Paying for school lunches - Is it an issue in M/SO?

I saw this article about a donor paying off overdue school lunch balances in an NJ school district. Is this a problem in M/SO schools? I would be happy to donate to a fund to make sure all kids can get a hot lunch. I don't have kids in the schools, so maybe such a program already exists and I just don't know about it?

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http://www.thedailyjournal.com...

VINELAND - An anonymous donation, with no strings attached, helped pay down lunch debts for four Mennies Elementary School families.

Last month, a member of the Mennies extended family dropped off a $200 check with instructions to use it where it was most needed, according to school officials.

A team that included guidance, social worker Wendi O’Donnell and Principal Lisa Arena discussed the options and opted to apply the money to outstanding lunch balances.

“The bill stays with the students until they graduate,” O’Donnell said.

Some families miss the Oct. 15 deadline to enroll in the federal free/reduced lunch program that offers financial assistance to those who meet income thresholds. Several parents are struggling to keep food in their home refrigerators, she said.

Because it was a new idea, O’Donnell called the district’s food service office to find out how the donation could be applied to student balances.

It was suggested she contact the school’s social worker.

“I am the social worker,” O’Donnell said, making it happen.

O’Donnell thanked the donor for the kind gesture to benefit the school’s students.

Mennies school doesn’t permit a student to go hungry. Those who can’t pay for lunch are given cheese sandwiches, as per district policy.



It would be a good start to begin such a fund. However, I have long been an advocate for universal free lunch. The amount of time, cost, and paperwork of a program devoted to calculating who gets free, reduced, or full pay lunch is overdue for the trash heap. The overtly discriminatory by-products of the program nationally are disgraceful. I once sat in on a PTA meeting even here in town where students were referred to as the "free lunch kids". 


kthnry - Theoretically, any child whose parents would have real trouble paying for lunch should be enrolled in the federal? free/reduced-price lunch program.  However, I would bet there are some whose parents haven't managed the paperwork, or came into the district mid-year, not to mention those who forgot their lunch, or ran out of $ in their lunch account, whatever.

Suggest contacting PTA/O's, who may already have looked into this; contact info for each school's parent org may be in the district website.  Otherwise, there's probably someone in charge of lunches at the district level?  Or as indicated in the article, a school or district social worker.

What a kind and practical thought!


Annielou, while I have no issue paying for nutrition for those who can not afford it, it is a really really dumb idea for tax money to go for food for families that can afford to pay for it.

I'll volunteer to take foodstamps to reduce the stigma for those who need them. 



kthnry:  There is always an issue with people who hit unexpected hard times no matter where you live.  Yes, Mapso has that issue. It would be wonderful if you could help.  Contact the BOE or a school principal and let them know you are willing to help.  And please post back here to let us know if we can help too!


Gilgul: If I'm not mistaken universal breakfast is available in public schools with no muss or fuss. Just extending the same idea to lunch. Time and paperwork is wasted on these dumb things that only exist to hammer home economic differences. It's just food after all. 


Such a fund in local districts sounds fairly simple -- and would make an enormous difference in the lives of some families. My heart always breaks for the children who go home after school on Fridays with no guaranteed meal until breakfast at school Monday. I love programs that send weekend food home with them, and how it is done surreptitiously so their classmates aren't even aware of the extra items in those backpacks.


Again, I am an advocate of universal free lunch. An external fund to insure that all children are served lunch would presumably target the students who have to pay a reduced fee, since the more economically disadvantaged students are already receiving free lunch. What percentage of students in the district have to pay a reduced fee and have fallen behind in their payments? Also, are there students who must pay the full price whose parents have also fallen behind but who can easily afford to pay? The fund is a great idea but with the understanding that it will not benefit the most needy families, and, will potentially benefit some families who can actually afford to pay for lunch. If lunch is just served, as is universal breakfast, an external fund would not be necessary in the first place. An obviously well intentioned gesture , however, that will require some research.


