Lunch Controversy

[Courtney]

I've never even heard of schools providing lunch for students, unless it was in a cafeteria setting and the students paid. We didn't have lunch programs. In elementary, we had one day a week where a microwave on wheels would come to the classroom and allow us to heat up food. Let me tell you, THAT was a treat. Every other day, it was cold food that we brought from home.

 

[FiaSpice]

People actually eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich, I always tought it was only in cartoons, yuk. Not much of a nutritional value... but I guess since the parents won't pay...they got to be cheap.

 

[Riven]

if the free lunches are the hot lunch

The "Free lunches" are paid by the government. The school does not pay for them. It's a program similar to WIC, food stamps, etc. the school is paid for the lunches by the government, not taken from their budget. So it's not the same thing.

I don't know how many of you guys have ever worked in a cafeteria or what not. Sometimes at school students could help in the cafeteria, it was actually pretty fun. But yea, there is a lot of things to be considered when making food for that many people. Firstly it does cost more. That's like saying it doesn't cost you as much at home to make a PBJ as it does a pizza. The ingredients for the pizza cost more, there is more work involved, and you need to use the oven to cook it. Then with the pizza lets say you have green beans, more cooking, brownies for desert, cooking and mixing, and fruit, you have cutting and such for that.

The school they talked about was a cheese sandwich, sounds pretty easy to me! Bread, cheese, bread, bag. Apple, milk done. No mixing, no cooking. Whatever happened to the saying "what do you want for free?"

The one school in the video said they had over $160,000 in school lunch un-paid debt, that is not just one or two kids forgetting lunch money!

And I agree that if it's not lunch, these "really poor kids" would then get picked on for not wearing "cool clothes" having the latest gadgets and more. I ate hot lunch, and was still "picked on". Can anyone here honestly say that they never had ANYONE in school ever "pick on them" about something?

 

[tskoffina]

I don't know, this whole thing bothers me. My son goes to a preschool that participates in the County School Board Lunch Program. He's required to eat the food provided. He won't eat it for some reason. I had to get a form signed by his Dr. to send him food. It is required of all parents here to fill out a form about income for free/reduced lunch, even though his school doesn't offer it. I find it embarissing enough doing it now, when no one but the county sees it, and it doesn't affect him at school. I don't know what I'm going to do next year, as it's a Gov't (local) form, I can't really lie. But, even though I may joke about it, he is my and my family's responsibility. I don't want anyone else paying for him. I don't want assistance, of any kind. I DO NOT want him getting handouts, including school lunch, but I shouldn't have to send it for him everyday. They assign numbers to the kids, they have to enter it, and they won't take money if they aren't supposed to. This bothers me. If it's needed, people should be able to ask, but it shouldn't be forced upon them.

On the other part, when I was in school, if you lost books, or broke equipment, or had, in high school, graduation, any fees were put into you 'obligation' account. You couldn't sign out of the school, move on to the next grade, or graduate without it being paid. If people forget, or even just not bother paying, the children shouldn't suffer. It whould be added to this account, and they won't have a choice about paying it.

 

[PeaceB2U]

I don't know, this whole thing bothers me. My son goes to a preschool that participates in the County School Board Lunch Program. He's required to eat the food provided. He won't eat it for some reason. I had to get a form signed by his Dr. to send him food. It is required of all parents here to fill out a form about income for free/reduced lunch, even though his school doesn't offer it. I find it embarissing enough doing it now, when no one but the county sees it, and it doesn't affect him at school. I don't know what I'm going to do next year, as it's a Gov't (local) form, I can't really lie. But, even though I may joke about it, he is my and my family's responsibility. I don't want anyone else paying for him. I don't want assistance, of any kind. I DO NOT want him getting handouts, including school lunch, but I shouldn't have to send it for him everyday. They assign numbers to the kids, they have to enter it, and they won't take money if they aren't supposed to. This bothers me. If it's needed, people should be able to ask, but it shouldn't be forced upon them.

Schools base some funding on the number of applicants that qualify for free/reduced lunches. Parents are often encouraged to fill applications out even if they choose not to use it. My school couldn't have some of the reading and math programs it offers to struggling students without this funding.

 

[TillyChinchilla]

I suppose you'd also have to remember that it is not the healthiest thing for a kid not to eat from 8am to 3pm (or whatever school may run) especially since a lot of kids don't eat breakfast at home, too. If they are young, hungry, and cranky - that isn't a good situation for anybody. I don't think it should be a concern in middle/high school, though. Either you pay, bring your own, or don't eat. I remember the checkout lady in my high school would offer kids 1-2 times of "I'll bring money tomorrow" before she declined a meal.

A PB&J is very cheap to make. My opinion is that when 3-5 non paid lunches are racked up, cold lunch is served, and after a set amount of that, DCF/CPS should be called in to check on the child's living environment.

