Lunches seized from kids in debt at Salt Lake City elementary

[mota bhai 2,675]

Up to 40 kids at Uintah Elementary in Salt Lake City picked up their lunches Tuesday, then watched as the meals were taken and thrown away because of outstanding balances on their accounts.

...

Jason Olsen, a Salt Lake City District spokesman, said the district’s child-nutrition department became aware that Uintah had a large number of students who owed money for lunches.

As a result, the child-nutrition manager visited the school and decided to withhold lunches to deal with the issue, he said.

But cafeteria workers weren’t able to see which children owed money until they had already received lunches, Olsen explained.

The workers then took those lunches from the students and threw them away, he said, because once food is served to one student it can’t be served to another.

Children whose lunches were taken were given milk and fruit instead.

...

The district attempted to contact parents with balances via phone Monday and Tuesday, Olsen said, but weren’t able to reach them all before the child-nutrition manager decided to take away the students’ lunches.

...
"This can be easily prevented," Olsen said. "We need to make sure proper notification goes out to the parents and they have time to put money in the accounts."

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57468293-78/lunches-olsen-lunch-district.html.csp

[Teddy B 17,252]

Eating is not a God given, constitutional right.

[decocker 7,198]

damn. no pb&j?

[Teddy B 17,252]

Serves those deadbeat kids right.

[decocker 7,198]

shoo. my son had to eat a cheese sandwhich and milk two days cause i kept forgetting to give him money over snowmageddon. now he's constipated. thanks obama.

[Novembro 1,763]

This is absolutely appalling! I don't normally give a sht in these threads, but you can't punish young children for the fault of their parents.

[decocker 7,198]

This is absolutely appalling! I don't normally give a sht in these threads, but you can't punish young children for the fault of their parents.

sure you can. these kids gotta get outta poverty somehow! malnutrition is a superb motivator.

[Novembro 1,763]

I guess it's punishment enough to eat the sub-par prison food they feed kids in schools anyway, but to remove any source of nutrition?

Edited January 30, 2014 by Novembro

[mota bhai 2,675]

cafeteria workers weren’t able to see which children owed money until they had already received lunches

That is the problem here. I have no problem with giving kids milk and fruit if they have balances, but giving them lunch and throwing it out is just very poor optics.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Sickening. Wasteful. 100% wrong.

[decocker 7,198]

i believe the main objective was to give the kids the hope of food, place the food in front of them, and then take it back garbage toss style right in front of them.

builds character.

[mota bhai 2,675]

I hated having to eat at that age. Mealtime was an annoyance, a distraction from fun stuff like whateverthefuckitisithoughtwasfunbackthen.

[decocker 7,198]

I hated having to eat at that age. Mealtime was an annoyance, a distraction from fun stuff like whateverthefuckitisithoughtwasfunbackthen.

SEGA.

[Novembro 1,763]

Like M.A.S.H.?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I was surprised to learn that many schools don't have cafeteria ladies any more that cook the food. They use a catering service. Blech. It's just more expense for the school to buy pre-made food and hand that money off to a middle man.

Now I feel bad for making fun of the lunch ladies. One kid's mom was a lunch lady and we made fun of him a little.

I was allowed to eat hot lunch one day a week as a treat, and I have fond memories of getting the monthly menu and picking which day I would have. I remember I really liked taco day. Lunch was $1.50.

My friend grew up on a reservation and she remembers that the lunch ladies would make homemade rolls every day from scratch. Yum.

Edited January 30, 2014 by Harpa Timsah