Strollerderby

If their district is like mine there is a little more to the story.  Families that have true financial need receive a normal lunch at a free or reduced rate.   The students that receive the cold sandwich are students that have habitually not paid for lunch yet have shown no financial need or hardship.  Letters go home to parents to let them know of the situation prior to the student receiving the cold lunch.   Schools are in financial crisis right now.  Schools cant be responsible for absorbing the cost of irresponsible parents.    If the family is in financial need they should fill out the free/reduced lunch form.  

This is going to sound totally cold hearted, but at least they're eating. Many schools (like the one I had growing up) wouldn't even do that much.

And like Jessica (above) mentioned, there's probably more to the story.

Our school's lunch policy is similar to Jessica's....but if you forget once, you get the cheese sandwich.  We have accounts that parents can either send money in for or they can access it online and pay with a credit card.  

When my oldest was in grade school, and my husband was off of work due to an injury, the principal practically begged us to sign up for free lunch.  Our system didn't have many kids sign up, and they were afraid they would lose the money for the program.

The biggest problem I have with the cheese sandwich option is that in the end, you have to pay for it as if it was a hot lunch.  And they are not the same.

Why are people complaining over a perfectly decent lunch -- a sandwich, fruit, and milk would seem like a feast to millions of children in the world right now. And it's FREE! WTF? We Americans need to take a serious step back and count our blessings while we still have them.  It's not as if the school is making poor children go hungry... not yet, anyway.

Nothing wrong with a decent meal, I'd say the problem is with people who look at good nutrition as some sort of punishment. We'll see more and more things like this popping up as the economy worsens, and I say it's not such a bad thing to learn to be satisfied with enough.  Heck, I know a lot of kids that would prefer a sandwich to the "mystery meat" that we always had to eat!

is there not some way to set up a george forman and grill the cheese sandwich?  How hard would it be to warm the sandwich up?  Kids love grilled cheese.

The whole story does say that due to the cheese sandwich policy, many, many families who weren't previously signed up for the free lunch program have now actually done so. I don't know if they were too proud, too lazy, or just ineligible before, but those cheese sandwiches sure spurred them to action!

I think that these kids are lucky to get something to eat, if their accounts are behind. $300,000 to be eaten up by the school because parents won't send meals with their kids?! (And I say won't, because if they CAN'T, then they're elibigle for free lunch.) What a waste of money. The district should try to keep the cheese sandwich-giving as discreet as possible, but, hey, this is life.

My kids school has a similar program except instead of a cheese sandwich they get peanut butter and jelly. They are allowed a white milk and are denied access to the salad bar so, no fruit. The PB&J option is for when students are $5.00 or more behind in their account. The school has been doing it this way for at least 4 years. The peanut butter sandwich is free of charge.

I like the program because I leave it up to my kids to let me know when they need lunch money as they are reminded daily of their account balance at school. If they eat peanut butter and jelly, it sure helps them to remember to give me the note that has been sent home the last couple of days.

This option sure beats the no lunch option.

When I was a kid in FL if you didn't have the $1 then you didn't get any lunch at all. You just didn't get in line if you forgot your lunch money. That said it sounds like they actually single these kids out and bring up their accounts in front of other kids. That's cruel. If they just had the free lunch or pay lunch as an option in line and kids could grab either one it wouldn't be so bad. I think the problem is the singling out of children. Also, I'm sure there's also a lot of other things that can be trimmed before they go after lunches. Most school districts are hopelessly top heavy with superfluous administration. Tell the principals to step up and take a pay cut before you go after the kids.

These children are being "punished?"  They are being fed!  Of course the school can't afford an extra $300,000 a year. It says in the article that the parents have not applied for free lunches.  So if anyone's punishing the kids, it's the parents that either haven't taken this step, or who just haven't paid because the kids are getting a free lunch.  

And kids will ALWAYS find a way to single others out, cheese sandwich or not. It doesn't take a sandwich for kids to figure out who's poor or different or vulnerable.

