Fired? She should be commended.
Commended for what? Raising another generation of people who think the government owes them free stuff? The kid is suppose to bring lunch money. They get a free cheese sandwich and milk when they forget. I think that teaches responsibility. Her way seems nice on the surface but it rewards irresponsibility and teaches dependence.
It doesn’t kill a kid to cry. Comfort the kid, but gently tell him/her to remember the lunch money from then on. It happened that way all the time when I was a kid. No one though much about it.
Commended? There were many times I had a cheese sandwich and milk in my lunchbox. Other children got to get plate lunches because their family could afford it. I won’t say that I wasn’t jealous as I smelled the meatloaf and watched them munching on the yummy homemade ice cream sandwich that the lunch ladies made. If I hadn’t been taught manners and self-respect by my parents, I might have whined and convinced the lunch lady that my parents were starving me.
It wasn’t her business to decide what was an acceptable lunch sent from home. If a child doesn’t have a lunch, call the parents and tell them to bring their child a lunch. Make them be responsible for their child.