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AP: School districts rethink meal debt policies that shame kids
- Thread starter KSweeley
- Start date
I can sympathize with them having to do something that sucks, and I'm not saying that they should give them the food and get fired but have more tact about it you know?
Don't just straight out tell the poor kid that they're too poor to get food and throw it away in front of them.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Throwing prepared food away is literally indefensible. The funds have already been spent to procure and make the food. The only thing this accomplishes is to humiliate children while enabling cruel adults feel a rush of power and authority at making someone suffer.
Americans have had the belief "everybody is a moocher but me" drilled into their heads with a power tool.
Americans have had the belief "everybody is a moocher but me" drilled into their heads with a power tool.
A school in 2016 in Alabama actually stamped a kid with a smiley face and under it "I need lunch money": http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/06/gardendale_elementary_student.html
WiiredShawn
Member
Here's a crazy idea: Let's fix wage stagnation and income inequality so that parents have the money to pay for their kids' lunches.
Otherwise, give them the fucking food. Fuck.
Otherwise, give them the fucking food. Fuck.
LinkAndEpona
Banned
emphasis on supposed
The idea behind the policy is "if we give them the food for free, instead of throwing it away, then the parents will just keep not paying.. so throwing it away brings in more money than giving it away."
Note: I in know way support this disgusting behavior, but it's the logic they always give.
Note: I in know way support this disgusting behavior, but it's the logic they always give.
Somehow these people seem to have forgotten that one of the basic ideas and benefits to living as a society is that people can help each other.
But nope. "All of this is mine! Get your own! If you can't get one then too bad! I help no one but me!" *fires guns into the air*
Isn't being poor punishment enough? Fucking hell... the mindset of Americans never ceases to amaze me. I'm a grown ass man and I'm still surprised day by day.
Where's your empathy? Does it only stretch so far?
Yaphett Kotto
Member
Alabama is probably the biggest offender of this mess. Where i went to school, you were paying $1.50 a day for lunch and it didn't get you much outside of low tier square pizzas and nuggets (reheated, btw) and nowhere near enough content to be a lunch for a teenager. Add into the fact that most families lied to get a reduced or free lunch and you have a big problem.
There were no alternatives to lunch either. It was eat or don't eat.
The school system in that state is so insanely bad, it goes much much deeper than just the poor lunch system though. It is a crime how they have ran the education system to the ground in certain counties and cities.
PabloBolivar
Banned
Couldn't you bring in your own? I did that because my mom wouldn't pay.
Lord of Castamere
Member
Think of the Children!*
*except when it costs me money
*except when it costs me money
Yaphett Kotto
Member
I was in Montgomery and the school I went to, before further cutbacks (on high school lunches), allowed for us to bring food or drive somewhere and get it but after cutbacks that all went away.
The Last Wizard
Member
CampbellzSoup
Member
Happened to me when I was a kid multiple times where I had no food due to my mom forgetting to pay prior to the month sometimes ...felt like shit do I can empathize here. Single mom working two jobs can forget things...man thinking about it now how fucked up was that I sat with no lunch until I came home...
adamsappel
Member
There should be free lunch and breakfast at school, no questions asked. I grew up in West Virginia in the 1970's, and we had free or reduced prices for poor kids. And there was shame attached to even that, which makes me sad now. Poor kids shaming poorer kids, smh. Just make it free for everyone. The better-off kids will ignore it, and everyone can make fun of the "mystery meat," although honestly I am impressed with my memory of those meals.
they can fire the lunch people if they give the kids the food for free too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ing-needy-student_us_567c5ccae4b0b958f6595a8a
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ing-needy-student_us_567c5ccae4b0b958f6595a8a
hairygreenpeas
Neo Member
This is some seriously heinous shit. I've seen it happen to some of my classmates back in elementary school, where the cashier would let them know that they have a 'lunch debt' and then proceed to take away their food. It is absolutely humiliating for the kids, on top of - you know - the starvation aspect of the whole issue. It's a good thing most of the kids were more than willing to share their food when they witness shit like that, but the humiliation and embarrassment usually get to the students... 
The way some schools handle 'lunch debt' is fucking disgusting. It's a good thing to see that the issue is, at least, being addressed.
I recall reading an article about a lunch lady who was fired for serving a hot meal to a kid who didn't have money for/couldn't afford the school lunch. It's heartbreaking, and it also pissed me off.
edit: ^ Yep, it's that one lol.
