Food Workers Fired as Mass. Students Denied Lunch

[Flossie]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/food ... V_mrEbn_Vc

Our high school denies lunch under if the kids can't pay. Just about a week ago a boy was denied lunch and couldn't reach his parents, so he was going without. My daughter is on the free lunch program, and can go through the lunch line twice if she wants to, so she ate, went through the line again, and gave her second lunch to the boy. His mother brought both of them McDonald's lunches the next day to eat so the school wouldn't have to feed my daughter one day, thereby 'paying' for the lunch that her son got for free the day before.

There's another girl who is thin and always hungry. She brings a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (just that, nothing else) most days, but sometimes she has nothing. There are several other children at home. My daughter suspects that when food starts to run short the girl goes without. She won't tell me the girls name because she doesn't want me to get involved, but my daughter is spending a lot of her own money buying this girl food, and my daughter doesn't get a lot of money to play with. Apparently the girl won't let one of the free lunch kids get another whole lunch just for her, but she'll happily finish their lunch if there's something they don't want to eat. If a kid buys a snack from a machine for themselves and another one for her, she'll accept it. But if you try to buy her a snack and not one for yourself she won't accept it. Weird. I think there's a pride issue at work in her home, because even if you don't get food stamps for the whole family, free lunches are available for the kids if the parents just ask.

[Ramona]

As a mother - as a HUMAN BEING with a heart - I can't imagine how the heck those workers stood there and did that. Some of these kids were only in grade five and were crying, for heaven's sake. There are OTHER ways to handle this, leaving kids to go without food isn't an acceptable choice.

[HeckBound]

Kids that age should never,ever be without food. Tell me this "catering" operation doesn't have to pitch leftover unsold food at the end of the day.

The father's comment about prisoners getting 3 hots every day and his daughter being denied a meal made me stabby.

[RosyDaisy]

Parents and school officials said some students were told to throw their lunches away when they reached the checkout.

WTF? Seriously, WTF? So not only did the company deny lunches, they tortured them by giving them food and telling them to throw it away! Who the hell does that to a child? It's INUMANE and DISGUSTING! :angry-cussingblack: :angry-screaming:

[alba]

WTF? Seriously, WTF? So not only did the company deny lunches, they tortured them by giving them food and telling them to throw it away! Who the hell does that to a child? It's INUMANE and DISGUSTING! :angry-cussingblack: :angry-screaming:

Yeah, that bit made me angry, too. It's OK to waste food by throwing it out, but not to allow that food to go to use in a hungry child's belly because they didn't pay? That really makes it sound like they were more interested in punishing the children (for something that at that age is likely the parents' fault) than protecting business.

It's because of things like this that I'm thrilled Blackpool Council's been providing free breakfasts to all primary school children ( .blackpool.gov.uk/news/freebreakfastsfor12000primaryschoolpupilslaunchedtoday.htm), regardless of income, with the intention of expanding it to secondary schools and lunches. It avoids dividing kids based on those who can "afford" to pay and those who can't, and it acknowledges that money isn't the only reason some kids aren't getting adequate breakfasts at home. I really hope this is something that becomes more widespread.

[Conuly]

I understand the dilemma the school is in. If they let kids get free lunch every day, sooner or later nobody pays for lunch, and then they're in the red. But what they're supposed to do, morally, is offer a cheaper meal that is still filling - say, a sandwich and a piece of fruit - along with a call home informing the parents that they owe lots of money and pointing out that if the financial situation has changed they can fill out another lunch form to go on either free or reduced lunch midyear.

There is no excuse, whatsoever, for both making the kids go hungry AND humiliating them in front of their classmates.

What we really need, and won't get, is free lunch for all students.

[itsnikki05]

Goodness... Why don't they just give the kid food? Bill the parents! That's insane. Hope can those parents just let their kid go hungry??

[dairyfreelife]

I never had to give the school lunch money, so I don't understand the dilemma. Just give the students a number/ID and bill the parents at the end of the month. I don't know what they do with parents who don't pay, but I never knew of any student denied food.

[Rosa]

I do not believe these workers were going against what their manager wanted. I've done a lot of food recovery work AND eaten in a lot of public school cafeterias (visited my nephews elementary just last week, actually) and food service workers hate to see kids hungry and hate to see food wasted, generally. I have no idea what kind of corporate environment leads to an entire cohort of them willing to do this, but I'm sure it wasn't the front line workers who were the source of it originally.

