Lunches seized from kids in debt at Salt Lake City elementary

reply to post by Liquesence


This is just one more reason for me to continue to save money to place my baby girl in private school, or charter school. And if the program is worth it, maybe even home school.

reply to post by Liquesence


Capitalism in a nutshell. We could feed the world, but a meal that can't make a profit must be thrown out.

reply to post by sdcigarpig


Although I agree that the parents may be responsible, it is my experience as a mother, that even though we had plenty of money in our lunch account, my daughter was deprived from lunch on two (2) different occasions. The first time, they claimed she had already had lunch, and although her teacher vowed for her, they still wouldn't serve her, as they don't serve "seconds". The second time, it was a clerical error on their part. I was beyond upset. No one bothered to call me to verify, clarify or rectify the problem. The first time, the teacher gave her half her lunch and reported the lunch server. The second time, a classmate shared her lunch. The lunch servers and the private company they work for didn't apologize.

If they wanted to draw a line in the sand, they could have easily written down the names of the children w/o money, sent a new notice to the parents of said children and provided them with the less expensive lunch beginning the next day.

Lack of common sense, compassion and a mean, vicious streak are a bad combination, especially when it comes to caregivers like parents, teachers, and yes, school lunch employees.

Children are not responsible for their parents inability or neglect to pay and should not be humiliated in such a manner. Every single one of the lunch room employees and school personnel that allowed this to happen should be fired summarily.

reply to post by Liquesence


Oh my God, watch how fast I would whoop someone's ass.

projectvxn
reply to post by Liquesence

 

This is just one more reason for me to continue to save money to place my baby girl in private school, or charter school. And if the program is worth it, maybe even home school.

I totally understand the gist of what you are saying....


....but consider that the local school district is SUPPOSED to be run by parents. It is a citizen board. If your local schools suck, and most seem to, it is a reflection on the apathy of the community.

Abandoning that and going to a different system...that fixes nothing. It might provide a better education (might). But the community will continue to degrade as it lives down to increasingly lower expectation.

Told my husband about this, he said no that can't have happened, it is to hard to believe.

Now you mean to tell me there was not another adult
in that lunch room willing to step up and put a stop to this?

reply to post by Libertygal


My husband and I both agree, that this might have been a pissed off worker that took matters to the extrem out if spite.

Simple answer is to home school. Dont get none of that nonsense at home.

reply to post by VoidHawk



Not everyone can afford to quit work and home school their children. In addition, most parents are simply not qualified to teach their children.

FYI...."Don't get none" is a double negative.

40 kids having lunch taken away equals a lot of uncaring parents. The parents have a role in this too...they should have taken care of their kid and paid their bill. ...I blame the parents.

reply to post by Meldionne1


Who knows what these childrens parents are going through financially. It is easy to ignore the fact that over 40 million American families live below the poverty line. Look at all the families on food stamps. Don't be too quick to make assumptions. A LOT of Americans are hurting....and badly.

This is only going to get worse.

Being poor has nothing to do with this.

reply to post by Pimpintology


Do we know that for sure? There are a LOT of kids that go hungry every day in America....because they are poor. Poverty does exist....and it's steadily getting worse. It's disturbing to see how many ATS members are so quick to level judgement on the parents with so many American families struggling to get by.

So obviously to many, including myself, the actions taken by this school went into the realm of being disgusting. I cannot fathom how anyone could be so cruel as to take food from a child only to trash it. What I really find crazy about this whole situation is the post that was made on the Salt Lake City School District Facebook page prior to this situation.

Help fight child hunger through the Souper Bowl of Caring! Child poverty and hunger are reaching alarming levels in Utah. More than 170,000 Utah kids are eligible for free school breakfasts and lunches and another 50,000 are eligible for reduced cost meals. School breakfast and lunch programs help, but what happens on the weekends?

Salt Lake City School District Facebook

reply to post by deadcalm


it was mentioned that parents set up so they would get an email if lunch money was going to run out, they did not get notified.,...this whole thing is crappy...teachers did nothing...it is disturbing...like one poster said, what will be the long term effects on the children...I am so glad my children are all older and out of school.

We could feed the world, but a meal that can't make a profit must be thrown out.

reply to post by evictiongnostic



Excellent comment and very astute. This is what our profit at any cost society breeds. Mark my words....this is going to get much worse.

