I don't know that this is any worse than the Moochelle-approved Obamalunches. But I do know that in my grade-school years, I would have gone home from school hungry every day, b/c I would not have eaten this ****.
Posted on 06/04/2015 4:34:37 AM PDT by markomalley
Della Curry is out of work, and unashamed, after being fired by the Cherry Creek School District.
A married mother of two, Curry is the former kitchen manager at Dakota Valley Elementary School in Aurora. She claims she lost her job on Friday after giving school lunches to students who didn’t have any money.
“I had a first grader in front of me, crying, because she doesn’t have enough money for lunch. Yes, I gave her lunch,” Curry said.
In the district, students who fail to qualify for the free lunch or reduced lunch program receive one slice of cheese on a hamburger bun, and a small milk.
Curry says that meal is not sufficient. Many times she paid for lunches out of her own pocket.
“I’ll own that I broke the law. The law needs to change,” she said.
To qualify for the free lunch program, a family of four would have to have a household income of around $31,000. To qualify for a reduced lunch, the threshold is below $45,000.
Curry says the students she helped did not qualify for either program.
“Kids whose parents make too much money to qualify, but a lot of times they don’t have enough money to eat,” she said.
Parent Darnell Hill says Curry had helped out his son when he forgot his lunch money.
He said, “Do something different than fire her. She’s trying to help.”
Curry said she understands the school district was just following policy when it fired her. Now she’s hoping her story will lead to some changes.
“If me getting fired for it is one way that we can try to change this, I’ll take it in a heartbeat,” she said.
The Cherry Creek School District said they cannot comment on personnel issues, but said “anyone who has ever been terminated has violated some kind of written policy.”
Curry acknowledges that did happen in her case, but said she is looking forward to addressing the school board about making changes in the lunch policy.
Cherry Creek School District released the following statement about this story:
The law does not require the school district to provide the meal to children who have forgotten their lunch money, that is a district decision. According to our practice, we provide hot meals to students the first three times they forget their lunch money and charge their parents’ accounts. The fourth time, we provide a cheese sandwich and milk.
The district has worked to keep lunch prices low and still meet the federal nutrition requirements. The costs of our lunch program are not covered by the prices we charge. At the end of the year, any unpaid accounts revert back to the general fund which also covers instruction, security, building maintenance and overall operations.
It’s one thing for her to pay for a kid’s lunch out of her own pocket and another for her to give away the school’s food.
I don't know that this is any worse than the Moochelle-approved Obamalunches. But I do know that in my grade-school years, I would have gone home from school hungry every day, b/c I would not have eaten this ****.
Yes, but I think about how much food is thrown away each day from school cafeterias...that sort of softens my stance a bit.
Exactly what I was going to say. She's not giving stuff away because it isn't hers to give, she's robbing the taxpayers.
I understand. But it still isn’t her food (property) to give away. I have no problem with her giving the student $ to pay for lunch.
I have to believe that she’d been spoken to in the past about this.
Well I’m paying 55% of my property taxes are going to the school district and I have no kids. That’s a lot of ‘free lunches’ right there.
Why yes I did go to school
and have to sit there through lunch while everyone around you is eating?
On a number of occasions - mostly my own fault. BFD
I love these posts. Can’t wait for the Scrooges to descend!!!
There is no hope for this country.
If the kid is really hungry the cheese sandwich will taste great.
My school didn’t have a cafeteria so we brought our sandwich. If we wanted a drink there was a water bubbler. We didn’t die.
Again, I agree that it's not her property. But it's not real property nor is it durable.
And...if there was a way to economize by preparing fewer portions based upon actual demand, that would be the way to go. But that is not the way of government organizations. The way that most government organizations work is to apply some sort of formula (e.g., prepare portions for 75% of the students in attendance for a given day).
If the latter is the case (i.e., she is instructed to prepare the number of portions according to a formula rather than based upon actual need), then the question is: would you rather she throw away the food after lunch hour is finished?
That's the dilemma I face: while I, with you, respect property rights, I can't see that respect extending to using a dumpster rather than using the food.
Are the parents getting food stamps/EBT where they could buy food to feed their own children?
Well I’m paying 55% of my property taxes are going to the school district and I have no kids. That’s a lot of ‘free lunches’ right there.
not to change the subject, but...if property taxes paying for the the public school system isn’t the most devious and dirty racket going, I don’t know what is...I also have no children using the local schools, yet I continue to get soaked...
A logical person would ask why this should be so...and the illogical administrator, which is the only kind that exists, would answer ‘because’...
I become seriously disturbed when I think abut stuff like this; it’s a good thing I’m too old and stiff to do much about it...
1st of all, we don’t know the whole story. We don’t know how many times this woman had done this, or whether she’d been warned in the past. We don’t know whether giving free food to students had been a problem at this school in the past, etc.
At the very least, the student was entitled to a free cheese sandwich & container of milk. The woman could have chipped in 50cents for an apple or something in addition. In any case, the kid wouldn’t have gone without any food at all.
You,and other folks on this thread are defending NOT giving a hungry 1st grader food for lunch. I truly can’t believe what I am reading on this thread.
The hidden question in all of this is why parents who are making too much money to qualify for a very generous free and reduced lunch program, are too niggardly to furnish their broodlings with money or food for lunch at school...
the school indicated three free passes for forgetting; at some point, one has to stop blaming the school for dysfunctional parenting...
You need to read the article again.
The child was given a cheese sandwich and a bottle of milk.
“At that moment in time to be able to give a hungry kid food, the cafeteria worker did 100% the right thing. “
No, the “100% right thing” would have been for the cafeteria worker to BUY the kid food. She also could have gone to a teacher and explained the situation to see if the teacher could help.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.