[louisa05]

In the schools I have worked in, kids on free and reduced lunch always got their lunches no questions asked. Others could have their account up to $15 in the red and keep eating but once they crossed that threshold (which is more than 5 days, ftr), they were allowed a cheese or peanut butter sandwich, a piece of fruit and milk until their account was paid up. Kids from families that absolutely could not pay were not affected as they were already getting free or reduced through the federal program. Honestly, the kids who were often eating sandwiches were the ones who had their own brand new cars parked outside and got in the red without their parents' knowledge or consent by constantly buying extra items.

I understand why the company would want to drive the "you must pay" point home. Before imposing the $15 debt limit, my last school would have lunch accounts literally $100s behind. Mind you, school lunches run in the neighborhood of $2 per day, so that is a long time without paying. However, last I knew, the federal lunch guidelines require that every student be given something to eat regardless.

[Hane]

Our high school denies lunch under if the kids can't pay. Just about a week ago a boy was denied lunch and couldn't reach his parents, so he was going without. My daughter is on the free lunch program, and can go through the lunch line twice if she wants to, so she ate, went through the line again, and gave her second lunch to the boy....

There's another girl who is thin and always hungry. She brings a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (just that, nothing else) most days, but sometimes she has nothing. There are several other children at home. My daughter suspects that when food starts to run short the girl goes without. She won't tell me the girls name because she doesn't want me to get involved, but my daughter is spending a lot of her own money buying this girl food, and my daughter doesn't get a lot of money to play with.

The rest of this subject aside, Flossie, on behalf of the human race, thank you for raising such a generous and compassionate child.

[Wolfie]

I understand the dilemma the school is in. If they let kids get free lunch every day, sooner or later nobody pays for lunch, and then they're in the red. But what they're supposed to do, morally, is offer a cheaper meal that is still filling - say, a sandwich and a piece of fruit - along with a call home informing the parents that they owe lots of money and pointing out that if the financial situation has changed they can fill out another lunch form to go on either free or reduced lunch midyear.

There is no excuse, whatsoever, for both making the kids go hungry AND humiliating them in front of their classmates.

What we really need, and won't get, is free lunch for all students.

The bold is what my district does. The kids don't like it, but if they are hungry they will eat it. But a large portion of my district is free lunch so it doesn't happen all that often.

[Pearl]

At my children's school, kids who don't have money get a cheese sandwich and fruit and a juice. I'll have to figure out what the cafeteria at my school does - I'm guessing it's the same. Students shouldn't have to go hungry.

It's a weird line though. The school I work at does a HUGE push to get parents to apply for free/reduced lunch. We have the computers set up and we help the parents fill out the forms, if the parents request a paper form - we help them with that, we ask every parent to fill out the form (I work at a low income area). However, if a parent is too proud or too lazy and don't fill out the form (and are eligible), their children won't be able to get the free meals - probably just the cheese sandwich (which is gross as my kids tell me - they never forgot their lunches again!). Sometimes parents bug me. It REALLY bothers me that some of my kids might only eat while they are at school. I know kids who only come to school for the free breakfast/lunch.

Anyhow, it would be great if children could get free breakfast/lunch regardless, but budget issues being what they are I don't see that happening anytime soon. You should see the condition of my textbooks...

I usually keep snacks and bottled water (long story) in my room for kids who need it, but I don't have the money to feed the masses either. :(

It is ridiculous, however, to have students throw away the food - it's like during the Great Depression when fruit farmers in California destroyed fruit they couldn't sell rather than let the starving Okies eat them...

[Katiebug]

In the school district I grew up in, children on free or reduced price lunch would get their meal regardless, and kids who forgot their lunch or lunch money were given a plain milk and a peanut butter sandwich. If this continued, the principal would contact a parent to find a solution, whether it was the family applying for free/reduced lunches or making sure the child's lunch from home was making it to school with the child. This ended after elementary school; in middle and high school there was no one checking to see if students had a lunch.

I can count on two hands the number of times I ate school lunch in 13 years of K-12 education, and virtually all of those were in elementary school. My parents felt the nutrition of the lunch program was not good (it wasn't - I remember seeing giant tubs and cans of government surplus food in the elementary school cafeteria, and it never looked appetizing). To be blunt, by middle and high school the only kids getting hot lunch at school were students on the free/reduced lunch program - if your family had the money, you brought your lunch every day. The school meal program was so unappetizing that those who didn't need it didn't use it; there was definitely a socioeconomic status component to who was eating what. I know I had classmates who were eligible for free/reduced lunches who refused to get them because they didn't want to look poor. :(

In the school district where we live, parents can either prepay their kids' lunch account or they have to bring money every day. If they forget their lunch they can go without or get a cheese sandwich, a plain milk, and a piece of fruit. This scaled-back lunch will be charged against the student (I think $1 instead of the full $3 hot lunch) and parents will be contacted once they're a certain amount in the red. They can't force parents to fill out the forms, so if parents can't/won't provide a lunch from home and aren't eligible for free/reduced lunch then the kids are stuck eating the cheap lunch or nothing at all.

