Lunches seized from kids in debt at Salt Lake City elementary

reply to post by Liquesence


Lunch isn't a form of punishment nor should it be used as a reward.
This school needs to be put in checked for it's asinine rules!

reply to post by Liquesence


Our schools provide free lunches and breakfasts to children whose family cannot afford to pay. I wonder if this school has such a program. That action of throwing the lunches away is faulty logic at best. They can proudly wear the moron badge.

reply to post by Liquesence


I'm the Janitor at an Elementry School here in Kentucky.
This does not happen where i work.
If the kids don't have the Money to Pay a
Note is sent home with the student that day and
they still get Lunch.
This is total B.S.
Some Heads should roll at this particular School.
Just my Opinion

reply to post by Meldionne1


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.


I think People on Welfare should blame
The Government when they Don't get a CHECK also.
That's just stupidity to throw away Food when Kid's
Don't have the MONEY.
Rather put it in the Garbage than Feed Hungry Kid's
Seems to be the Mindset of Lots of People in this World.
What a Crying Shame

8fl0z
reply to post by Liquesence

 

this is old news, this has happened to my peers and i since elementary school, if you cant pay for the regular slop, you got a sunbutter sandwich on stale white bread, and a milk.

typical stuff really.

i guess you yuppie types aint too used to the reality of capitalism.

Can't have White Bread has to be Wheat.
Thanks to Michelle Dbummer.
I know because I Work there.

nixie_nox

SecretWeapon
And big government saves the day again.

Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!
< end sarcasm>

edit on 30-1-2014 by SecretWeapon because: (no reason given)

edit on 30-1-2014 by SecretWeapon because: (no reason given)

Wow, conspiracy theorists get dumber by the day.

Schools are county or state, which are local governments.

Schools are FEDERALLY Funded.
I should Know because I Work There.

Liquesence

ScientiaFortisDefendit
I suspect this is more indoctrination policy being implemented. Obey. Follow the rules. Pay your bills or else.

Can't be having independent thinkers roaming around the US all out of control.

Normally I'd agree, but this was not school admin making the decision, apparently, but cafeteria workers (unless they were told to by the admin). Plus, these are elementary school kids and probably have little understanding of the concept of debt. It's simple humiliation.

Of course, an argument could be made that indoctrination must start at an early age...

You know that an admin or someone with a nice resume that wants to preserve it would easily throw the blame down the ranks, right? In cases like this it isn't easy to say whose decision it was to do to the likely hungry students, that's why units should be treated as a whole. It's just one of those ever-so-common situations where those who have the authority to be paid high annual salaries suddenly don't have the authority anymore to accept responsibility for the affects their apathy causes those under their chain of command.

bluesman1955

8fl0z
reply to post by Liquesence

 

this is old news, this has happened to my peers and i since elementary school, if you cant pay for the regular slop, you got a sunbutter sandwich on stale white bread, and a milk.

typical stuff really.

i guess you yuppie types aint too used to the reality of capitalism.

Can't have White Bread has to be Wheat.
Thanks to Michelle Dbummer.
I know because I Work there.

Really? Michelle Obama passed a law requiring wheat bread instead of white? Care to show me that law?

CJ

reply to post by sdcigarpig


What you are missing is that the government has ordered children to be submitted to government custody, and then sold the responsibility of providing food on a for profit basis. It's not as simple as parents failing to provide for their children- it's about parents and children being forced into expensive and sometimes complicated programs because it's more profitable for a third party. It's almost a hostage situation as I remember my experience in school and that of my younger siblings.

I've seen schools prevent bringing lunch from home with overzealous rules against food in class, I've seen them stop accepting cash in the lunch line, and I've seen places where 3 dollars will get you lettuce, a thin slice of ham and cheese, almost rotten tomato and stale bread, and nothing to drink- the result of that was that everyone on campus opted for the 5 dollar pizza cart if they could afford it and the rest just ate a bag of chips.

If the government is going to claim authority and responsibility in the lives of these children that comes with a responsibility, not with an exploitable monopoly that can be enforced by hunger and humiliation.

The Vagabond
reply to post by sdcigarpig

 

What you are missing is that the government has ordered children to be submitted to government custody, and then sold the responsibility of providing food on a for profit basis. It's not as simple as parents failing to provide for their children- it's about parents and children being forced into expensive and sometimes complicated programs because it's more profitable for a third party. It's almost a hostage situation as I remember my experience in school and that of my younger siblings.

I've seen schools prevent bringing lunch from home with overzealous rules against food in class, I've seen them stop accepting cash in the lunch line, and I've seen places where 3 dollars will get you lettuce, a thin slice of ham and cheese, almost rotten tomato and stale bread, and nothing to drink- the result of that was that everyone on campus opted for the 5 dollar pizza cart if they could afford it and the rest just ate a bag of chips.

