: ‘It’s embarrassing to the kids’: Students who owe lunch money will get only a cold jelly sandwich, district says

[Cooked Crack]

Quote

When students in Warwick, R.I., line up in the cafeteria next week, they’ll have no shortage of lunch options. Do they want a chicken Parmesan melt? Hummus and fresh vegetables with tortilla crisps? Pizza? Sweet potato tots? A burger? Something from the deli bar? Or, in the popular all-day-breakfast category, pancakes with a cheese omelet and a side of bacon?

 

But for some, making a decision won’t be necessary. Starting Monday, any student with unpaid lunch debt will be automatically given a sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwich instead of hot food, the city’s school district announced Sunday. Officials told the Providence Journal that the policy is necessary because the district is owed tens of thousands of dollars in lunch money, on top of contending with a budget deficit in the millions.

 

But critics argue that since children have no control over their parents’ finances, they shouldn’t be penalized or potentially subjected to public humiliation because of their inability to pay.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/08/its-embarrassing-kids-students-who-owe-lunch-money-will-only-get-cold-jelly-sandwich-district-says/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cfde03508a10

 

[Busch1724]

What is a school to do? Sure it's not the kids' fault, but there are limited options. They're still being fed essentially a free lunch. 

[The Evil Genius]

19 minutes ago, Busch1724 said:

What is a school to do? Sure it's not the kids' fault, but there are limited options. They're still being fed essentially a free lunch. 

 

Other nations offer free meals for kids at all levels of required education. Even if they can pay.

 

How come this is a problem here? 

 

****...even India does it and they have eleventy billion people there.

 

Edit..besides, current research shows anothet positive for providing free meals.

 

Better discipline.

 

https://www.nber.org/papers/w24986

Edited May 8, 2019 by The Evil Genius

[Busch1724]

These kids who have parents that don't pay are given an alternative meal. Sure it's a sandwich, but it's something. 

 

This did not happen in schools often in previous year but as food service companies have forced their way into schools, the business like approach of bean counting has helped make this a bigger issue. 

[Warhead36]

American school kids should get a free hot meal for lunch.

[Renegade7]

58 minutes ago, Busch1724 said:

What is a school to do? Sure it's not the kids' fault, but there are limited options. They're still being fed essentially a free lunch. 

 

You call that a lunch?  Trying to learn while hungry is miserable, they dont care, they showing they dont care.

15 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

American school kids should get a free hot meal for lunch.

 

Go further, breakfast as well, plus giving out leftovers at end of day as early dinner.  Jus do everything you can to take that issue off the table.

[PeterMP]

1 hour ago, Warhead36 said:

American school kids should get a free hot meal for lunch.

 

I don't know how it works at that school, but I can completely see how this can happen in today's world.  We have an online lunch account for our kids.  It is on autopay, but if the something happens to the credit card it is hooked up to, then it can't autofill.

 

The parents don't know, and the kids don't care because they still get to pick their lunch every day.  This is a way to make the kids care so that they will take responsibility and bug the parents to fix the account.

 

For cases where the parents can't afford it, we as a society should do what is necessary to make sure they get a good lunch.  We should make it as easy as possible and as broad as possible for parents that are struggling to get their kids a good school lunch.

 

But for other kids IMO, there's nothing wrong with forcing the kid to take some responsibility and have the parents add money to the account.  Teaching kids responsibility is a good thing, and the way you learn responsibility is by actions having consequences.  I'd be for giving the kid a warning or two.

Edited May 8, 2019 by PeterMP

[redskinss]

12 minutes ago, PeterMP said:

For cases where the parents can't afford it, we as a society should do what is necessary to make sure they get a good lunch.  We should make it as easy as possible and as broad as possible for parents that are struggling to get their kids a good school lunch.

Although I completely agree with the statement I'm getting tired of this mentality in our society and It really seems to be spreading. 

 

There are certain things that should be paid for completely by tax dollars in public schools and meals is one of them, it shouldn't Matter whether you have ten dollars to your name or ten million, if you send your kid to a public school he or she should get anything any other kid gets free.

 

I'm far from rich but my wife and I make a pretty good living and it seems every time I turn around now somebody is making a new policy that if you are under a certain threshold you get x, y or z for free but if your household is over that threshold you have to pay for it and I'm always just a little over it.

 

If this keeps up I'm gonna tell my wife to be a stay at home mom, they'll literally be no point in her working, and I'm not really kidding which is kinda sad.

 

Ok, rant over.

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by redskinss

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I also think we have to decide what level we are arguing in this thread...

 

Big picture: Should schools in the US budget for providing free lunches?

Specific story: Given that free lunches are NOT in the budget, how should this particular school deal with kids who aren't paying? 

 

In my opinion, we don't get to hold this school accountable for the big picture argument. 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

I think I read in the article that most of the students affected got free lunches, but because the school allowed them to purchase additional items on credit, they owe money and therefore get the jelly lunches.

 

 

To me, the school is partially to blame. They shouldn’t allow kids to buy on credit.

 

 

Jelly lunches for a week, then no purchases on credit for a year seems reasonable to me.

[superozman]

Tough spot for the school.  You have a problem - i assume all prior communications have not been responded to and now you have a large debt you need to handle.  So you are forced to make a decisions.  

Think through what a school has as options, this does make sense as an option.  You provide what's required by law but nothing additional, until debts or payment plans of debts are structured.  

 

The only difference i would have done was 5th grade and under gets a more balanced meal, 6th and up gets the standard sandwich.  This will help assist and ensure the younger kids are more bearable for teachers.

[TheDoyler23]

I have a family member who is a cafeteria manager. Kids eat both breakfast and lunch there and for many, that will be the end of the food they'll eat that day. That sucks. 

