I really don’t know what happens at my son’s school. Since 78% of the kids get free/reduced lunch, I imagine that it’s not a problem all too often. I do keep my child’s lunch account stocked with money so it is never an issue.
Frankly, I don’t think that a child should EVER go hungry…least of all at school. I think that the school should provide something for the child to eat regardless. I would like to think that most parents are not out to scam the school for lunches for their kids. If they are, then I assume that karma will come around and bite them in the ass sometime…at least a child didn’t go hungry because of the stupidity of their parents.
This is a HUGE issue in our school district. There was over $20,000 owed to the BOE for unpaid lunches. The policy now is to give the child a cheese sandwich and to contact the parents.
I had a part time job in a small private school with no cafeteria. It was the year before i started but apparently there was a child that so greatly enjoyed being fussed over and given the stash of food which was microwaved spagettios that they purposely “lost” their lunch in the bushes before getting on the bus. And from what i heard unoffically from the teachers that this sort of thing did happen with other children althought not to that extent, but if they had peanut butter they would throw it out before the teacher saw it so they could get something they liked better like the spaghettios or crackers with peanut butter.
And yes i do not want a chld to go hungry due to the parents entitlement, but it seems I’m a bit jaded by mama’s with their nails done and hair done and fancy cell phones, cigerettes and no food for their kids. I dout someone colored your hair for you for free and even if you did it yourself that would have cost as much as a box of cereal. If the family was really going through a hardship, they should should have recieved a free lunch from the gov system that is set up.
I think it’s awesome that you have a little snack on hand for kids that forget their lunch. Not only that everyone is human and sometimes a kid will forget lunch… also many parents work during the day and driving by the school to drop of lunch is just not possible.
A third thing to consider is that some children who “forget” lunch, may simply not be able to bring lunch because their parents can’t afford it. Some people are too proud to apply for free/reduced lunch at school or they are unaware that they may qualify. Some people are in debt up to their eyeballs and even though they make good money (and do not qualify for free lunch), sometimes there is not enough left for food.
And some kids have parents who are slackers/do not care whether their child eats during the day.
So yes, while it should be the parent’s responsibility, you are not only helping the kids who “should know better” or could benefit from a learning experience, this decision also hurts those who are most vulnerable.
Maybe you can get some of the teachers or other staff involved and find out why this decision was made? If it is a financial concern you could set up a donation fund that pays for these “extras”. If it is something different maybe that can be addressed as well.
They shouldn’t let a child go hungry as punishment for the parents. That is just sad and how could that possibly help the kid’s learning?
Good luck.
I think kids need to be responsible. I think kids are human and forget sometimes. I think that principal is off her rocker!
I’d be contacting the superintendent to get the issue fixed. There is no reason to not be able to give them a school lunch and send the bill for $2 or whatever it is home. I can’t imagine watching a kid sit there hungry because they forgot something…that’s awful :(.
I’m not sure why the school does not already have a policy in place. If you don’t already have a direct line to the principal than get involved with your PTA to try to get a policy in place.
Our school will let the kid’s account go so far negative (might be $10) and then they are given a cheese sandwich until the account is caught up.
With food allergies rampant I can see the stash of food be a potential liability if you give a child food they didn’t bring.
For those families falling on hard times there is the free and reduced lunch program.
So bottom line, the child who forgets their lunch on occasion should be given a hot lunch. If they do it habitually than the principal needs to contact the family once their account is so far negative.
The way it works here is if a kid forgets lunch or has no $$ in their lunch account, they can charge 2 - 3 lunches before they’re denied lunch. Also, parents are notified.
Seems wrong to completely deny kids something to eat if they’ve forgotten to bring something.
DD’s school (and most, if not all) in the US have lunch rooms.
I think this policy is b.s., especially for younger kids, who rely on their parents to make & remind then to put their lunch box in their backpacks. The principal is trying to punish the parents, but the kids are the ones that are suffering. I question whether or not someone so cold should be working with kids in the first place.
You just made me really happy that DD is in a Title 1 school & offers a free breakfast to all kids, regardless of income, and if your child should forget lunch, or run out of money on their lunch fund, they are still provided a meal. A lot of the kids are on a reduced/free lunch, so no one goes hungry, anyway. This is how it should be, regardless of financial status.
