No noon meal for kids in debt at middle school

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Agree. That's ridiculous. I have an account alert set-up on my daughter's lunch account. If the balance goes below $5.00, I get an email as a reminder that it's time to top up. This morning I had an email that I received in the overnight hours. Her account balance: -$0.25. That means that the account went below $5.00 three days earlier (lunch is $2.25 / day). So I did not get the alert timely which caused her to be short a quarter yesterday. She did eat lunch yesterday and I replenished the account this morning. Guess I'm some deadbeat for relying on the balance alert that I signed up for...

Just out of interest, if you know exactly how much it is per day... why do you need a reminder? Why don't you just pay for 45 day the first time, then top it up every month. Then you know there's never a problem. Though, at least your child was still permitted to eat.

[himher 634]

We should start a VJ poll and determine exactly how many parents actually need a reminder to feed their kids

[VanessaTony 3,567]

(CNN) -- Sorry, kid. No money, no lunch.

Students at an Attleboro, Massachusetts, middle school went hungry this week, if they had a negative balance on their pre-paid lunch cards.

Five cents of debt was enough for cafeteria employees at the Coehlo Middle School to instruct kids at least one day this week to dump out the food they would have normally eaten, CNN affiliate WJAR in Rhode Island reported.

About 25 children left the lunchroom with empty stomachs, said Whitson's Culinary Group in a statement. The company runs the school's cafeteria.

Parents were appalled. So was the principal. So was Whitson's.

"I told them this is bullying; that's neglect, child abuse," said parent Jo-An Blanchard.

Principal Andrew Boles apologized and blamed the culinary company. "My expectation is that every child, every adult, every parent, every student, every teacher is respected in this building, and that didn't happen yesterday because of Whitson's," he told WJAR.

Whitson's apologized in a statement and said it was not company policy to deny meals to children. It added that the school district had no official policy on what to do in such situations.

"Employees had taken it upon themselves to institute this change; it was not condoned or approved," said Whitson spokeswoman Holly Von Seggern. "We had absolutely no idea."

Workers in the school's cafeteria work on a contract basis, Boles said. He thinks the decision came from Whitson's.

Whitson's supplies 80 schools in New England with lunch meals, Von Seggern said. CNN could find no previous reports on similar incidents involving the company.

Kids with a negative balance usually receive "a cheese sandwich, a fruit and vegetable, and milk." Then the company contacts the parents about payment.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/05/us/massachusetts-lunch-denied/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

The thing that bothers me a lot (aside from the hunger of course) is the kids that were low (25 kids is a LOT) were all subjected to this intimidation. The very obvious "you are poor, you can starve" display that most likely occurred, making a scene and making them feel incredibly embarrassed and ashamed. Why would they do that? What sort of people tell those kids at school no? it's one thing to say no to an adult who has the ability to seek out other food, but to a kid??

[decocker 7,198]

Just out of interest, if you know exactly how much it is per day... why do you need a reminder? Why don't you just pay for 45 day the first time, then top it up every month. Then you know there's never a problem. Though, at least your child was still permitted to eat.

because kids can get extras, maybe that they are not supposed to be purchasing but they do anyway - because what's stopping them. my son can easily rack up an extra dollar or more getting a second milk, a bag of chips - he's even bought food for friends. if my son thought there were 45 days worth of lunches on his account, he'd go crazy.

Edited April 6, 2013 by val erie

[VanessaTony 3,567]

because kids can get extras, maybe that they are not supposed to be purchasing but they do anyway - because what's stopping them. my son can easily rack up an extra dollar or more getting a second milk, a bag of chips - he's even bought food for friends. if my son thought there were 45 days worth of lunches on his account, he'd go crazy.

He said $2.25 per day so I assumed that was set fee. Of course I'd never tell the kid the balance (unless the school does). In which case i'd probably do it weekly or something.

[decocker 7,198]

He said $2.25 per day so I assumed that was set fee. Of course I'd never tell the kid the balance (unless the school does). In which case i'd probably do it weekly or something.

i wish it was a set fee. but the kids have extra choices and giving him a certain amount of money that is to last a certain amount of time teaches budgeting for food, in a sense. he knows he'll get a meal no matter what, which like you said, is very important. kids shouldn't ever have to dump perfectly good food, i just can't wrap my brain around that..

