Throwing away a child's lunch?

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  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    I want to know what kind of notification they gave those parents that the accounts were overdrawn? I realized my kid's was the other day. I had received NO notice of it.
  • twiglips
    twiglips Posts: 136 Member
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    This infuriates me! How dare they take lunch from a child and just throw it away. I don't care how much the parents may owe, humiliating a child in a crowded lunch room is no way to handle the situation. The administrators have no concept of the damage they have done to those kids and they have no idea what could be going on at home that would cause them not to afford to pay. I get that some parents may just be lazy and have no intent to pay for whatever reason but the school lunch could be the only hot meal some of those children may get each day. The lunch was thrown away after it was already prepared, it's not like there was some added expense to the school or the district. Those children should have been allowed to have their meal and the school personnel should have taken it up with the parents, grandparents, etc.
  • Bdde
    Bdde Posts: 133 Member
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    As a high school teacher of 8 years I have always kept snacks on hand for kids who arrive hungry to school. I think that feeding a child is the bare minimum responsibility of a parent and kids should not be punished for their negligence. It breaks my heart when students are writing essays or working quietly I hear a belly grumble. I also have a 4 year-old and I hope that my son should ever be in that position someone will offer my kid food.

    I think it's ridiculous that we can't invest more money into our schools!
    Quality food, quality education, quality teachers & quality curriculum!

    As a teacher I would have advised my students to advocate for their rights! But as a parent I would have knocked someone in the face if I saw that happen to my little one!
  • Sinisterly
    Sinisterly Posts: 10,913 Member
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    A lot of the times, adults can be the worst bullies a child can have.
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
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    Aw hell no. My husband is a school teacher and their school is about 65% free and reduced. He and his fellow teachers would be up in arms if something like that happened there.
  • Dan_Druff
    Dan_Druff Posts: 104
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    Blame the parents, not the school. It's not the schools responsibility.
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
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    Blame the parents, not the school. It's not the schools responsibility.

    Did you read the article?
  • Dan_Druff
    Dan_Druff Posts: 104
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    Blame the parents, not the school. It's not the schools responsibility.

    Did you read the article?

    This was the result of an unpaid balance was it not?
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
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    Blame the parents, not the school. It's not the schools responsibility.

    Someone from the school performed the action of removing a lunch from a child. It doesn't matter what the parent did or didn't do, the school is still in the wrong.
  • 19TaraLynn84
    19TaraLynn84 Posts: 739 Member
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    It's awful! Plain and simple. Thankfully, I have yet to forget to send my children's lunch money. But I'm 100% sure our school wouldn't treat my children this way if I did. Those little ones were humiliated over something they had no control over. There's no excuse for the way this situation was handled. I'm sure there are plenty of parents who just refuse to send the money. But for some, it may have just been an oversight. Poor kids.
  • SymphonynSonata
    SymphonynSonata Posts: 533 Member
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    Blame the parents, not the school. It's not the schools responsibility.

    Did you read the article?

    This was the result of an unpaid balance was it not?

    I see where you're coming from, I really do - but there is a right way to handle things and a wrong way. The wrong way is throwing a perfectly viable meal into the trash. The food obviously does not need to be financially accounted for if its going into the bin; so letting the child have it would not be as detrimental as it is to a child's psyche as letting them mentally equate their worth as being less than letting something go into the trash can.
  • iamspdd
    iamspdd Posts: 134 Member
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    Adding insult to injury: Don't worry folks. The people in charge of this were put on paid leave. That's right. Tax payers are giving them a paid vacation for this. :mad:
  • 19TaraLynn84
    19TaraLynn84 Posts: 739 Member
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    Blame the parents, not the school. It's not the schools responsibility.

    Did you read the article?

    This was the result of an unpaid balance was it not?

    Do you believe a child should be humiliated for a parent's lack of responsibility?
  • smelius22
    smelius22 Posts: 334 Member
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    So sad.. Children shouldn't be punished for something their parents are supposed to take care of.. And if the school was going to waste the food by throwing it away, why didn't they just let the poor kiddo eat it?
  • Dan_Druff
    Dan_Druff Posts: 104
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    Blame the parents, not the school. It's not the schools responsibility.

    Someone from the school performed the action of removing a lunch from a child. It doesn't matter what the parent did or didn't do, the school is still in the wrong.

    They handed the lunch to the kids in line before they got to the till, then exchanged it for free milk and fruit if they had no money in their account. I don't see the problem?
  • 19TaraLynn84
    19TaraLynn84 Posts: 739 Member
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    I believe you would see the problem if you had been in the shoes of one of those children. They took the food from them and threw it away. But hey, first world problems, right?
  • Dan_Druff
    Dan_Druff Posts: 104
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    Blame the parents, not the school. It's not the schools responsibility.

    Did you read the article?

    This was the result of an unpaid balance was it not?

    I see where you're coming from, I really do - but there is a right way to handle things and a wrong way. The wrong way is throwing a perfectly viable meal into the trash. The food obviously does not need to be financially accounted for if its going into the bin; so letting the child have it would not be as detrimental as it is to a child's psyche as letting them mentally equate their worth as being less than letting something go into the trash can.

    It got the parents attention didn't it? I bet they won't forget to pay their tab again. These parents were too lazy to make their kids lunch everyday so paid for it to be provided by the school, then were too lazy to make sure there was enough money in their accounts and now they're mad at the school. Typical.
  • Dan_Druff
    Dan_Druff Posts: 104
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    I believe you would see the problem if you had been in the shoes of one of those children. They took the food from them and threw it away. But hey, first world problems, right?

    Basically, yeah, first world problems sums it up.
  • farmers_daughter
    farmers_daughter Posts: 1,632 Member
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    While I don't agree with taking away a lunch they already have in hand, I can see the schools side as well. My mom works for a local school district and they have families that owe over a thousand dollars in lunches. Some of the families with the highest bill are upper middle class families that should be able to pay for the lunches, but don't because they know the district won't deny the kids a hot lunch.
    The schools are somehow affiliated with the state? Why can they not send those people a letter saying you pay or we take your tax return....becuase you know they get one.

    There's also small claims....schools I believe are able to do this.....colleges can for unpaid tuition. The school needs to get thier money. Yes. But keep feeding the kids. It's very likely that school lunch as nasty as some claim it can be, can also be the best or only meal a child gets.

    Schools need to not play a victim in ^ situation.
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
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    Blame the parents, not the school. It's not the schools responsibility.

    Did you read the article?

    This was the result of an unpaid balance was it not?

    I see where you're coming from, I really do - but there is a right way to handle things and a wrong way. The wrong way is throwing a perfectly viable meal into the trash. The food obviously does not need to be financially accounted for if its going into the bin; so letting the child have it would not be as detrimental as it is to a child's psyche as letting them mentally equate their worth as being less than letting something go into the trash can.

    It got the parents attention didn't it? I bet they won't forget to pay their tab again. These parents were too lazy to make their kids lunch everyday so paid for it to be provided by the school, then were too lazy to make sure there was enough money in their accounts and now they're mad at the school. Typical.

    They are upset with the way the school handled it. As stated in previous comments, sometimes the school doesn't notify about a past due account until it's a large amount (as was my case with my daughter) They only just started to call the parents to notify them. If someone called me today and said "Send me $50" I would tell me to send me a bill first. They didn't just hand the kid food then take it away. They handed the kid food then THREW it away.

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