No Free Lunch in Utah Kids!

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Blondie in Spokane

Blondie in Spokane

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WTF?

"At Utah school, there really was no such thing as a free lunch"

(CNN) -- "Dozens of children at a Utah elementary school had their lunch trays snatched away from them before they could take a bite this week."

"Salt Lake City School District officials say the trays were taken away at Uintah Elementary School Tuesday because some students had negative balances in the accounts used to pay for lunches. But they admit the situation should have been handled differently."

"Instead of regular lunches, the students were given fruit and milk."

"We don't ever let kids go without any food entirely," Salt Lake City School District spokesman Jason Olsen told CNN affiliate KSL."

"Mother Erica Lukes told KSL she was "blindsided" when her daughter, a fifth grader, described what a school district official told her: "You don't have any money in your account, so you can't get lunch."

"There were a lot of tears," Lukes said, "and it was pretty upsetting for them."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/30/us/utah-school-lunches-snatched/
 
Okay, I'm not buying that the mom was "blindsided". If she had been doing her job as a mom, then she would have known her child needed lunch money.

More like freeloading cause she thought she was getting away with it.

The school should have had a plan in place for this. Its a shame the kids were put through this. It isn't their fault. They should not have been given lunches then had them taken, they should have been given the alternate lunch to begin with.
 
They should have let them have the lunch THEY ALREADY gave the kids, and then contact parents about the zero balance. They would have had to THROW AWAY the food given (and then taken away)...so, WHO wins???????

My DS's HS does allow a certain negative balance, and the parents are notified. I watch his account like a hawk because there is no limit on what he can charge (teens, geez) and tell him his TOP daily charge, and how long the $$ has to last.
 
Our elementary school puts stickers on the kids with how many lunches the child has left starting when they have 3 lunches left.

I cannot imagine that they would take a meal away from the kids, even if the had a negative balance.

Those poor children. It isn't their fault.
 
killarney rose said:
Okay, I'm not buying that the mom was "blindsided". If she had been doing her job as a mom, then she would have known her child needed lunch money.

More like freeloading cause she thought she was getting away with it.

The school should have had a plan in place for this. Its a shame the kids were put through this. It isn't their fault. They should not have been given lunches then had them taken, they should have been given the alternate lunch to begin with.
Click to expand...

BBM Not always the case... Our school lunch program is so messed up ($50K worth) that I kept getting notes that my dd had a negative balance. This dd had only bought school lunch ONCE - in kindergarten! I pack and deliver her hot lunch every day at noon. (The things we do for love :) )

I called the 'lunch lady' and she said that my dd must have charged without telling me! I told her dd does not eat school food. She said - oh, I must have charged someone else's lunch to her account. This has happened a few times over a couple of years. I finally went to the Superintendent - he said, 'Everyone makes mistakes'. This is a school!

I finally made it so that dd can't charge anything to her 'account'. School has yet to explain $50K error in lunch program. smh

jmo

(IMO - this has all happened since our children are no longer 'students' but #s in the system)
 
This infuriates me and makes me so glad that my daughters school has a pre-paid optional hot lunch day, and not a chargeable cafeteria lunch.

Taking away a meal from numerous children to whom it had already been served and then throwing it away accomplishes nothing other than to upset the children. I know my daughter would have been confused and in tears over something like that. It's not the child's fault the account is in arrears. And who pays for the food that was thrown away? It wasn't free, and had it simply been served and allowed to be eaten, and then added to the arrears, it would have been paid for in the end instead of wasted and not paid for.

In a few of the links I've read, like this one, http://www.wwltv.com/news/After-tak...tah-school-district-apologizes-242912851.html , the parent states a mistake was made and that her account was not overdue at all. Some of the other parents have stated that they were overdue by $2 or $3.

To me it is absolutely ridiculous that the school did that to the kids. Those children affected should have been given a letter to take home stating that as the account was in arrears, they would not be able to purchase lunch again until the account was settled.
 
This is such a heartbreaking story. No child should ever go without food in their tummies while in a public school. I understand they were given fruit and milk, but why waste the trays? Makes no sense to me. Very bad decision on the part of the nutrition coordinator (whomever thought this a better idea). There was no need to waste food and humiliate the children to get their message across
 
Here is a crazy idea: Maybe the parents should provide food for their children!

Oh wait, parental responsibility? That is soooo 19th century!
 
mikkismom said:
BBM Not always the case... Our school lunch program is so messed up ($50K worth) that I kept getting notes that my dd had a negative balance. This dd had only bought school lunch ONCE - in kindergarten! I pack and deliver her hot lunch every day at noon. (The things we do for love :) )

I called the 'lunch lady' and she said that my dd must have charged without telling me! I told her dd does not eat school food. She said - oh, I must have charged someone else's lunch to her account. This has happened a few times over a couple of years. I finally went to the Superintendent - he said, 'Everyone makes mistakes'. This is a school!

I finally made it so that dd can't charge anything to her 'account'. School has yet to explain $50K error in lunch program. smh

jmo

(IMO - this has all happened since our children are no longer 'students' but #s in the system)
Click to expand...

Back when my kids were in school, I experienced the same issues. And when the online pay feature became available, it was not much help. It was not user friendly and made many errors. And about the missing 50K....There's also room for financial abuse.