It’s like you said Sherri…your child will learn a lesson, as will you. If a lunch is forgotten, yes, a parent will have to go out of their way to get their child lunch. Some schools are just cutting back I guess as far as lunches, which I think is stupid. I really don’t understand what the big deal is either, but I guess it’s not just 1 kid forgetting lunch and it adds up on the school bill. ???
When my kids were younger, their elementary school just fed them. My youngest had a best friend who was always forgetting her lunch and she would just share her lunch.
our school has hot lunch daily. so if the kid does not have lunch the child will get a hot lunch and the parents will get a bill.
you can prepay for hot lunch.. (send in a check for 10 lunches or so-- so you are not looking for exact change every day.)
I know they will give the child several lunches without payment.. (billing the parents) but I know at some point if there are parents taht dont send money or lunch the principa;l would have to step in and talk to the parents.
My son goes to a private school with a hot lunch program. If they forget their packed lunch, the school provides them a hot lunch and sends a bill home. I realize this may not be possible with public school.
Does you school offer hot lunch? Maybe you could put $5 in your child’s account so he can eat on the days that he forgets his packed lunch.
In our public schools we have cafeterias with big lunch rooms.
Here in Austin there is a lunch account. Parents pay into it..It is now computerized so the child punches in their code and then the amount is deducted from the balance.
The schools encourage parents to try to keep a balance for just in case the student forgets their lunch. At the end of the school year, the balance is returned to the parents.
IF a child does not have lunch or money.. The lunch room will provide a peanut butter sandwich, an apple and a carton of milk.. A cheese sandwich can also be offered.
Our PTA in the elementary school tried to keep money for children in case they just needed the meal..
Of course the govt, provides meals for the low income children.
I think as a campus, you parents need to work with this Principal to come up with a less disruptive solution.
Cereal is good. Peanut butter crackers, Cheese and crackers, fresh fruit. Dried fruit.
My first thought went to the kids who may be saying the lunch is “forgotten” but in all truth, the family simply didn’t have the food at home to prepare a lunch or the dollars in their pocket to pay daily. In Texas, all public school families receive an application for free lunches. I’ve never had to fill it out, but just looking at it was a headache. I’m not going to get political here, but I do believe we need to make it easy for our students to be nourished at school. Your principal needs to put themselves into the shoes of the CHILD and just imagine how heart broken that kid will be when they KNOW there is NO WAY a lunch will be delivered when or if the parents are reached. Maybe I’ve been working too long with lower income schools, but there is great need out there and I believe it is worth our tax dollars to pay for kids to be fed in school, whether it is the occassional “forgotten” lunch or something deeper and with greater need.
I’m a bit on the fence re this issue.
I also worked in the lunchroom, and I liked that we had some “emergency” options (similar to what you described) on hand for the kids who forgot a lunch, or who had no lunch money/tickets.
On the other hand, when I was a kid, I knew from day one, if I forgot my lunch/lunch ticket, I had no lunch. I think it made me a pretty responsible person. And this started in kindergarten.
My mother had nothing to do with it, I was always pretty much on my own in this regard, she rarely made me a lunch, let alone reminded me to bring my lunch ticket.
Honestly, even though it sounds harsh, I like giving kids the chance to take this responsibility for themselves. Children all over the world are TRULY going hungry every day. The occasional missed lunch of an American child is not really damaging and is probably in fact a lesson they won’t soon forget. Maybe that’s what the principal is trying to do?
Holy cow!!! That is CRAZY that they don’t have a City/County/State/ policy on this! I would call the school board immediately!! First thing I would do is look up the policy for about 10 other states so you have something to go by. For example, in our school (county) the child is NEVER to go hungry. If they do not bring their lunch or do not have any money in their account, there is a set lunch that they can have. That is a cheese sandwich a fruit and a milk. This is a standard meal that they always will receive. They used to give them things like you mentioned but this year b/c of so many children not bringing their lunch, they changed it to a standard meal.
Go to the Board and tell them that this needs to be changed immediately. Or even go to the PTC/PTA board at your school and see if they can afford a small budget each year to care for this area.