[VanessaTony 3,567]

i wish it was a set fee. but the kids have extra choices and giving him a certain amount of money that is to last a certain amount of time teaches budgeting for food, in a sense. he knows he'll get a meal no matter what, which like you said, is very important. kids shouldn't ever have to dump perfectly good food, i just can't wrap my brain around that..

Is it food they scooped or something? I thought it was sealed things like wrapped sandwiches or puddings etc... I understand dumping it if they'd touched it (you know in favour of the "they have no money food"), but makes no sense if it was sealed food... it just seems like someone there was on a power trip and wanted a big production made of the "broke kids".

[decocker 7,198]

We should start a VJ poll and determine exactly how many parents actually need a reminder to feed their kids

you're reaching. try harder.

[decocker 7,198]

Is it food they scooped or something? I thought it was sealed things like wrapped sandwiches or puddings etc... I understand dumping it if they'd touched it (you know in favour of the "they have no money food"), but makes no sense if it was sealed food... it just seems like someone there was on a power trip and wanted a big production made of the "broke kids".

either a power trip or the cafeteria workers were just following instruction. protecting the bottom line, somehow..

[lostinblue 1,989]

This is from a school lunch program "This convenient, easy and secure online prepayment service will allow you to deposit money into your child's meal account at any time. This service also allows you to view their account balance."

I guess it is too much to ask a parent to keep an eye on the balance so their child can have lunch.Just blame the school for child abuse.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

This is from a school lunch program "This convenient, easy and secure online prepayment service will allow you to deposit money into your child's meal account at any time. This service also allows you to view their account balance."

I guess it is too much to ask a parent to keep an eye on the balance so their child can have lunch.Just blame the school for child abuse.

Read the story again.

Nobody's blaming the school. People are blaming the PRIVATE COMPANY that provides the lunches to the school.

There is a procedure in place in case kids end up having a negative balance on their card (because mistakes happen, a payment is late, whatever) ... if there's a negative balance, the kids are supposed to get a sandwich, a fruit/veggie, and milk. That is the standard.

The story is about how these employees, without the company even knowing, decided to throw that standard out the window and force kids to throw away food they were going to eat.

It is amazing how few people seemed to read and understand this story. It's really not complicated.

Edited April 6, 2013 by Evylin

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Just out of interest, if you know exactly how much it is per day... why do you need a reminder? Why don't you just pay for 45 day the first time, then top it up every month. Then you know there's never a problem. Though, at least your child was still permitted to eat.

My daughter doesn't eat the school lunch every day. Often she takes a lunch from home to school. Depends on the school lunch menu. There are some days where what's on the menu isn't something she likes. The other thing that makes her want a home made lunch is when she experienced too long a wait in line for lunch leaving too little time to eat her lunch. We ask her every evening whether she wants a lunch packed or whether she wants to eat the cafeteria food. Makes it a bit tougher to keep track of her account balance because she takes the school lunch anywhere from 0-5 times a week. This is why I have a account balance reminder set-up when her balance dips below $5.00 - at that point she would still have another day or two worth a balance to buy her lunch.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

My daughter doesn't eat the school lunch every day. Often she takes a lunch from home to school. Depends on the school lunch menu. There are some days where what's on the menu isn't something she likes. The other thing that makes her want a home made lunch is when she experienced too long a wait in line for lunch leaving too little time to eat her lunch. We ask her every evening whether she wants a lunch packed or whether she wants to eat the cafeteria food. Makes it a bit tougher to keep track of her account balance because she takes the school lunch anywhere from 0-5 times a week. This is why I have a account balance reminder set-up when her balance dips below $5.00 - at that point she would still have another day or two worth a balance to buy her lunch.

Ahhh okay so the menu changes every day? Can you see that menu online? That's actually pretty handy and good on her for choosing to have home-packed lunches (too many kids these days wouldn't choose it if they didn't have to).

I should do an orientation of the local schools at some point so I actually know what the deal is here...

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Ahhh okay so the menu changes every day? Can you see that menu online? That's actually pretty handy and good on her for choosing to have home-packed lunches (too many kids these days wouldn't choose it if they didn't have to).

I should do an orientation of the local schools at some point so I actually know what the deal is here...

Yes, the menu is available online and in the local newspaper. But my daughter always knows what's on the menu the next day.