School refuses child lunch over £1.75 debt

Maybe they should have a rule where no child will be refused a lunch until contact is made with the parent. That way they can find out if further help is needed instead of using the child's hunger to send a message to the parent. This is a very common problem that has been handled many times without sending a shock to children.

Good grief! Some people can't look past a couple of quid and give a hungry kid something to eat.

We should never have privatised school kitchens, even a basic human need like a bit of food for little kids in school is ruthlessly leeched for maximum profit. What's wrong with making a small lunch up from any food not served before binning it for goodness sake?

I'd have given the kid a lunch, and propably would have got sacked too because I would have given the kitchen boss a very loud piece of my mind.

How can we describe our society as civilized when we allow things like this? And why are people defending it?
Never mind whose fault it is - is no-one else looking past the piddling couple of quid concerned at the gross lack of humanity here?

Because my goodness, it sticks out like a HUGE sore thumb to me.

Originally posted by elouina


There is no such thing as "tough luck" when a hungry child is concerned. Once in school, they just can't go seek food like an adult can. They are stuck without food until they get home. Not only is this torture, how can they learn while distracted by hunger?

There is a difference is being hungry than there is starvation . I went to school many times without lunch . What is the big deal . Parents to lazy to make a lunch with like many parenting duties they expect the teachers to raise their kids or daycare and now want free food at lunch time . if they are to poor to afford food maybe they shouldn't be adding to the population on this world.

You do realize too I hope that as a species on this planet for who knows how long it wasn't long ago that people eating 3 square meals a day was a rarity . Looks to me we turned out alright and survived . I am sure a child can 4 hours till he gets home . Hardly a life and death situation that some people seem to be making it out to be

This seems strange.
Our kids get packed lunch, but if they forget it, the school gives them a meal, and we owe them, at our school it's £2.00 a day, so we would be in debt much further than this guy.

It happens in New Jersey too.....

N J School District Cuts Portions for Students $3 Behind on Lunch Payment

If your child's school lunch money balance gets behind just a little it looks like the penalty will be placed on the kids.

The Tewksbury school district in New Jersey apparently has allowed a contractor to severely limit lunch if the money balance falls to -$3.10 !!!!!

I wonder if this is normal throughout the country ?

I wonder who the maniacs are that allowed this boondoggle ?

CALIFON, N.J. – It’s bad enough that school children across the nation are going hungry on the skimpy portions offered through the Michelle Obama lunch menu.

At the Tewksbury school district in New Jersey, children who fall $3.10 behind on their food payments get one hard-boiled egg, a package of crackers and a carton of milk for lunch.

The Tewksbury district consists of two schools, one for grades K-4 and one for grades 5-8. Lunches at the school cost $2.40 per day. That means children are only allowed to fall one day behind in their lunch payments before getting stuck with the egg special.

The lunches at Tewksbury, like most in schools across the nation, are subsidized by the federal government....

Here's a "Letter" from the contractor..... pdf
Maschio's Food Services, Inc.
The "Balance" terms are on page 2.

Notice also on page 4.....
Some moron bonehead mis-spelled "Gateraide"
Correct spelling is "Gatorade"

I guess it always comes down to money and envy and jealousy

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by freedomSlave

Originally posted by elouina


There is no such thing as "tough luck" when a hungry child is concerned. Once in school, they just can't go seek food like an adult can. They are stuck without food until they get home. Not only is this torture, how can they learn while distracted by hunger?

There is a difference is being hungry than there is starvation . I went to school many times without lunch . What is the big deal . Parents to lazy to make a lunch with like many parenting duties they expect the teachers to raise their kids or daycare and now want free food at lunch time . if they are to poor to afford food maybe they shouldn't be adding to the population on this world.

You do realize too I hope that as a species on this planet for who knows how long it wasn't long ago that people eating 3 square meals a day was a rarity . Looks to me we turned out alright and survived . I am sure a child can 4 hours till he gets home . Hardly a life and death situation that some people seem to be making it out to be

edit on 12/6/13 by freedomSlave because: (no reason given)

Four hours? Here in the UK, kids are in school 9am - 3pm. If they have breakfast at 8am, and get home at 4pm, that is 8 hours without even a snack or a drink.

Hardly a life and death situation isn't the point - a kitchen full of food, and a hungry kid is denied any of it because of a bit of change? In 2013 AD?

I swear civilization is devolving.

reply to post by doobydoll


Like I said I went with out many times growing up I am still here , Thankfully I was taught that I shouldn't expect hand out or be entitled to this and that .

