Student 'humiliated' when denied school lunch

KKCI news channel 8 ^ | Feb 13,2014 | Laura Nichols

[cornfedcowboy]

NORWALK, Iowa —A Norwalk 8th grader said she was humiliated Wednesday when she was denied a school lunch because there wasn't enough money in her account.

snip

“I was really embarrassed when I walked out of there, and then my friend she looked at me and she's like 'Where is your lunch tray?' I'm like 'They didn't give it to me,'” said Gillian Richardson.

Gillian’s mother, Pam Richardson, said her family has enough money to pay for her daughter's school lunches, but didn't get a notification from the school that the balance was negative.

“The policy of taking lunches away from kids is ridiculous, because no matter if they are 5 or they're 17 years old, it's not their responsibility. It's not their fault that their parents aren't paying the bills or can't pay the bills,” said Pam Richardson.

View this story.

Read more: http://www.kcci.com/news/central-iowa/student-humiliated-when-denied-school-lunch/24456248#ixzz2tDetUyap

[faithhopecharity]

gee, I was “humiliated” when the Chevy dealer refused to give me a free Corvette Sting Ray

[PowderMonkey]

Ya’ that bites big time. Had it happen to me one time years ago when I wrote a check for my groceries at the check out line. The “Telecheck” light went red, and they took all that food away from me. A month's worth of groceries! In front of everybody! I was so humiliated! The bank should have told me the account was overdrawn, and the cash register should have been at the start of the process! Somebody should have been fired!!

[TheThirdRuffian]

Sounds like the kid is learning an important lesson of economics and persona responsibility.

[SampleMan]

I don’t think they know what the word “humiliated” means.

[faithhopecharity]

in other words, the child has received a good life lesson...
(possibly the most valuable lesson she’ll learn in public school all year)

[TurboZamboni]

You should run that idea past Congress.

Right now, it’s gone from “If I have checks, I have money” to “I’m out of checks, but I have this DC credit card”.

[knarf]

It's my understanding that they allow a couple or three free lunches (to be repaid) and DO send a .. or more than a ... notice home to alert the parents.

I'm not judgeing this ... just saying what I know about OUR local HS/MS

[tsomer]

I heard that they have to feed the kids so that they can hear their teachers droning above the relentless growling of their empty stomachs. I’ll bet this same school serves breakfast for that very reason.

The issue then, is about much more than a mere helping of bean sprouts, broccoli salad and kale (or whatever they allow students to eat these days.) The issue is the irrevocable loss of a precious learning opportunity! She’ll never have that opportunity again; it’s lost to her.

I’m a little too sad to be outraged, but I hope somebody sues the school and makes a nice piece of money on behalf of that child!

[TurboZamboni]

Milton Friedman - The Free Lunch Myth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YmqoCHR14n8

[exDemMom]

is there a free lunch program in addition to a free food program?

When I was a child, decades ago, we were on welfare and received both food stamps and free lunch tickets at school. So, yes, people can receive both. If anything, the giveaway programs have been expanded since that time.

[albie]

Like, where’s your lunch? Like, I don’t have any. Like, it’s not your fault. Like, I know. Like, wanna skip and play XBOX all day? Like, yeah.

[JoeDetweiler]

When I was in 7th & 8th grades the cafeteria staff went on strike. So the kids had to bring lunches from home. Turned out the kids preferred it that way. So the school board closed the cafeterias and fired the staff.

Then we moved away, so I don’t know if they ever got their cafeterias back...

[DH]

I’ll bet the welfare scum didn’t miss breakfast, lunch and supper provided free by the school.

Only the taxpayers’ children are denied lunch if their balance is negative.

[Trailerpark Badass]

Uh, no. Deny the little bastard lunch until their deadbeat parent pays up. If the kid misses 3 lunches, arrest the deadbeat for child neglect.

"The school didn't tell me..." The modern american loser.

[Vigilanteman]

I'll go one better. My daughters attended public school in Japan. The elementary school had a food preparation area, but no cafeteria. The kids were divided into work details (HANs) which included a turn taking the cart down to the food preparation area at the assigned time and bringing the food up to the classrooms where they served the kids on dishes and bowls they were expected to bring from home and wash when finished.

By the time they got to junior high, it was all sack lunches. My daughter's junior high was built in 1947 and had questions about the water quality in the old pipes, so they were also expected to bring potable water from home. Oh, the inhumanity!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The school lunch lady over reacted.
They had a fund capable of covering the few bucks the lunch cost.

Lunch for a kid in school is hardly the same as grocery shopping.

[plain talk]

I can’t believe this is even a news story. Humiliation? No. This is an excellent lesson for the child. You have to pay for food.

[Vigilanteman]

Great story and probably proved an even more valuable lesson to the kids than it did the striking staff. I’m curious as to where it was . . . ?

[varmintman]

In the city in which I live, there are children whose only hope of eating is at school (”food stamp” and other govt. program money is spent on drugs). My church makes up food packets for some of these kids for weekdends with instructions to hide them from their parents. Getting rid of school lunches would be a death sentence for some of them.

[jttpwalsh]

Something tells me your kids probably grew up to become responsible adults ! ;)