Fine. You can pay for food for rich kids in its entirety. I do not want to. I am not aware of any free breakfast for all. 

annielou said:

Gilgul: If I'm not mistaken universal breakfast is available in public schools with no muss or fuss. Just extending the same idea to lunch. Time and paperwork is wasted on these dumb things that only exist to hammer home economic differences. It's just food after all. 



Rent Party's Back Pack Kids is already addressing the problem of children in our community not getting enough food to sustain them.  Emphasis is on providing food for these children over the weekend when school is not in session, since a free or reduced school lunch program is available in our district.  For more information on how you can help or if you know of a child in the school system who is not enrolled in this program and should be, please contact Rent Party.  You can do this by sending @Soul_29 a message.


Unless something has changed recently in our schools, free breakfasts are only available to students who qualify.  Others pay a modest amount.  At one time breakfast was only  available in qualifying (Title 1?) schools. Is that still true or do all of our schools have it now?


Given the lunch account system, it doesn't need to be obvious which students receive 'free or reduced' lunch.  I expect that if the lunch payment system cost more than the income from it, the district would do universal free lunch, so I question the cost effectiveness argument for that.



I believe that the Rent group accepts donations towards paying the outstanding balances of overdue lunch accounts for those in need. 



The Rent Party does a lot to address hunger in the community.  Visit their web page - there is a link where you can participate in Backpack Pals or the Garden that provides fresh produce to food pantries.  http://rentpartylive.com/wp/


You may be right, Gilgul. I've only worked in Title I schools where universal free breakfast is the norm. A certain percentage of the students must be under the poverty line in order for the school to qualify. My paperwork argument stands, however. Not to mention that the form asks families for everything but their blood types.


I worked in a Title 1 district. As I recall (that was 12 years ago), the breakfast left much to be desired: Donut or other pastry, sugared cereal, milk and a piece of fruit. Cereal and fruit usually ended up in the garbage can.


The guidelines for what constituted a healthy breakfast and lunch changed dramatically with the influence of Michelle Obama. The issue remains that many school food programs have become privatized, and depending on the company, some horrible results have followed in spite of the guidelines. The upside is that these companies, if pressured, can provide healthier meals with choices that are appealing to students. When this happens there is much less waste.


Trump is in the process of getting rid of the guidelines. I think they are pretty much gone already. Certainly there will be no effort of enforcement.



Gilgul said:

Trump is in the process of getting rid of the guidelines. I think they are pretty much gone already. Certainly there will be no effort of enforcement.

I believe most Obama lunch standards were revoked a month ago.


Back to catsup as a vegetable 


Pat Johnson is the director of food services for the district.  There is currently at least one community group involved in raising funds to pay off school lunch debt. More info is in the Facebook groups for the community.  I think the leader for this fundraising is Soma for race and equality (that's close to its name). There may be a future campaign to assist with paying students' library fines and lost book charges.  If on FB, check out "Soma lounge" or "south orange maplewood cares about schools".  @annesimms


It's an issue everywhere because often the issue is not that the family doesn't have the money for a kid to buy lunch, but, especially by middle and high school years, the kid just forgets and suddenly there's a debt.  In my town, kids who don't have lunch can have a bagel with cream cheese but not a hot lunch.  I think this is where the issue began, with the shame of kids having to get in a separate line to get a cheese sandwich because they didn't have their lunch debt paid off.  


There are numerous ways for reminders to be sent home... There are red and white envelopes which are sent home ( with the elementary students) when the balance is low ( like under $10) . You can also sign up for alerts with MealPayPlus ( the third party payment vendor) to alert you when your balance drops. If you want to add money online, there is a payment fee, otherwise you can just send checks or cash to the cafeteria and the money gets credited. You can view your child's account info -- including what was purchased, for free at the MPP app/website. 


 Note this is all based on personal observation ( and my own use of the MPP system as a district employee)  -- I put money in my own account , then I can get lunch or a drink from the CHS cafeteria. 


if people are truly going to be free, they need to be free to eat crap for lunch.  Kids too.  Especially kids.

BG9 said:



Gilgul said:

Trump is in the process of getting rid of the guidelines. I think they are pretty much gone already. Certainly there will be no effort of enforcement.

I believe most Obama lunch standards were revoked a month ago.




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