The way some schools handle 'lunch debt' is fucking disgusting. It's a good thing to see that the issue is, at least, being addressed.
I recall reading an article about a lunch lady who was fired for serving a hot meal to a kid who didn't have money for/couldn't afford the school lunch. It's heartbreaking, and it also pissed me off.
edit: ^ Yep, it's that one lol.
D
Deleted member 325805
Unconfirmed Member
That was what shocked me the most, they'd rather bin it then let a hungry kid eat it, fucking madness.
Vicetrailia
Member
I remember this happening to me once in middleschool. They threw the food away and I sat down hungry af. I suddenly got pissed and got back in line, and told them to fuck off when I got to the register. I was so heated because I was hungry, and got detention. Well deserved, but also well deserved back at them.
Or just... punish no one? Being able to eat should be a fundamental human right. And being poor is outside of many's control.
I'm honestly curious as what happens to all the money that goes toward local taxes.
All I know is that it's local taxes > schools -> ???
Is there a middleman like insurance or something? I hope most of it goes towards teacher salaries
--------------
What pissed me off in HS was the emphasis and maintance the school spent on sports. I wonder if the school spent that on subsidizing healthy food if that would have actually made a bigger impact than a new fuckin stadium
All I know is that it's local taxes > schools -> ???
Is there a middleman like insurance or something? I hope most of it goes towards teacher salaries
--------------
What pissed me off in HS was the emphasis and maintance the school spent on sports. I wonder if the school spent that on subsidizing healthy food if that would have actually made a bigger impact than a new fuckin stadium
schools in the US are funded out of property taxes because we're idiots and didn't generalize education funding at the federal level.
so to make the obvious conclusion obvious, it means a feedback loop were poor/low value property areas have worse schools, leading to worse education, leading to lower paying jobs and lower value property area stays where it is, leading to worse education.
n00bsauce87
Member
I think as American taxpayers, pulling tax revenue to actually pay for school lunch for each kid for the entire school year.
That would be a winning campaign slogan.
You can still have a la carte lines where you can pay for sweets and stuff like that.
That would be a winning campaign slogan.
You can still have a la carte lines where you can pay for sweets and stuff like that.
Violence Jack
Member
All the food this country produces, and they have the gall to throw away lunch intended for kids. How exactly are these children expected to learn and be attentive in class without food? It should be free.
entremet
Member
Yep. School funding is a mess. It also creates savage inequities.
Velcro Fly
Member
The retort to "it should be free" is that you should just bring a sack lunch if you can't afford to buy the school lunch.
The school I work at is like 90%+ free or reduced. We've had big problems with throwing food, wasting food, etc. I've heard some snide comments about if they had to pay for it they would appreciate it more and eat it instead of playing with it. And I'm talking decent food here too. Always fresh fruits and vegetables and everything.
It will never be free. Someone has to pay for it. Someone has to pay the workers to prepare and serve it. You already have school districts that are struggling just to have school. You have states that are bankrupt or being driven there by politics. Free lunch for everyone at school is never going to be a priority. It stinks but it is the world we've created for ourselves in America. It is just a symptom of the whole poor people are to blame for being poor disease that plagues many places.
The school I work at is like 90%+ free or reduced. We've had big problems with throwing food, wasting food, etc. I've heard some snide comments about if they had to pay for it they would appreciate it more and eat it instead of playing with it. And I'm talking decent food here too. Always fresh fruits and vegetables and everything.
It will never be free. Someone has to pay for it. Someone has to pay the workers to prepare and serve it. You already have school districts that are struggling just to have school. You have states that are bankrupt or being driven there by politics. Free lunch for everyone at school is never going to be a priority. It stinks but it is the world we've created for ourselves in America. It is just a symptom of the whole poor people are to blame for being poor disease that plagues many places.
Miles Quaritch
Member
Just provide free fucking school meals for the kids who can't afford it. Fucking hell, sending them home with stamps on their hand? Throwing food away while they stand there hungry or thirsty?
Absolutely disgraceful and what kind of cunt do you have to be to snatch food away from a child. Dirty motherfuckers.
Absolutely disgraceful and what kind of cunt do you have to be to snatch food away from a child. Dirty motherfuckers.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Also from Alabama though ours was $1.75.
at the time even as a bigger kid I didn't think it was that bad depending on the item that day(unless you were extremely hungry for example)
But my god I saw some of my two younger brother's lunches over the last few years... shit looks like half of what I was getting.
Legitimately get like 3/4 tater tots as a side now, 3 or 4 chicken nuggets as a main...