When I was a kid, those of us eligible for free/reduced price lunches had bright blue meal tickets. Kids who paid full price had red meal tickets. Blue ticket kids were teased unmercifully by the red ticket kids, called white trash, had unkind things said about our parents. It was cruel. Many poor kids just refused to eat lunch at all, rather than carry around a blue ticket. Ultimately, the school district issued both the free/reduced price tickets and full price tickets in the same color, recognizing the teasing and bullying of the poor kids.

To me, this policy does the same things as the red/blue ticket scheme.

I think it is generous and forward-thinking that the state offers any free lunch to families behind on their outstanding lunch bills. We are in NYS, and if we fail to pay, the school continues to provide lunch for ten days (same as Albuquerque); two notices are sent home during that time. If the family doesn't pay, though, cafeteria lunch privileges end until the bill is settled.

If the family and/or child in the Albuquerque school system doesn't like the "shame" of eating a free sandwich, there are several choices:

1) apply for subsidized lunches

2) bring lunches from home

3) pay up

I don't think anyone has much to complain about here.

We do not qualify for subsidized lunches, but we still consider the school lunches rather expensive ($2/day)--and not very healthy. Our daughter chooses one day/week to buy lunch, and the rest of the time, she brings a more economical and healthier lunch from home.

Today I sent w/w pasta, some grated cheese, green beans, and half a sliced orange. Most of that was left over from last night's dinner. I am sure the whole lunch cost less than $.50, and she will gobble it up.

This is not punishment!!! The school is being overly generous is providing what the parent has failed to do. Your child is not quaranteed a school lunch. That is up to the parent to provide lunch money, apply for free or reduced lunches, or send a bag lunch with their child. Way too many people think it is up to others to provide for their children they brought into this world. Safety nets are there for those truly in need. These childrens parents are being bad parents sending their child to school knowing they dont have arrangements for lunch.PLAIN AND SIMPLE!!

That was the policy in my elementary school, back in the day, and there wasn't teasing about it.  Seriously, in some cafeterias, you might actually WANT the cheese sandwich instead of the hot "food."  I mean, the kids that had PBJ lorded if over the rest of us on "unidentified casserole with dog food" day.

Are we bad parents? We send cold cheese sandwiches in our kids' lunchboxes at least once a week, if not twice.

I remember brown bagging it to school everyday. I had no free or reduced lunch given to my family and my family did not have alot of money. I'd like an article written about the wasted food thrown in garbage cans from kids getting free lunches.

I teach, and I have students that owe $60 or more that still get a regular hot lunch every day because our district doesn't have a cheese sandwich policy. I also doubt that there is a real financial hardship, because I send free and reduced lunch request forms home when the balance gets over $20. They never get filled out. The cafeteria managers aren't allowed to call home and remind parents, either, since someone accused the district of "harassment" a few years ago for doing so. They get a wimpy little note reminding them to pay up, pretty please. What's the incentive to actually pay if your kid is going to get lunch anyway? Most people aren't that bad about it, but some people take it way too far, and it irritates me that nothing is done about it so the kids aren't embarrassed.

in my school when were in debt in school lunches all we get is a couple of crackers.

Growing up, I ate cold PBJ every day for lunch for years b/c that's what my single mom could afford. She had to work 3 jobs just to provide that PBJ, which she did gladly b/c she had too much pride to go to the feds w/ her hands out even though she definitely would have qualified for government assistance even w/ the 3 jobs. Somehow, I survived years of cold PBJs just fine, and I'm better off for it b/c I know it's possible for just about anybody to make it in life if they stop complaining and just try.  For the most part, I disagree w/ the concept of any type of free meal b/c it's a parent's responsibility to feed their children not the school's responsibility via the tax dollars of hard working citizens like my mom.  If she could work 3 jobs, then so can most other people.  If you can't afford to feed children, then you shouldn't have them.  The fact that people are complaining about a free lunch that is nutritionally sound is even more infuriating.