I have 2 kids I work my ass off to make sure they are provided for unlike my parents . I can promise you this My kids will be fed in the morning and have a lunch to bring with them . I wouldn't send my child with out and expect everyone else to pay for them . I will work 2 jobs on top of a 60 to 80 hour work week .

Even if they didn't have a lunch for the day it would hardly be the end of the world .

I understand the feel good crusade going on here . Do you really want our kids to grow up thinking they are entitled to everything for nothing . Life is tough never to early to start learning that lesson. Kids are dying of starvation in many places in the world who haven't eaten in days who should be getting aid , not little billy's dad because he is too cheap to afford a 2 dollar lunch tab for his kid to eat


ETA I had meant they can wait the 4 more hours till they got home to eat ( From previous post )

Im suprised really that the dad in question, was a governer of the school, they are usually whiter than white. Cutting the kids dinner because of a £1.75 debt does seem a bit severe though.

An example of the 'caring' society the UK is turning in to.

When I was a kid at school back in the '70's and early '80's you paid with cash and those unfortunate enough not to be able to afford it were given tokens.
Frequently kids forgot their dinner money or spent it on sweets, or cigarettes in my case - they were always given a meal of some sort.

I'm sure it was part of the very ethos of the UK's 'free' education system that it ensured that every single school attending child would get at least one good, wholesome meal a day regardless of domestic circumstances.

I'm not one to harp on about 'the good old days' for the fact that they weren't, they were pretty crap for many of us in many respects but I can't for the life of me imagine any of my old dinner ladies refusing an 11year old child a meal.

If we went for last sitting we nearly always got the option for seconds, something I always gladly took advantage of - nowadays they throw away good food due to H&S regulations.

This country's increasing obsession with money, debt, rules and regulations truly disgusts me at times.

Ok, his Dad messed up, but why humiliate, belittle and let an 11year old kid go hungry over £1.75 when there was plenty of food available.
FFS, if I'd have been a teacher or a dinner lady there I would have paid the £1.75 myself if it had meant giving the lad a meal.

Originally posted by freedomSlave
reply to post by doobydoll

 

Like I said I went with out many times growing up I am still here , Thankfully I was taught that I shouldn't expect hand out or be entitled to this and that .

I have 2 kids I work my ass off to make sure they are provided for unlike my parents . I can promise you this My kids will be fed in the morning and have a lunch to bring with them . I wouldn't send my child with out and expect everyone else to pay for them . I will work 2 jobs on top of a 60 to 80 hour work week .

Even if they didn't have a lunch for the day it would hardly be the end of the world .

I understand the feel good crusade going on here . Do you really want our kids to grow up thinking they are entitled to everything for nothing . Life is tough never to early to start learning that lesson. Kids are dying of starvation in many places in the world who haven't eaten in days who should be getting aid , not little billy's dad because he is too cheap to afford a 2 dollar lunch tab for his kid to eat

ETA I had meant they can wait the 4 more hours till they got home to eat ( From previous post )

edit on 12/6/13 by freedomSlave because: (no reason given)

Ok. So, if your kids brought home a friend to play, whose parents were unemployed and struggling, and this kid told you he was hungry, would you not give him a quick sandwich? Or would you send him home hungry? After all he shouldn't expect free food from working people when his own parents don't work, should he?

reply to post by Freeborn


Freeborn, I don't know what is happening to people in our country to make them so unempathetic and so shallow.

I can't stand people who put money above all else.

After reading some of the replies on here I felt the need to reply.

I presume it is the same in the states, but over here it is a legal obligation to have your child in full time education from five years old to eighteen.

As a consequence when we drop our little darlings off in the morning, they become the responsibility of the school.

I cannot understand for the life of me why lunch is not supplied by the school as standard, like it is in Scotland,, when parents are legally obligated to be separated from their children over the lunchtime period.

Moreover, to those blaming the parents...If we failed to feed our children outside of school hours, we would be subject to all manner of child protection proceadures, in turn I believe the school should face a similar fate, as the child is not responsible for the debt.

Regardless of how the government try to spin the statistics things are still pretty bleak, unfortunately many more in the current economic climate should be entitled to free school meals, but don't qualify due to their take home pay, which doesn't factor in their ever increasing expenditure. I don't think anyone should be judging the parents, the school had a choice.

In my opinion the school chose wrong.

reply to post by doobydoll


Of course I would feed a child I am not a place of business now am I ? Would you go to work for free or even How many freebies does your work place give out to their customers because they have no cash to pay for it. Can't pay no service , would be nice where a balance on a credit card would go to zero but that is bad business practice isn't it . You can try to pretend and not face the facts of the world we live in life isn't always fair . The sooner kids see's the world for what it is .. the better.