I don't think being picked on is a valid argument. There are too many other things in school that kids can get picked on over. At least they are eating. That is like saying every parent should buy their kid's shoes from the Nike store because if they wear shoes from Payless they will get picked on! At least they have shoes.

 

[Riven]

I think the government should provide clothing and shoes for our children to go to school, as well as their lunches, and transportation there, and all of their supplies, money for field trips, t-shirts for special events, summer camps, basketball camps, cheer leading camps, and other group trips, even the very expensive ones.

And that would solve all of these problems wouldn't it? Prepare for tax hike... it'll only cost an extra $400 a month out of everyone's pay checks, but if you don't work because you're took lazy or just can't stop having kids ( I don't know how it's happening! ) , that's okay too, all of us who do will pay for your children's other needs 24/7.

Because that is what it is going to come to.

People pay for McDonald's and it's not healthy, but they will complain that the free meal their kids get at school that they don't pay for because they're just too lazy, cheap, or irresponsible is not a good square meal.

How many of these parents have new phones, clothes, cars, or spend $5 a day for a pack a smokes? What's that? They smoke TWO packs a day?! No wonder why they can't pay for their kids' lunch! The problem here is not parents who can't afford it, because they can get the free lunch, the problem is people who do NOT put their families first before their needs and wants.


I'm curious here, how many people here have kids in school, and what does lunch cost? I know it's not like $5 a day. Here it's $1.95 then $1.00 for breakfast, which my kids LOVE to eat at school, so I figure for a dollar a day, it makes their day better, good. Andi's teacher said that Andi seems to really love the school breakfast and when she comes to class she's is chatter non-stop! So maybe that's not a good thing...

 

[TillyChinchilla]

Don't have kids, but mine was $1.45, it is now $2.00. Breakfast depended on what you got, but I think a bagel with cream cheese, peanut butter, butter, or jelly was about $1.00. Reduced lunch was very easy to get if you had more than one child in the school, it was $0.45, now it is probably $0.75 Some had free lunch if they were really bad off.

 

[Riven]

For our area I believe that to qualify for the free or reduced lunch program for a two parent, two child home was appx $32,000 or $36,000 a year. So people who are NOT qualifying are obviously over spending in some area. There are only a few instances that I can think of, which would be one parent or child is very ill and they have a ton of hospital bills etc. that having a significant income such as that and not be able to afford $2 a day to feed their child.

 

[justDeb]

Before anyone goes accusing anyone else of being a neglectful parent, please consider all the circumstances that could have occured. While you are entitled to your opinion, it's irrelevant if you don't have all of the facts.

The school that my children attend practices this policy. If you owe lunch money, you eat a peanut butter sandwich.

Mind you, the school DOES NOT send a bill, or a notice of when you are getting close to running out of funds, or that you are "overdrawn". They tell the students, "you need to bring in lunch money" or they stamp the kids hand with a smiley face. Now I can not speak for anyone else's kids, but mine barely remember what they ate for lunch, let alone to tell me when we need lunch money. And by the time I pick them up, they've washed their hands enough times to eliminate their smiley face stamp.

So, on the THIRD day of school this year, my oldest son was made to eat a peanut butter sandwich for lunch because I owed $4.70 in lunch money. Not to mention, the lunch ***** made a big deal about it in front of the rest of the crowd and embarassed him. Now I have three kids eating at school, sometimes twice a day if they choose to eat breakfast. And, two of them had already eaten that day by the time he got in line. How quickly did I accumulate a negative balance? I had sent in money at the end of the previous school year, and evidently didn't carry as much over as I thought I did.

There has GOT to be a better way of handling this. No child, whether they are 6 or 16 should be denied a hot lunch no matter what the financial situation is in their home.

 

[Riven]

I guess, I don't get a bill for my car payment, but I still know it's due. I don't get a bill for my car insurance, but I still know it is going to be withdrawn from my account.

What I usually do is pay a whole month at a time, so that way I know when I need to send more.

If the money is not there to pay for lunch then they have a program for that. If I go to work everyday and forgot my purse at home, they don't buy my lunch. At $3/day, if 10 kids in our local school don't pay for a month that's appx. $1000 that is being spent that is supposed to be buying books and stuff for my kids. I am responsible and make sure my kids have lunch, I don't see the problem. My 5 year old told me this morning, mom we need lunch money. Maybe she has a super memory, I don't know. But if it's that embarrassing for them to eat a PBJ, then maybe they'll remember to tell their parents they need lunch money. If the children are special ed, then there should be additional steps taken, yes.