If the government is going to claim authority and responsibility in the lives of these children that comes with a responsibility, not with an exploitable monopoly that can be enforced by hunger and humiliation.

Damn. You just laid it all out there.

On the one hand, it is nice for kids to have choices and whatnot. It saves on having to sit with heartburn all afternoon after having the Chilimac and dinner roll (the most dreaded meal day for anyone in my age group, certainly). On the other hand, it is nothing but upsell opportunities.

I worked with a lady a couple years ago (she works for me again now, different place....i just like her working for me). She would fund her daughters lunch account with whatever amount bought 2 weeks worth of lunches. She did this each payday. One day her daughter said, "Mommy, they won't let me have lunch. I had to eat a cheese sandwich and milk". She inquired why....because the lunch account was zero and needed funding.

How did her daughter end up without enough money in the account? Why, they have upsell opportunities a tthe point of sale. The "lunch lady" will sell you a gatorade, or an ice cream, or just an extra bottle of water. Tell me, what kid will avoid buying the ice cream? The school says its the parent and students responsibility to manage the expense. My feeling is that they are making ice cream available to kids who they know doesn't have parent supervision at that moment when the decision is made.

Don't even get me started on the potato bar, and it being promoted as a healthy lunch alternative. The only thing a potato will do is fill your belly and fatten you up.

Meldionne1
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.

my feelings exactly...where are the parents in all of this? ...were notices sent to them?...did admin know about it?....were the actual lunch workers instructed to do this?

Let's put the cost of school lunches in perspective with how much is spent per student on average in the US.
nces.ed.gov...

Expenditures

Question:
How much money does the United States spend on public elementary and secondary schools?

Response:
Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools in the United States amounted to $638 billion in 2009-10, or about $12,743 per public school student. These expenditures include $11,184 per student in current expenditures for operation of schools; $1,182 for capital outlay (i.e., expenditures for property and for buildings and alterations completed by school district staff or contractors); and $376 for interest on school debt. Expenditures are reported in constant 2011-12 dollars, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

$12,743 in total. That breaks down to:
$11,184 per for operation expenditures.
$1,182 for capital outlay.
$376 for interest on debt.

Out of that nearly $13 grand spent on each student, we can't make room for covering lunch so none of the kids have to worry about it? Most states' school days are 180, and the average lunch apparently $3 (actually $2.43 according to google, but we'll stick with $3) That's $540 bucks for lunch for the school year. Nearly $13 thousand dollars annually per student apparently can't cover this.

This is pathetic & should be an embarrassment to everyone.

jimmyx

Meldionne1
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.

my feelings exactly...where are the parents in all of this? ...were notices sent to them?...did admin know about it?....were the actual lunch workers instructed to do this?

No, it seems notices were not sent out to anyone about account balances. The posters reaming the parents are already in the wrong for flaming they're doing. And to top that off, a quick browse of articles about this shows that some kids who weren't even delinquent were swept up in this.

Lukes said she was never notified about an outstanding balance and later called a school cafeteria worker who said her 11-year-old daughter's account wasn't overdue and a mistake had been made when her meal was taken.

www.wwltv.com...

Everybody need to check their "blame the parents" attitude right now. RIGHT now. All evidence points to the school being at fault, not the kids, not the parents.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Absolutely right. The schools sell private corporations access to unattended children who are not legally considered able to make their own decisions, and allows them to solicit these children to undertake financial obligations in the name of their parents. I doubt they could squeeze another penny out of the children at this point short of grinding them up and selling them by the pound, which in sure was brought up at a meeting at some point.

reply to post by FraggleRock

I cannot fathom how anyone could be so cruel as to take food from a child only to trash it.

exactly, and I can't fathom people allowing it to happen.

jacygirl
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

I think people are being conditioned to comply.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


You are right.

I have seen it as my duty to raise my sons to be pains in the ass. Never comply without asking why. Any authority that over reacts to a simple question is not an authority worthy of ceding authority to.

The school has learned to deal with us in a way that achieves their overall goal while keeping me from harassing them into sleepless nights.

This breaks my heart, am I the only one with empathy in this world?
Why impose there parents financial problems on the children, what's wrong with this world!

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


And therein lies the problem with how society is progressing. Not only are we being conditioned to comply, as Stormdancer mentioned, but we are being punished for asking why, even if we are in the right and have every right to question. I see it all the time in multiple aspects of society.

Do not question, just Obey.

It's scary, and people are beginning to not question the "do not question, obey." A vicious cycle of consequence or compliance.

All I know is that I don't have a problem paying taxes to feed children in school. I am sure everyone else will agree. So what the hell is wrong with this god damn government? Kids are an investment to the future of our country. If we can't even get over the obstacle of feeding kids in schools we're doomed.