I don't know about where you live but here schools are under a tight budget as it is and barely stay afloat. What programs in education do you offer to be cut for a free lunch program. Sorry but that really isn't the schools problem.

If you are truly bothered by the OP then start a petition asking for more taxes to pay for free lunches for kids at school .Or maybe a bake sale or something . I just don't see what is the big deal with the OP is .

Back when I was in elementary school if I owed money I couldn't buy lunch either. But they always offered free peanut butter and jelly sammiches instead to anyone who couldn't afford to pay for a lunch. I actually preferred the PB&J over the regular lunches anyways.

Originally posted by freedomSlave
reply to post by doobydoll

 

Of course I would feed a child I am not a place of business now am I ? Would you go to work for free or even How many freebies does your work place give out to their customers because they have no cash to pay for it. Can't pay no service , would be nice where a balance on a credit card would go to zero but that is bad business practice isn't it . You can try to pretend and not face the facts of the world we live in life isn't always fair . The sooner kids see's the world for what it is .. the better.

I don't know about where you live but here schools are under a tight budget as it is and barely stay afloat. What programs in education do you offer to be cut for a free lunch program. Sorry but that really isn't the schools problem.

If you are truly bothered by the OP then start a petition asking for more taxes to pay for free lunches for kids at school .Or maybe a bake sale or something . I just don't see what is the big deal with the OP is .

It really is the school's problem. The school isn't a business, but an establishment with a duty of care to the children while they're on the premises. Through our taxes, we pay those who consider themselves professionals and competent enough to do that.

But let's assume we could somehow look at the school as a business, and consider the PR angle: A kid ends up in hospital because of malnutrition or dehydration. Social services get involved. Questions would be asked. This could lead to the media painting the school and all its staff in a very bad light.

I'm a bit puzzled by your statement, though. Does that mean I should do nothing while a kid runs onto a road, because life isn't fair? Or do absolutely nothing when a kid is seriously neglected, because life isn't fair? Can't pay, no service?

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha


Despite the Dad the school should see that every kid eats period.
Seeing that it's just a place for them to get shot these days, I say,
burn every school to the ground.

reply to post by freedomSlave


Just because they can survive, doesn't make it right. Did I already mention that this was torture? Once I forgot my lunch ticket and the nuns forced me to dump my tray in the garbage! I was soo hungry and I had to sit there and watch the other children eat. It's not like you can leave the cafeteria. This happened over 40 years ago, and it was traumatic enough that I can still remember every last detail.

reply to post by XeroOne


Maybe it should paint the parents in a bad light who cannot afford a 35 dollar a month for a hot lunch . Hell I spend more than that in diapers in a month . for a web site that has a hard on for the education system it does really boggle my mind how eager people are to leave it to the state to raise their kids .

As for you taking to the extreme of kids walking out on the road as you mentioned life is
tough I am not really sure how you came to this conclusion or was that some sort of knee jerk reaction ?

Do you people really think not eating for 8 hours will cause starvation or dehydration I mean seriously .

I am for a fairy tale world where everything is perfect and no one goes with out . That isn't the case is it it is the cold hard reality of the world we live in with out money there is no hand out . Maybe you want to shelter or want children shielded from the world is like and have them to feel that everything is entitled to them why bother try everything will just be handed to you at the expense of others that is not how this world works.

What do you purpose should be done have the schools pay for it ? Where do they get their funding from ?
Why should people pay higher taxes for a hot meal program when parents could prepare a lunch for them and put it in their back pack instead of relying on the state to feed their children .

As some one else mentioned these programs were not in place when we were in schools , schools never had a hot lunch if you didn't have a lunch you'd better have money to get something from the store or you'd go with out . Why is it the end of the world for some on there , The kid learned a valuable lesson nothing is for free only from the kindness of people , not businesses .
ETA if the school is charging for a hot lunch program it is running a business it has been privatized and they have to claim sales tax and pay taxes on that income

reply to post by elouina


Well good thing you did your growing up 40 years ago and not 400 years ago if you think not eating for 8 hours is torture people would go days with out food . Hell I am sure people still do in some 3rd world countries . If you people feel the government should pay for hot meal programs then do something about it start a petition .

Originally posted by freedomSlave
reply to post by elouina

 

Well good thing you did your growing up 40 years ago and not 400 years ago if you think not eating for 8 hours is torture people would go days with out food . Hell I am sure people still do in some 3rd world countries . If you people feel the government should pay for hot meal programs then do something about it start a petition .

We live in the now, we don't live in a third world country, and we are not talking about government sponsored meals. Sometimes common sense just has to be taken at face value. So there is "no sense" in wasting time over this senseless discussion. Adios!