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.
Having a sandwich choice when the account is in arrears is one thing. Throwing away an already dished out hot lunch and giving them a piss poor excuse for a sandwich (that is added to the account) in order to humiliate a child so his parents will pay is another.