A Georgia school started tallying the figures for the lunches handed out to kids who showed up without this month, and the numbers were astonishing.
The school is looking to recoup almost $200,000 as it sends bills off to parents, asking them to pony up for their kids food intake.
Shocked? You should be - these aren't kids whose parents fall within the federal guidelines for the free or reduced lunch program.
The Clayton County school district already gets federal funding to offset the cost of those lunches - enough for about seventy seven percent of the fifty thousand kids in the district. But, everyday, dozens of kids show up without a brown bag in hand or money in their pocket. They've racked up $112,633 in debt so far - a figure that the school estimates would hit $200,000 by June if they didn't act now.
The cafeteria staff has been reluctant to turn away hungry kids, says Clayton County's Chief Operations Officer Joseph Jones, because hungry kids can't learn. But with the numbers rising, the school board is considering instituting a policy that would put milk and peanut butter and jelly or cheese sandwiches in the hands of kids who come without money - rather than a full meal. They also approved billing the parents for debts already incurred.
With numbers this high, it's clear this is more than just a few kids forgetting their lunch money once in awhile. When we did that as kids, we were able to "charge" our lunch, creating a bill that would have to be paid off by the end of the year or it would be sent home to our parents. It's clear the parents should be held responsible.
But I wonder with that kind of number if this isn't a sign of deeper issues. Are parents so used to the school stepping in that they're taking advantage of the system? Are these kids being neglected? Or is this just another sign of our economic downturn hitting families where it hurts? With the information in the Atlanta Journal Constitution article, I don't know.
What I do know is that the kids shouldn't have to suffer - whether it be from their parents stupidity or their parents economic struggles. Schools are often the only places kids in those situations get a full meal. It's the reason the federal free and reduced breakfast and lunch program was instituted to begin with.
With the state of the economy and a problem that's bordering on pandemic, is it wise for a district to cut back on how much its feeding the hungry kids? The parents should be billed, but at the outset, shouldn't the district put the kids first and make sure they're fed?
Image: Family.Go
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