If the problem is people don't know when to pay, then they need to contact their school about setting something up so they can find out easily, they need to set themselves up a pay schedule, or something. Our school has it so you can see it on the website if I remember correctly, and we're a town of 650 people, I don't see why a larger school wouldn't have this sort of thing as well.

If other kids are going to get a free hot lunch, then WHY should I pay for my kids' lunches? America is the land of dreams and opportunity, but you have to work for them.

Where in the world is Carol at?! She's the one who got me started on this... "Oatmeal is better than no meal"...

I personally would be glad if my kids got a FREE sandwich and fruit if I did not send lunch money.

 

[justDeb]

I guess, I don't get a bill for my car payment, but I still know it's due. I don't get a bill for my car insurance, but I still know it is going to be withdrawn from my account.

What I usually do is pay a whole month at a time, so that way I know when I need to send more.

If the money is not there to pay for lunch then they have a program for that. If I go to work everyday and forgot my purse at home, they don't buy my lunch. At $3/day, if 10 kids in our local school don't pay for a month that's appx. $1000 that is being spent that is supposed to be buying books and stuff for my kids. I am responsible and make sure my kids have lunch, I don't see the problem. My 5 year old told me this morning, mom we need lunch money. Maybe she has a super memory, I don't know. But if it's that embarrassing for them to eat a PBJ, then maybe they'll remember to tell their parents they need lunch money. If the children are special ed, then there should be additional steps taken, yes.

If the problem is people don't know when to pay, then they need to contact their school about setting something up so they can find out easily, they need to set themselves up a pay schedule, or something. Our school has it so you can see it on the website if I remember correctly, and we're a town of 650 people, I don't see why a larger school wouldn't have this sort of thing as well.

If other kids are going to get a free hot lunch, then WHY should I pay for my kids' lunches? America is the land of dreams and opportunity, but you have to work for them.

Where in the world is Carol at?! She's the one who got me started on this... "Oatmeal is better than no meal"...

I personally would be glad if my kids got a FREE sandwich and fruit if I did not send lunch money.

It's virtually impossible to know exactly how much money is being deducted each day from our lunch account. It's never the same amount each month, and therefore never "due" on the same day. They don't always tell me when they eat breakfast, and there are days when they do take their own lunch. I have a few other things that take priority over keeping my school lunch account balanced to the penny. And if you think no one has tried to address this issue with the administration, you're sorely mistaken. Perhaps it's the method of kids being pulled out of the regular lunch line and sent to the side of the cafeteria while the lunch ***** lectures them on their financial status that causes them the embarassment. If I don't bring money for lunch, I don't eat lunch. If kids are made to eat a peanut butter sandwich, their parents are still charged for a lunch that day. IT IS NOT FREE!!! The school lunch program is a completely seperate funding source than acedemic supplies in a public school. School lunch is provided with USDA funds, not with education funds. A school district forced to overcome a large meal program deficit would not be able to remedy this situation by a simple line item transfer of funds out of education material. That's a accounting/budgeting no-no. While I understand your point, I can tell you that I know for a fact that we are one of the very few families in our school district that pays regular price for our kids to eat there. 88% of the enrollment gets free or reduced lunch. For this reason, I think it's discrimination if they are forcing some to "eat peanut butter" when they owe a days worth of lunch money, when there are so many who don't pay anything, and I'm going to be billed for that lunch anyway.

 

[greychins]

I'm curious here, how many people here have kids in school, and what does lunch cost? I know it's not like $5 a day. Here it's $1.95 then $1.00 for breakfast, which my kids LOVE to eat at school, so I figure for a dollar a day, it makes their day better, good. Andi's teacher said that Andi seems to really love the school breakfast and when she comes to class she's is chatter non-stop! So maybe that's not a good thing...

My co-worker just graduated from high school... she said lunches were $2 and they had several different options... two lines of hot food with choices, then a soup/salad bar, and then an ala carte line. Tha'ts how it was in my high school as well, like 7 yrs ago. When I asked her about this, she mentioned how some of the kids that would be going for the free lunch would also be wearing new Nike shoes, having the new iPod touch, and so on.... Now I know this is high school, but maybe at this point we should make the kids responsible for paying for it? If they can afford that new iPod, surely they can cough up $2 for lunch? And that goes for the parents as well if they paid for the ipod...

Mind you, the school DOES NOT send a bill, or a notice of when you are getting close to running out of funds, or that you are "overdrawn". They tell the students, "you need to bring in lunch money" or they stamp the kids hand with a smiley face. Now I can not speak for anyone else's kids, but mine barely remember what they ate for lunch, let alone to tell me when we need lunch money. And by the time I pick them up, they've washed their hands enough times to eliminate their smiley face stamp.