Dinner lady 'stole $1 MILLION from school lunch line' during her 15-years manning a cash-only cart

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-5-years-manning-cash-cart.html#ixzz2sBWXbd9P
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Just jumping off your post...My kids went to school in this district in question. From what I gather, the lunchroom manager was letting kids slide and this particular school built up a deficit that raised a red flag at admin. She obviously, IMO, was not the type to keep food from the kids. Admin ordered the lunchroom manager to stop letting kids slide by while standing over her shoulder that day. I hope the lunchroom manager doesn't get punished for this incident. And I can't believe those at the top are claiming ignorance of this practice. It's been the practice for decades. It happened to my two kids.

Also, FWIW, unbeknownst to the parents, the online pay system was changed. The old one was good about notifying parents via email about balances running low. The new system sent out no notifications.
 
IMO, it was despicable for them to take the lunches away from those children. Just no call for it and very bad behavior for the adults to display. (Not good role models, at all.) I don't have any problem with my taxes going towards kids' lunches. They need to be eating healthy meals regularly. IMO, we should be spending more money on our children, not less.
 
In some countries there are free school lunches for every child, every day, and I think they turn out all right in the end, for the most part.
 
I am all for parental responsibility. But humiliating a grade school child seems extreme to me. Reminds me of when my girls were in school, and they had a "pizza party" that each kid could participate in, for a fee. The kids who couldn't pay had to go to another class room. I asked the teacher about this, because I think for 2nd graders, that is kind of cold. She said, "they may as well learn now that some people have more than others".
To me, since the food was already served, it was wasteful to throw it out. Let the kids have it, and call the parents letting them know that the lunch account was in arrears. Humiliating the kids is awful.
 
yes some parents may not be as responsible as they should be. So the children should be punished? Wow! Who is punished if the mistake was in the accounting department?
 
I was in elementary school in the mid sixties, high school in the early seventies. We learned in elementary school, there are activities that some parents couldn't or wouldn't pay for. The kids who werent participating went to another room.


Some parents sent party invitations and they did not include the entire class.

We learned that in life you get disappointed and the world owes you nothing.

In jr high and high school, there were no free lunches. Kids that didnt have lunch money worked in the cafeteria. They learned they weren't entitled to their lunch but could work for it.


Somehow, I think kids these days might be better off in the bad old days.
 
So children should starve if their parents are, in your words, "irresponsible"? Just for the record, very poor kids eat free already, so these are kids whose parents DO pay the full freight.

I am alive because the kind taxpayers of my state decided I should be able to get Medicaid. (I had cancer) I certainly think feeding kids is the right thing to do. Always.

If I had encountered that teacher, I would have pulled my kid from her class. Believe me, kids know earlier than second grade who has and who doesn't. They don't need that reinforced at every opportunity. The teacher should have paid for the kids who couldn't participate or not done it. (My sister is a teacher in an inner city school. She has given kids mittens and jackets before...)
 
Sonya610 said:
Here is a crazy idea: Maybe the parents should provide food for their children!

Oh wait, parental responsibility? That is soooo 19th century!
Click to expand...

I agree with your sentiment, but from what I understand (being a Canadian it's not the same way here) a lot of the American schools will not allow parents to pack their own lunch for their children. They don't have a choice but to participate in the cafeteria sold food and accounts.

I fully think parents should be responsible for feeding their kids and keeping their accounts current, but taking food away from the kids to whom it had already been served and wasting it by throwing it away did not serve any purpose at all other than to waste money, food and upset the children who were then given a different kind of "free" food.

Pointless.
 
Desertwind said:
I am all for parental responsibility. But humiliating a grade school child seems extreme to me. Reminds me of when my girls were in school, and they had a "pizza party" that each kid could participate in, for a fee. The kids who couldn't pay had to go to another class room. I asked the teacher about this, because I think for 2nd graders, that is kind of cold. She said, "they may as well learn now that some people have more than others".
To me, since the food was already served, it was wasteful to throw it out. Let the kids have it, and call the parents letting them know that the lunch account was in arrears. Humiliating the kids is awful.
Click to expand...

eta: bbm

I don't think they should have thrown the food away, but only since that's incredibly wasteful and sends a terrible message, imo. But I don't think it's "humiliating." My son has been refused service or served nothing or a cheese sandwich before because he forgot to tell me his lunch money was low. He snags half a sandwich or something else from one of his friends (or not) and moves on with his day. I think it's as big a deal as the adults make it. jmo
 
lisser said:
I agree with your sentiment, but from what I understand (being a Canadian it's not the same way here) a lot of the American schools will not allow parents to pack their own lunch for their children. They don't have a choice but to participate in the cafeteria sold food and accounts.

I fully think parents should be responsible for feeding their kids and keeping their accounts current, but taking food away from the kids to whom it had already been served and wasting it by throwing it away did not serve any purpose at all other than to waste money, food and upset the children who were then given a different kind of "free" food.

Pointless.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying that's never the case, but I have been an American all my life and have never heard of a school where you couldn't bring a sack lunch. jmo

eta: so long as it doesn't have a peanut butter sandwich or one of the ever increasing number of taboo items in it
 
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