Parents upset after school takes lunches from students with account deficits

Fox 13 Now ^ | 01/30/14

[mmichaels1970]

Because the children are given their lunch before they go to the computer to process payment, those without positive account balances had their lunches taken away from them.

Move the computer to the FRONT of the line instead of the back. Problem solved. Sheesh...now was that really too difficult?

[Balding_Eagle]

If you have a $0 or negative balance, then it’s not “your” lunch. It’s yours when you pay for it. Up to that point, it belongs to the cafeteria.

I agree. The government worker who handed the lunch to the child should be charged with theft of government property and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

[mmichaels1970]

That being said, why is there a deficit in their accounts?

Sometimes it's simply a pain in the rear to keep track of. I have four kids in school usually somebody drops into the negative before I hop online and reload their account.

Another solution might be for the cashier to check the balance and warn the child a day or two BEFORE his account goes negative.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Outrageous! Whatever happened to a note to the parents?

[AD from SpringBay]

Must... have... free... LUNCHES!!!

[cincinnati65]

Don't know if I would go quite that far.....Seems to me that child stepped into the cafeteria line, got the lunch, and made their way to the register to be told they have no money and had the lunch taken away. In "real life", someone could walk into their local Piccadilly or S&S cafeteria and the same thing could happen. Not the employees fault.

I do think there was a way to notify the child in advance that they would not be getting the full lunch that day, maybe a note in homeroom?

[Uncle Chip]

This must be their new class being held in the cafeteria—

Economics 101

Chapter One: There is no free lunch, Alice.

[Tax-chick]

An even better process would be to check the account balance BEFORE the food is even distributed.

Golly! Ya think?

Are we supposed to believe this is the first time ever that students have been given their lunches when they did not have money in the account? No, it's just the first time it made the tv news, recently. People with two functioning brain cells would have figured out a way to avoid this situation a long time ago.

[csvset]

Oliver - please sir I want some more

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Oliver Twist: Please sir, I want some more.

Mr. Bumble: What?

Oliver Twist: Please sir, I want some...

Oliver Twist: more.

Mr. Bumble: More?!?!?!?

[RandallFlagg]

Yeah, but some of those online payment systems are flawed. When I made a payment, I would have to take a screenshot of it on my iPhone. Then when someone in the cafeteria told me that the balance was getting low, I’d whip out my phone and show her that the payment was made. Sometimes, it wouldn’t show on her screen.

[MamaTexan]

who say this was an embarrassing and humiliating situation

These people should be embarrassed, by only by their own behavior.

When my twin daughters started school, I explained to them that, by the time they were school age, they had eaten approximately five thousand meals since they were born. Therefore, it was their responsibility to remember they had to eat that day, and that THEY were responsible for keeping track of their lunch accounts or making sure they had a lunch.

......and if they couldn't remember something so simplistic as eating, they deserved to go hungry.

[huldah1776]

One school system always had PB&J for those without. A child with irresponsible parents should be able to eat.

[txrefugee]

Do those parents have beer and soft drinks in the refrigerator? Do those moms who can’t be bothered to pay for the school lunch program go to the beauty shop? It’s not the taxpayers duty to feed anyone’s children but their own.

[pnz1]

Our child’s school does this type of account. Normally you set a minimum balance and if it falls below that they will send you a note home or an email to tell you it’s low. Sometimes they will tell my son and he will tell me. I think once we have “run out” of money in the account, but they gave him lunch anyway and we sent in a check the next day.

It is convenient because you can check balance online and make payments online. I can see what my child has bought on the account and set up limits on what he can/can’t have-ice cream, slushy cups, water, etc.. (I can just imagine him “buying a round” of slushy cups for all his buddies if I didn’t keep up with it)

[ontap]

You can’t charge them until you know what they’re getting!

[poobear]

Child abuse.

[MinuteGal]

Poor little darlings. This bread and water....er, milk and fruit incident will mark them for life. I hope they can get counseling in the coming days if necessary. I can't wait to see a half dozen of them on Geraldo on Sunday night along with their traumatized mummies and daddies.

Wait till they grow up and find their ObamaCare accounts mishandled by bureaucrats. They undoubtedly will fall completely apart and have to be toted off to a psych ward for a couple days to recover.

Then they'll be on the Geraldo Jr. show on the next Sunday night.

This school screw-up is actually child abuse.....there should be a congressional hearing post haste. Shocking, I tell you, shocking.

Leni

[skinkinthegrass]

in our state (KY) some of the "litter darling$" had to help-out in the cafeteria during the week in the '70s..
some of those families had 7-9 kids..(education/Norplant was needed), all were on welfare "social services".

[WKUHilltopper]

But I thought it was all about making sure kids aren’t hungry. Surely they aren’t FOS on this too? Naaa...can’t be.