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Ashley County Ledger — Hamburg School District students who have not paid their school lunch bills will have a four day grace period to make arrangements for payment or they will be served cheese sandwiches again beginning Monday. The Hamburg School Board in effect held the existing policy in abeyance for the remainder of the week during the regular meeting on Monday night.
According to the Ashley County Ledger, Lu Davis, the food services manager, said students owe approximately $12,000 in lunch charges. Most of the unpaid balance, $7,958, is from students at Noble/Allbritton Elementary. Charges at the high school are $1,274 with $1,178 at the middle school, $1,974 at Portland and $120 at Wilmot Elementary.
The district policy provides that when a child has charges of $10, then he or she will be given a cheese sandwich and milk rather than a hot meal.
Board member Jim Wells asked questions about the policy, which the board approved last April. Superintendent of Schools Max Dyson said that the district provided an opportunity for parents to fill out free and reduced price lunch forms, and the forms are then reviewed and approved or denied based on income and the number of people in the household. Dyson also noted that for those who are approved for reduced price lunches, the district pays the remaining amount due.
The superintendent recalled that the board approved the policy of providing cheese sandwiches and milk, “which meets minimum standards” for nutrition. He noted also that, “By law, we don’t have to do anything… we do not have to offer a meal.”
Dyson said in the majority of the cases of past due bills, the parents did not return the free and reduced lunch form. He added that the district has to realize that, “We are going in the hole as far as food service goes. We are trying to stop the bleeding.” He added that lots of other schools have a similar policy where they offer cheese or peanut butter sandwiches to those who have not paid their bills.
The superintendent said that the U. S. Department of Agriculture wants lunch programs “to break even, but right now, we will be $100,000 to $200,000 in the hole by the time that the year is over.” He said he realized that the parents were presented with the issue right before Christmas, “but the fact of the matter is we are not trying to make any more off these meals other than what the parents owe.”
Read the Ashley County Ledger for the rest of this story.
if you can’t feed them don’t breed them ..it’s the parents responsibility to feed their kids
AMEN jimbo. Can’t take care of them don’t have them.
Is this the only way to resolve this problem? After all, the child is not the one on trial here. Why should they be pulled out and embarrassed because their lunch bill is not paid? Why not with hold the report card and keep the lunch bills current each 6wks. or however the report cards are issued.? This is degrading to the student and causes a large lack of self confidence to say the least, among their peers. Come on teachers, what are we teaching these innocent children here?
Cause the parents only care about the SSI check.Good report cards may mean no special education status. No SE status will put them out of that gov. check. Sad state of affairs but all too common. Many a good person from the “greatest generation” were motivated to do better because of hunger.
What a shame that the children are being embarrassed because their parents are not paying the lunch bill. And shame on this school district for embarrassing these children. Punish the parents not the babies!
how do you folks kids eat during the summer? do you folks have to have someone feed them during those months as well.
the parents should be penalized for child neglect if they send hungry kids to school.
if you need free or reduced lunch at school then u probably should or do qualify for food stamps…which means you should have food to send a sacked lunch….the free lunch program should be abolished…its like double dipping into the system
providing a lunch at school is supposed to be a convenience…not a handout,
As a parent of a child at Hamburg Elementary, I will explain what has occurred so readers can be better informed from our point of view.
While administration is glad to point out the amount of charges owed and insinuate that the unpaid lunch fees are causing harm to the district, they did not mention that the school nutrition supervisor failed to inform parents of their child’s status following enrollment.
In years past, all students were able to receive free meals due to state funding. After we filled out enrollment paperwork at the start of the school year, WE WERE NEVER NOTIFIED by nutrition as to what our child’s eligibility was, whether it was free, reduced or full pay lunch. So I assumed my child was eating free.
I am a concientous parent, who supports and participates in school activities whenever possible. Can you guess when I was notified by nutrition that I owed money for lunch charges? After one week? After one month? I wasn’t notified until THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS BREAK, a full semester into the school year. I was mortified, and wrote a check immediately to cover the charges. I thought it was a lone incident, but later discovered that dozens of parents weren’t notified about charges…parents who would have gladly paid had they known they owed.
The failure lies with lack of communication. The children are not to blame, and in this case, uninformed parents are not to blame either. Instead of making broad, inflammatory statements about what they are not required to do, by state law, perhaps administration should insist that their employees fulfill their job responsibilities to the letter. That way, parents can fulfill their roles and responsibilities to the school. Innocent children are the ones who suffer from such carelessness.