When I heard about this earlier today at work, I was hoping someone at ATS would post about this. I am too new to post threads yet. It made me feel angry that these cafeteria workers would be so callous as to humiliate children and throw good food away.

A lot of vicious people do not feel that the poor are embarassed enough about their poverty. I know from personal experience growing up as a military brat being stationed in rich areas and how being poor was impossible to forget or ignore. All the local kids would remind me all the time about my crappy clothes for example. Even teachers were complicit in this emphasis on class. I would run out of paper for instance and my english teacher would yell at me to ask someone next to give me a piece of paper. I would be very ashamed for the rest of the day.

It just isn't right to punish kids for being poor or in a neglectful home where the adults don't care about the kid's needs.

reply to post by Liquesence


when i was a kid there where times i forgot my lunch money or my step thing forgot to send check to school to cover lunch in those instances i had to watch the other kids eat while i got nothing. it made me feel like a piece of excrement and after that happened to me in elementary school i stared carrying my own lunch to school usually a sandwich a soup thermos with some mac and cheese or a bag and chips and a soda and a snack cake. one day one of the teachers told me i couldn't drink my soda with my lunch and i told her are you giving me a free milk otherwise i am drinking my soda . guess who won that argument. if i was a parent at this school i would pay the debt then i would stop letting my child eat there crap i would make their vlunches

Disgusting. What kind of impact do they think is gonna be there on the kids when they're exposed to behavior like this? This is worse than bullying IMO.

This will end up with every little kiddy having their own lovely little identification badge and card.

Show the identification. Does it match the kid?

Yes. Does he have positive funds?

Yes. The kid gets lunch.

No. The kid goes without.

Show the identification. Does it match the kid?

No. The kid either stole the card or a friend lent it to them.

Breach of policy.

The kid goes without and is reported.

I have a simple solution to all school lunch and welfare problems.

Consolidate all welfare and school lunch benefits in central offices sprinkled around town. You can get everything for your children in one place - EBT, expectant mother, school lunch, clothing vouchers, everything under one roof.

Advertise them heavily, get people in the door for ease of use.

Attach a prison to the backside of these offices. When someone who has bred children without being able to support them arrives, immediately escort them to jail. The mere act of acknowledging that you have produced offspring minus the resources to support them is punishable by 18 years in jail.

Children go to other homes, become wards of state, etc. Sad, but inevitable.

deadcalm

Not everyone can afford to quit work and home school their children. In addition, most parents are simply not qualified to teach their children.

FYI...."Don't get none" is a double negative.

Ya got me!
Had I been home schooled maybe I would've known that, unfortunatley when I was at school (50+ years ago) we weren't taught such things.

most parents are simply not qualified to teach their children.

Its surprisingly easy to educate a child to a higher standard than they would be at a school.

I know two children, both are pre-school age. Both can read and write. Both can read six digit numbers and count to any amount.
If they were sent to school they would spend the first six months learning the alphabet and being taught how to count up to FIFTEEN!
I dont know where you are located but in the uk those two children would be held back until the rest of their class caught up with them.
Both those children are already signed up with free online tutors (University based) that will provide the parents with help in the coming years should they need it.

I agree that not all parents are in a position to educate in this way, but those that are really ought to try, unless they can afford private education because state eduction only produces a standardised citizen.

While at a state school they are treated with less respect than a prisoner. Our state schools in the uk even look like prisons. The are surrounded with very high fencing, security on the gates that requires a pass, and the children are marched between lessons, having to keep one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them. That is not schooling, its conditioning!

I have a question.
Exactly how many adults witnessed this?
People really need to stand up for others, especially children.
If I had been there I would have whipped out my wallet and paid for all those kids, and then turned on the adults who were going along with this disgusting situation. (Trust me, I'm pretty poor these days, but there is always someone worse off...and yeah, I would give my last dollars to feed kids AND shame the adults!!!)

How pathetic does it have to get, before someone is provoked into standing up and screaming "This is not right!!"...?

I know, I know....people are afraid to lose their jobs. Well I personally have been prepared to lose my job in the past, by standing up for someone (they didn't fire me). I would rather go hungry than go home knowing that I had an opportunity to help someone and CHOSE not to.

jacygirl