[idonthaveajname]

As a mother - as a HUMAN BEING with a heart - I can't imagine how the heck those workers stood there and did that. Some of these kids were only in grade five and were crying, for heaven's sake. There are OTHER ways to handle this, leaving kids to go without food isn't an acceptable choice.

This is my reaction as well.

Something similar happened in a town I used to live in a few years back and I remember a huge stink over it, but I can't recall the exact outcome. In that town there was a huge push for parents to sign their children up for free lunches and every single form I got home from my children's teachers indicated that they were entitled to a free public school education and that our inability to pay for whatever would in no way affect my children getting whatever (lunch, school fees, field trips, etc). Contrast that to when we moved last year to a new state and into a "fancy" neighborhood. The first day of school my daughter came home with a form that stated she needed $60 by the next day to go on a theme park trip. Pretty amazing difference.

I can't imagine what happens here if a child can't pay. My children prefer homemade lunch and don't care for school lunch, so I always pack for them. I don't know if they would even know if something like this did happen in their school.

[fundiefun]

I know in one disctrict school lunch debt was so high collection agencies had to be notified because these were parents who didn't take the time to fill out free lunch forms but qualified. I know that's a few, but I grew up with a girl like this her grandparents got custody of her and her siblings when their father died I don't know how her mother lost custody, but I assume something must have happened. She would come to lunch hungry or with a sandwich and her grandma didn't give a shit if they ate or not and wouldn't fill out the damn forms and the kids suffered. I would sometimes try to sneak two lunches from the different checkouts on my list and was sometimes caught doing this, and the lunch staff told me about the forms her grandparents could have filled out but gave two shits. It irked me to no end and I did risk having action taken against me, but I couldn't bear to see them go hungry because her grandparent's didn't care.

[Pammy]

Is it normal for American schools to be thought of as "providing" lunches?

I think I'd be in culture shock in a situation like that. I'm accustomed to the Canadian system where elementary schools have no food service (kids eat bagged lunches in the gym), and upper level schools have a cash cafeteria near the lunch room for anyone who wants somewhere to buy food from to use -- usually fast-food sorts of foods. No one would imagine that the cafeteria would give away food without payment -- ever. It was just a place to buy food if you wanted to buy food instead of bringing it.

If you needed food without payment, you or a teacher might get something from the guidance counselor, maybe? Or the school would phone a parent? I'm not sure. I was always given a bag lunch as a kid, and didn't use the cafeteria much except when I spent my allowance on a treat, and I have always sent my own kids with an adequate lunch.

(Oh, and you could sign up to be a cafeteria helper or an office helper one day a week, and that would get you a free lunch -- with a dessert! I remember doing that!)

[Mama Mia]

I think people also need to remember that eligibility for free and reduced priced lunches are based on federal poverty income limits.

In high cost areas you could have many families who need free/reduced prices lunches in order to get by, but who make too much by federal definition.

Even in the lower cost areas the individual family might have high medical costs, or high childcare costs or a variety of other reasons why they can't afford to pay for lunch, but don't qualify for the assistance.

It isn't always that parent's aren't bothering to fill out the forms - it can also be that they read the forms and know they don't qualify.

[hywelis]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/food-workers-fired-mass-students-denied-lunch-18893190#.UV_mrEbn_Vc

Our high school denies lunch under if the kids can't pay. Just about a week ago a boy was denied lunch and couldn't reach his parents, so he was going without. My daughter is on the free lunch program, and can go through the lunch line twice if she wants to, so she ate, went through the line again, and gave her second lunch to the boy. His mother brought both of them McDonald's lunches the next day to eat so the school wouldn't have to feed my daughter one day, thereby 'paying' for the lunch that her son got for free the day before.