This is just pathetic. I wonder if the “no child left behind” falls under this category. I hope you can get something worked out.
You know, you may even try to start a mission/ministry in your area that asks for donated items that keep for long periods that is for the children in the school system of your town. Have big donation times and then each school gets some of the donations. Worst case, have your school ask for donations to feed your own school’s children.
I’ve been at a lot of different private and public schools, and all schools have handled the forgotten lunch problem exactly the same way: they all have some back up food. Only the food options differ from school to school.
The principal who made this insensitive decision does not sound as though she even likes children, to punish them with hunger like this. It’s really unacceptable, as we are talking about little kids who are totally dependent upon the grown ups in their lives to feed them. Honestly, shame on this particular principal.
Now your son, sorry about the one time forgotten lunch and he clearly survived. In the beginning of the week I have my kids pack some extra snacks in their bags, like crackers and fruit cups, in case there is a mix up with our lunch planning, because like every regular family, things like lunches get over looked once in a while.
BTW, we live in Canada now and the lunch hour in Elementary Schools is not covered by the local school district. Teachers get that time off to rest and rejuvenate. Children within the walking zone have to pay to stay at school here. Otherwise they go home. Bused kids can stay, but they pay for the bus here. I think it’s very sweet that kids can go home and be with mom at lunch time if they want. It’s encouraged and sometimes it’s even a play date and a lunch combo. There is no cafeteria at school, if a kid forgets their lunch, there is some food available. But I’d have to ask my daughter what the choices are.
All public schools have a cafeteria and really I hardly ever see kids bring lunch anymore. I guess if the kids are really picky they bring stuff from home but the ones I do see always throw their food away and eat off friends lunches. We have pretty good food at our schools.
We also have a low income program for families who can’t afford lunches. I have never paid for lunch for my grand kids. And before anyone says anything, I worked all my life until I couldn’t work anymore. If I was able to work I would be paying for their lunches. I paid my taxes like everyone else so now that I am unable to work yes, I get some assistance to help my family out.
The kids that get free or reduced priced lunches also have the option of getting backpack of food for the weekend to help them with their lunches and other meals. Our school does not partake in this program, they don’t think their students really need this program…duh, they get free lunch, that means they have low income.
So our kids would not be going hungry. They would help the parents get them on the reduced or free lunch program so the kids would not be going hungry.
Also if the parents would not comply and cooperate with them helping the kids to get proper nutrition I am sure the school would call social services and file a complaint. Kids cannot go without food. They need a person to stand up for them and tell those parents to make sure their kids get enough food.
I don’t know if there’s a “policy” or not at my son’s school, but his kindergarten class does this thing where everyday, one child brings snack for everyone in the class (25 kids). I thought that was lame before, why can’t we each just be responsible for our own kids, but I suppose if someone forgets their food then it’s a good thing. I know the teacher collects extras of snacks so if someone forgets to do this (even though he sends home a calendar), the class is still covered.
What I do to insure my child always has lunch even if I’m sick, or something happens, or we somehow forget: I put $10 in his lunch account at school, which I can monitor from home on the computer. He has a pin number so there have been a few mornings (early morning doctor appointment, going out of town, 1 day when I was simply sick all night and didn’t want to be bothered packing lunches) where I’ll just say “Here’s your number on a card, keep it in your pocket, buy lunch today ok?” If he doesn’t want the hot lunch option that day, he can also purchase a milk, pbj, and fruit…or a salad. It’s best that the child knows his pin # and can do it himself, but if a child rarely used it and didn’t have the number, either his teacher or lunch lady can look it up. The site is mylunchmoney.com
my daughter is in the 5th grade and yes there is a cafeteria. if a child forgets a lunch, they have “bagged” lunches for the kids. a pb jelly sandwich and some fruit & milk normally. that’s just wrong to make the kids sit there & not eat!!
Well, here in US public schools, the government covers lunches…and if a family can’t make ends meet, there is a reduced or free lunch program.
I think it’s pathetic that the principal would not allow food to a hungry child when there isn’t a program to ensure that they get food. I would take that to the district superintendent.