Myself as a teenager would have been starved to death or broke from the extras I needed to buy every day.
Those snide comments seem really stupid from a place of ignorance. These are kids they are talking about, of course they will do shit like that. Have these coworkers not seen the stuff thrown away from politicians. Full grown adults barely nibbling a piece of bread because they've realized they need to stick to their fad paleo diet. And that right there is paid by someone the taxpayers.
Galactic Barret
Member
Throwing away food when other countries have kids starving.
Another reason everyone hates us.
Like others have said, punish the parents, not the children.
Another reason everyone hates us.
I see your note, but I disagree with the logic. You show compassion to a child when you say "You have no money. Ok, take it this time, but you need to remind mommy and daddy about lunch money." Then, you report to the parents about what is required of them. That teaches that child compassion and responsibility. These memories and the emotions behind them have the potential to last forever and change a person for better or worse.
Like others have said, punish the parents, not the children.
Broken Hope
Member
In England all kids up to a certain age get free school meals regardless of their parents income and then those over that age get free meals if their parent is earning under a certain amount.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
Muppet of a Man
Member
And this is why we in the U.S. can't have nice things. Our brand of capitalism rewards cutthroat competition and individualism but totally ignores and even has vitriol for the aspect of humanity which is social and cooperation based.
The truth is that all human being are both individuals and part of a group simultaneously. The 2 cannot be reduced or isolated from one another without serious unintended (or intended depending on how you look at it) consequences. This understanding of basic human social dynamics is where the U.S. is faltering compared to many other first world industrialized nations.
Walter White Walker
Member
In my kid's school district any kids that come from families that qualify for food benefits get free or reduced breakfast and lunch. I think that's a good thing.
For those like me that pay for school lunches, the school sends an email whenever their balance goes below a certain amount that you set. If the balance on my kid's accounts goes below $10 I'll get an email every day telling me to stick money on there.
The lunch people also are not evil at their school because kids have the pay place at the beginning of the line instead of the end. By letting a kid get food and then having to toss it due to lack of funds because they pay at the end seems like a deliberate cruelty to me.
For those like me that pay for school lunches, the school sends an email whenever their balance goes below a certain amount that you set. If the balance on my kid's accounts goes below $10 I'll get an email every day telling me to stick money on there.
The lunch people also are not evil at their school because kids have the pay place at the beginning of the line instead of the end. By letting a kid get food and then having to toss it due to lack of funds because they pay at the end seems like a deliberate cruelty to me.
This is why I hate being such an angry person. Stuff like this just infuriates me and I can just feel the years being shaved off my life.
How can you let a kid go without food on top of throwing it away. What's the good in throwing the food away? That is mind blowing. If I worked in the cafeteria for that school system, I'd be fired within my first hour of serving food.
How can you let a kid go without food on top of throwing it away. What's the good in throwing the food away? That is mind blowing. If I worked in the cafeteria for that school system, I'd be fired within my first hour of serving food.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
Nydius
Member
There are LOTS of middle men. At least where I live the path is something like this:
Taxes & Other Funding -> City Council
City Council listens to requests from all agencies including school board.
City Council sets up a budget and capital plan.
City Council has closed and public hearings on budget, adjusts, then votes.
City Council disburses monies to relevant city agencies and other entities.
The school board then has to take the money they're given and must use it to split it up between ALL of their needs and they have as many sub-divisions vying for money as the City Council has divisions asking for money on the entire budget. Teacher and administrator hiring and retention, infrastructure and maintenance, technology budgets, support staff (food service usually falls under this budget), sports programs, extracurricular non-sports programs, special education and limited programs, et cetera.
Managing funding for public schools is a logistical nightmare. Everyone wants a piece of the budget pie and there's lots of agency infighting. It's why the school system in my community is still using 10+ year old Windows XP machines for their computer labs and have schools who haven't had roof or HVAC upgrades for literal decades. There was a big controversy in my community earlier this year because City Council voted to give a private contractor $40M in taxpayer funds to help him build a private residential and commercial development (on the premise of "we'll get long term tax revenue!") and told the School Board that they'd need to wait another 5 years for the $28M they need to repair and replace HVAC and other infrastructure problems across our aging schools.
I grew up in a family of educators and spent a number of years working as a contract IT employee for the school board so I've seen too much of this funding bureaucracy first hand.
Raylan Targaryen
Member
Watched this since you mentioned it. This shit is fucking depressing. America truly is a third world country.