There's another girl who is thin and always hungry. She brings a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (just that, nothing else) most days, but sometimes she has nothing. There are several other children at home. My daughter suspects that when food starts to run short the girl goes without. She won't tell me the girls name because she doesn't want me to get involved, but my daughter is spending a lot of her own money buying this girl food, and my daughter doesn't get a lot of money to play with. Apparently the girl won't let one of the free lunch kids get another whole lunch just for her, but she'll happily finish their lunch if there's something they don't want to eat. If a kid buys a snack from a machine for themselves and another one for her, she'll accept it. But if you try to buy her a snack and not one for yourself she won't accept it. Weird. I think there's a pride issue at work in her home, because even if you don't get food stamps for the whole family, free lunches are available for the kids if the parents just ask.

What your child is doing is andmirable and laudable, and it says lots of good things about you as a parent. I do hope that this girl's situation is being monitored by teachers or by the school counsellor, and that something is done. The onus of feeding a child should not be on his or her classmates.

Hywelis

[StatenIslandMom1]

In New Jersey earlier this year, a non-verbal kindergartener with autism was denied lunch b/c his parents didn't know the procedure for funding his lunch credit. The teacher just wrote on the child's notebook that day "no lunch for X b/c of no money." Honestly, I can't imagine. My older son's teachers would give money from their own pocketbooks before seeing a little child starve.

[Free2BeMe]

When I was in HS, I got in line one day and realized almost too late that I had no money to buy all my lunch. I was having a very bad day and this just made my day worse that it was already.

These two boys in the line with me split my lunch onto each of their trays, allowing me to buy my fruits and vegetables. They paid for the food with thier free lunch plans and I got my food back afterward.

O, I felt so happy and grateful for the help, those two kids didn't have to help me, but they did and I still appreciate it now, 9 years later.

Not long after I went on the free lunch program and my brother is on it now at the local high school, the same school I attended.

[Wolfie]

I think people also need to remember that eligibility for free and reduced priced lunches are based on federal poverty income limits.

In high cost areas you could have many families who need free/reduced prices lunches in order to get by, but who make too much by federal definition.

Even in the lower cost areas the individual family might have high medical costs, or high childcare costs or a variety of other reasons why they can't afford to pay for lunch, but don't qualify for the assistance.

It isn't always that parent's aren't bothering to fill out the forms - it can also be that they read the forms and know they don't qualify.

The cut off for reduced lunch is pretty high- when I started teaching, if I'd have had two kids they would have qualified.

[Free2BeMe]

[link=]www.fns.usda.gov/slp[/link]

1. What is the National School Lunch Program?

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in over 100,000 public and nonâ€profit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provided nutritionally balanced, lowâ€cost or free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day in 2011. In 1998, Congress expanded the National School Lunch Program to include reimbursement for snacks served to children in afterschool educational and enrichment programs to include children through 18 years of age.

The Food and Nutrition Service administers the program at the Federal level. At the State level, the National School Lunch Program is usually administered by State education agencies, which operate the program through agreements with school food authorities

.

2. How does the National School Lunch Program work?Generally, public or nonprofit private schools of high school grade or under and public or nonprofit private residential child care institutions may participate in the school lunch program. School districts and independent schools that choose to take part in the lunch program get cash subsidies and USDA foods from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for each meal they serve. In return, they must serve lunches that meet Federal requirements, and they must offer free or reduced price lunches to eligible children. School food authorities can also be reimbursed for snacks served to children through age 18 in afterschool educational or enrichment programs.

3. What are the nutritional requirements for school lunches?

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 directed USDA to update the NSLP’s meal pattern and nutrition standards based on the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The new meal pattern goes into effect at the beginning of SY 2012-13, and increases the availability of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in the school menu. New dietary specifications set specific calorie limits to ensure age-appropriate meals for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Other meal enhancements include gradual reductions in the sodium content of the meals (sodium targets must be reached by SY 2014-15, SY 2017-18 and SY 2022-23). While school lunches must meet Federal meal requirements, decisions about what specific foods to serve and how they are prepared are made by local school food authorities.

4. How do children qualify for free and reduced price meals?

Any child at a participating school may purchase a meal through the National School Lunch

Program. Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level

are eligible for free meals. Those with incomes between 130 percent and 185 percent of the

poverty level are eligible for reducedâ€price meals, for which students can be charged no

more than 40 cents. (For the period July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013, 130 percent of the

poverty level is $29,965 for a family of four; 185 percent is $42,643.)

Children from families with incomes over 185 percent of poverty pay a full price, though

their meals are still subsidized to some extent. Local school food authorities set their own

prices for fullâ€price (paid) meals, but must operate their meal services as nonâ€profit

programs.