 

[Busch1724]

I would agree, bigger picture, all kids should receive a free meal. However, that's not the system in place. So what's a school to do? Schools are sympathetic. The cafeteria managers would love to give kids a meal. However, many of them have a private industry person from a company like Chartwells or Aramark that don't want them doing that because it hurts their bottom line. That's part of the issue with letting private industry make profits off of entities within schools. Business and education don't always mix well together. 

[stoshuaj]

Churches should step up in the interim.  

 

The whole “help the poor” mantra.

 

long term, for all the things we give away as a country, no kid should go hungry.

[LD0506]

Yeah, I'd like to audit those schools and see where the money really goes. I do not believe that they are financially strapped because school kids ate lunch. Wonder what the admin salaries look like.

[twa]

5 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

Yeah, I'd like to audit those schools and see where the money really goes. I do not believe that they are financially strapped because school kids ate lunch. Wonder what the admin salaries look like.

 

 

Isn't that the school board's job?

of course many of those are incompetent 

[TD_washingtonredskins]

8 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

Yeah, I'd like to audit those schools and see where the money really goes. I do not believe that they are financially strapped because school kids ate lunch. Wonder what the admin salaries look like.

 

I think we are focusing on the wrong details here...I suppose there's a chance that they are misusing their funds. But, that aside, I think it's completely reasonable to believe that if a percentage of kids don't pay for lunch, the school will eventually operate at a loss. Unless they have a lot in reserves, etc. 

 

And here's the deal...if that money is supposed to be going toward curriculum or teachers or supplies, feeding kids who are supposed to be paying for their own lunch is eating into the quality of other kids' education. 

 

So, in THIS SPECIFIC CASE, I don't blame the school for not shouldering the load since they didn't go into the year with the money to do so. Having said that, I would love to see food provided free of charge to all kids. But to institute that mid-stream is impossible. 

[PeterMP]

56 minutes ago, redskinss said:

Although I completely agree with the statement I'm getting tired of this mentality in our society and It really seems to be spreading. 

 

There are certain things that should be paid for completely by tax dollars in public schools and meals is one of them, it shouldn't Matter whether you have ten dollars to your name or ten million, if you send your kid to a public school he or she should get anything any other kid gets free.

 

That's the way it has worked with lunches since I was a little kid in the late 1970s.  From the people older then me, I understand that their schools didn't serve lunch and it was bring you own.

 

We do walk a type rope of making it worth while to work vs. not worth while to work depending on where income falls, but to my knowledge, economists seem to think that we're doing okay on that front and by and large it is worthwhile to work, especially as to claim some benefits, you have to be at least looking for work.  And most benefits are gradient based too.  Again, I don't know today, but when I was a kid that had different tiers for lunch benefits.  You could be reduced or free.

 

 

[LadySkinsFan]

2 hours ago, Busch1724 said:

What is a school to do? Sure it's not the kids' fault, but there are limited options. They're still being fed essentially a free lunch. 

 

Yes, a sugar filled lunch where the kids will get sleepy an hour after eating, thus hindering their brains retaining information and limiting their education.

 

Horrible decision about food choices. Why not decrease the number of choices, and feed everyone?

[Busch1724]

4 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

Horrible decision about food choices. Why not decrease the number of choices, and feed everyone?

 

Once again, that's part of the issue with having private entities in schools making profit from the students. 

[Zguy28]

Maybe the school could do a GoFundMe to make up the difference?

54 minutes ago, stoshuaj said:

Churches should step up in the interim.  

 

The whole “help the poor” mantra.

 

long term, for all the things we give away as a country, no kid should go hungry.

How do you know they aren't already trying?

 

[tshile]

1 hour ago, LD0506 said:

Wonder what the admin salaries look like.

 

Looks like 70-100k roughly for assistant school principal. 

 

How much do you think a private company would pay someone to be part of upper management with that many employees, that many students (which kind of count like employees on some level), that large of a budget, and that many assets (buildings, buses, parks and rec equipment, etc etc etc)? 

 

Bet it's more than 70-100k.

 

Kind of sick of government salaries being questioned with this stuff. Generally you get what you pay for. If the people running it are doing a poor job replace them. Acting like they sit well for what they're doing is dumb. That's a big responsibility, and it doesn't pay like it.

 

Like pretty much all of education.

[Xameil]

This reminds me...I need to out money in my daughter's account...

[TD_washingtonredskins]

How dumb do I feel now...half the time I ask my daughter what she had for lunch it's a sunbutter and jelly sandwich. Could have had it for free!

[tshile]

1 hour ago, PeterMP said:

For cases where the parents can't afford it, we as a society should do what is necessary to make sure they get a good lunch.  We should make it as easy as possible and as broad as possible for parents that are struggling to get their kids a good school lunch.

 

But for other kids IMO, there's nothing wrong with forcing the kid to take some responsibility and have the parents add money to the account.  Teaching kids responsibility is a good thing, and the way you learn responsibility is by actions having consequences.  I'd be for giving the kid a warning or two.

 

Agreed.

 

There's no need to pick on poor people (and an effort should be made to make sure it's not being done unintentionally either)

 

But for everyone else there's nothing wrong with teaching the kid that forgetting to tell their parents the account is overdrawn when warned twice has repercussions. If having to eat a jelly sandwhich one day in front of your friends is the way it happens then that sounds like a pretty harmless lesson in responsibility to me.

 

They should make it more lifelike. If the kid's overdrawn he still gets his lunch. But when he sits down to eat it the Cafeteria Repossession Team comes out of no where, snags the tray, and takes off saying "PAY YOUR BILL NEXT TIME!"