Well, at least this school's being proactice. I remember when we actually had to bring in the CASH at elementary school, and like I said, no cash, no lunch. We didn't bring it, they didn't say anything, but they also didn't hand us any free food. Now, my high school was like this... you could get your lunch money put on your ID card and it could be used as a sort of debit card and the money would be taken off for whatever you bought (cause in addition to the $2 lunch, you could also buy cookies and stuff for additional money)....now if the money got low, they'd tell us "oh you need to have your parents put more money on the card" - and maybe that's not the best way to do it for very young kids, but I think that at least for like high schoolers, they should be responsible enough to tell mommy and daddy to add money to their card....

ETA: just had to bring this up. With all the schools that you all are talking about that serve PB&J's if the kid doesn't bring the money.... has it never come up that a kid has allergies? I'm allergic to all nuts, peanuts and peanut butter included, so I guess I wouldn't be eating if I had ever forgotten my lunch (course, my schools never even offered anything if you forgot money, so this is moot, but...). I'm surprised no parent has sued saying well I didn't give the kid money, and YOU (the school) didn't allow him to eat because he has a peanut allergy!!! I could just see it in today's society....

 

[Siylvat]

I personally would be glad if my kids got a FREE sandwich and fruit if I did not send lunch money.

That is how I feel about it. When I was in school, if you forgot your lunch, you either borrowed some money or a snack from a friend, or you went hungry. My youngest sister is still in high school, and I think they have the option of charging for a day or two now.

 

[S & C's Chin]

My daughter is in 5th grade. She has forgotten her lunch a couple of time through the years, and they have given her the "bag lunch". I still had to pay for it - regular price. I am grateful that they gave her lunch, They sent home a note the day she got their bag lunch, and I sent the money the next day. I don't see why she couldn't of had the hot lunch if I have to pay for it anyways.

 

[Riven]

The school I saw the video on did cheese sandwiches. All this sandwich talk is actually making me very hungry for a sandwich...

And again I don't see how a school in a town of 650 people can allow parents to check their balance online but larger schools can't/don't. I guess if I didn't have that option, I would simply send a note asking, or send money daily.

 

[bubbadoo38]

I get notification via phone and email (that way they can't say I wasn't informed) for lunch money only if the account goes into a negative balance, which at first was only because my son was getting more off the ala carte line than I expected. If he went over they have cold sandwich makings and I paid the same price for that as a hot lunch. But once he realized he would be paying for the extras not me, we agreed I would pay for one large cookie a week, only if his grades for the previous week met expectations otherwise it came out of his pocket. I know exactly how much money I need to put in on a quaterly basis as the newsletter states how many days are in each quarter (plus one cookie a week). My daughter I do by month as she perfers to take her lunch and we go over the menu and she marks what days are home lunchs and I pay from there. I'm just glad on the days my son forgets to turn in the check that he has food to eat.

 

[pinkdaisy]

People actually eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich, I always tought it was only in cartoons, yuk. Not much of a nutritional value... but I guess since the parents won't pay...they got to be cheap.

OMG I love peanut butter sandwiches! I eat them so much, and not because I'm poor but because they taste sooo good. And theyre not that bad..whole wheat bread with a good quality PB and a little jam? Its not terrible for you..I can think of much worse.

Haha my school has no lunch program, theres like a private catering service-y thing that operates out of our school store, and for low income families you can get a bagged lunch with sandwich and stuff. But we dont even have a cafeteria.

 

[mapache315]

I guess they did do this in our (elementary) school, but I didn't realize it until I thought a lot about it. We had to pay that day for our lunch, you could pre pay but hardly anyone did. There were a couple of kids who I can't remember for the life of me, who got sandwiches or something, and the lunch ladies said it was because he was allergic to was being offered or some similar excuse.

Obviously it didn't have a lasting imprint on me, but then again it didn't happen a lot, I can only think of two times that it did.


Karine you are too funny! Apparently the only people who eat PB&J sandwiches are in the U.S. and on cartoons. :hmm:


It's very very cheap to make PB&J sandwiches. It's about $8 for that really really big jar, about $2 for a loaf of bread, and jelly is like $4...so for a month you can eat them every day for around $20/month.

 

[Nancy]

Karine you are too funny! Apparently the only people who eat PB&J sandwiches are in the U.S. and on cartoons. :hmm:


It's very very cheap to make PB&J sandwiches. It's about $8 for that really really big jar, about $2 for a loaf of bread, and jelly is like $4...so for a month you can eat them every day for around $20/month.

Everyone eats PB&J sandwiches. I think it's the main thing that the younger children like to take in their lunch. Well, at least it was until some of the schools started banning nuts and nut products because of allergies which personally I think is stupid and gives a false sense of security to the allergic child. How many parents of non allergic children when they are rushing to make lunches in the morning are going to stop and remember to check the ingredients in the food they send to make sure there is no peanuts listed.