Afterschool snacks are provided to children on the same income eligibility basis as school

meals. However, programs that operate in areas where at least 50 percent of students are

eligible for free or reducedâ€price meals may serve all their snacks for free.

Here's some information on the free school lunch program. ^

[meda]

I think people also need to remember that eligibility for free and reduced priced lunches are based on federal poverty income limits.

In high cost areas you could have many families who need free/reduced prices lunches in order to get by, but who make too much by federal definition.

Even in the lower cost areas the individual family might have high medical costs, or high childcare costs or a variety of other reasons why they can't afford to pay for lunch, but don't qualify for the assistance.

It isn't always that parent's aren't bothering to fill out the forms - it can also be that they read the forms and know they don't qualify.

That depends on the state. While there are income limits on the federal program, another thing to remember is that under the federal program, any child from a household that receives Medicaid, food stamps, or welfare is automatically eligible for free and reduced school lunch. Eligibility for those programs are set at a state level, (cannot be below federal poverty guidelines) so in my state of NY for example, eligibility levels for benefits are set higher than the federal rates to take into account high cost of living in the NYC metro area.

In my area, which is not a high cost of living part of the state, parents are often too proud or lazy to fill out the forms, even though districts make a huge effort to get eligible families to do so. Unfortunately, there is little a district can do to make sure the kids of parents who refuse the program are fed, since by law public school cafeteria services must be self funded (cannot be subsidized from the general district budget) and operate in the black. Many teachers and cafeteria managers I know keep a "stash" of food for these kids, but it is obviously not enough.

[Bazile]

Is it normal for American schools to be thought of as "providing" lunches?

I think I'd be in culture shock in a situation like that. I'm accustomed to the Canadian system where elementary schools have no food service (kids eat bagged lunches in the gym), and upper level schools have a cash cafeteria near the lunch room for anyone who wants somewhere to buy food from to use -- usually fast-food sorts of foods. No one would imagine that the cafeteria would give away food without payment -- ever. It was just a place to buy food if you wanted to buy food instead of bringing it.

If you needed food without payment, you or a teacher might get something from the guidance counselor, maybe? Or the school would phone a parent? I'm not sure. I was always given a bag lunch as a kid, and didn't use the cafeteria much except when I spent my allowance on a treat, and I have always sent my own kids with an adequate lunch.

(Oh, and you could sign up to be a cafeteria helper or an office helper one day a week, and that would get you a free lunch -- with a dessert! I remember doing that!)

It pretty much is. The National School Lunch Program is a federal program that's run by the US Department of Agriculture, and it's been in place since 1946. http://www.fns.usda.gov/slp (not breaking link since I doubt the USDA really cares about us at all) They've made a few changes (eg I don't think they're allowed to count ketchup as a vegetable anymore) in recent years, but it looks basically the same as what I remember going to public school from 1990-2003. The program has issues, but the main goal is to make sure all children have access to food. Schools serve breakfast and lunch, with lunch being an organized you have to go event. Though in middle and high school there wasn't a lot of supervision, and there were kids who didn't eat or who got fries and a drink everyday. They always had a la carte items (eg chips, juice, cookies) for sale, but they weren't covered under the free/reduced lunch program and couldn't be subbed for part of the hot meal. The schools I went to always made a big deal the first part of the year about getting people to fills out the free/reduced lunch forms even if a family was sure they didn't qualify mostly, I think, because they got extra funding if a certain percentage of the student body qualified for free/reduced lunch. I always went to rural, mostly low income schools so wealthier districts might not push as hard. I also half think that if a kid brought their lunch from home and was qualified for free lunch, they could get a carton of milk for free. The one year I got free lunch, I never tried since I don't really like milk so I either brought a drink from home, or got a non-dairy beverage. I'm also not sure if it was district specific, but the elementary school I interned at in college was a low-income district and all of the kindergartners got free breakfast regardless of whether they qualified for free lunch or not.

With all that said, I'm amazed that a school was making kids throw away their lunches. We were always allowed to charge a certain number of days in a row, and then once you met that they'd give you a sandwich. I don't remember anyone actually making it that far since ,in elementary school at least, they'd send a note home for your parents to sign that you'd charged your lunch. The only food rationing they'd do for lack of lunch money is you couldn't buy ice cream, cookies, or any other extras if you charged your lunch. Which to me seems fair, since I could see some kids viewing the ability to charge their lunch as a way of getting treats knowing they'd still get lunch.