Topic: School lunches
started by: MADDOG
Posted by MADDOG on Feb. 13 2014,11:21 am
With the recent episode in Utah where the school threw lunches in the garbage because some students didn't have the proper funds to pay for a hot meal much has been said.In doing a little googling, I've found some school policies. I've also found where a school policy and what it is said they do to be two different things.
Many schools who say they always provide hot meals for the less fortunate children actually do just that. Others claim they do but reports may conflict. Some stamp a label on the child while others give them a cold meal.
I believe in taking care of these children and want to see them taken care of but the complaint given by many that this is the only nutritious meal some of these kids get each day part doesn't cut it entirely with me.
In the school system I live in, all kids are fed lunches. (I don't have any kids in the system, but my sister teaches.) There are several families who need assistance. There are also some who likely mismanage their money, some that spend it on booze, smokes and gambling and I can think of one family where the parents aren't responsible enough to bathe let alone raise kids.
How does the school district in your area handle this problem?
Posted by MADDOG on Feb. 14 2014,3:20 pm
87 looks and no one has a comment. 
QUOTE
< Waseca superintendent and legal aid organization paint different pictures of school lunch program >
Tom Lee, Waseca Public Schools superintendent, said the report does not provide a fair portrayal...the report puts Waseca Public Schools on a list of districts that either immediately or eventually refuse to serve food to children that qualify for reduced-price lunches, but cannot afford a 40 cent copay.
“The report published [Monday] implies grossly inaccurate information,” Lee said. “No student in Waseca Schools is denied a nutritious meal.”
But Jessica Webster, a staff attorney from Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, the group that published the report, said Waseca Schools’ nutrition director Jason Forshee told a different story.
“The Waseca nutrition director- Jason Forshee- explicitly told me over the phone that Waseca does NOT provide hot or alternative meals to grades 6-12,” Webster wrote in an email. “He said trays are sometimes pulled and these children need to learn responsibility and accountability for themselves. When I said 12 year-olds don’t have jobs, he just laughed. “
Webster also cited a document sent by Forshee to Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, saying it mentioned unfortunate tray pulling, or taking meals away from children.
“He further stated he is under tremendous district pressure to keep his budget “in the black” and that if he feeds children who do not pay, it will be “bye, bye, Jason” and he will lose his job,” Webster said in an email sent Thursday to Waseca Superintendent Tom Lee and School Board members.
The document, provided to the County News by both Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid and Waseca Public Schools, says it is district policy that food service purchases are not made on credit.
“We know it is hard to have to remove a child’s meal,” the document, carrying Forshee’s signature, says. “No one wants to do this. However, it is the district policy that we not let food service purchases be charged.
Tom Lee, Waseca Public Schools superintendent, said the report does not provide a fair portrayal...the report puts Waseca Public Schools on a list of districts that either immediately or eventually refuse to serve food to children that qualify for reduced-price lunches, but cannot afford a 40 cent copay.
“The report published [Monday] implies grossly inaccurate information,” Lee said. “No student in Waseca Schools is denied a nutritious meal.”
But Jessica Webster, a staff attorney from Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, the group that published the report, said Waseca Schools’ nutrition director Jason Forshee told a different story.
“The Waseca nutrition director- Jason Forshee- explicitly told me over the phone that Waseca does NOT provide hot or alternative meals to grades 6-12,” Webster wrote in an email. “He said trays are sometimes pulled and these children need to learn responsibility and accountability for themselves. When I said 12 year-olds don’t have jobs, he just laughed. “
Webster also cited a document sent by Forshee to Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, saying it mentioned unfortunate tray pulling, or taking meals away from children.
“He further stated he is under tremendous district pressure to keep his budget “in the black” and that if he feeds children who do not pay, it will be “bye, bye, Jason” and he will lose his job,” Webster said in an email sent Thursday to Waseca Superintendent Tom Lee and School Board members.
The document, provided to the County News by both Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid and Waseca Public Schools, says it is district policy that food service purchases are not made on credit.
“We know it is hard to have to remove a child’s meal,” the document, carrying Forshee’s signature, says. “No one wants to do this. However, it is the district policy that we not let food service purchases be charged.
There is a rainbow in this. Or should I say, an
.
Posted by Self-Banished on Feb. 14 2014,3:46 pm
I'm just thinking back to when my kids where in school, I never heard of kids being denied lunch, I'd get a little note from my kids if they fell behind on payment, no biggy, cut a check.
Posted by alcitizens on Feb. 14 2014,8:33 pm
I agree with SB.. Why do some people complicate what is so simple?
Posted by Self-Banished on Feb. 15 2014,6:50 am
MD probably referring to the kids where their parents don't pay for one reason or another.
Posted by MADDOG on Feb. 15 2014,8:43 am
Naw, although I have one, I wasn't trying to give an opinion.
Posted by irisheyes on Feb. 17 2014,7:57 pm
The Minnesota Commissioner of Education was recently interviewed about this. Tried to embed, but won't happen, here's the link. < TPT Almanac >Not sure how our school district does it. A teacher from further up north told me accounts aren't supposed to go negative by much, but often they do just because nobody wants to be the one to deny the account any further charges. In your Googling, did you find out anything about free lunches? I thought some qualified for those.
Self-Banished:
QUOTE
I'm just thinking back to when my kids where in school, I never heard of kids being denied lunch, I'd get a little note from my kids if they fell behind on payment, no biggy, cut a check.
I suppose if you were in school you'd follow the kids with free lunches outside to see what kind of bike they were riding?
Posted by Self-Banished on Feb. 18 2014,4:44 am
^yep, impound it. 
Posted by MADDOG on Feb. 18 2014,10:56 am
QUOTE
In your Googling, did you find out anything about free lunches? I thought some qualified for those.
I hadn't done any googling on "free lunches." Sheesh! Everyone one wants a free lunch, free ride, gimme, gimme, gimme. 
Yeah, it looks like the feds do have a free and reduce lunch program that must be funneled through the < Mn. Dept. of Ed. >
QUOTE
Households that have already been approved for the following public assistance programs can complete an Application for Educational Benefits using case number(s) instead of household income information:
•Food Stamps
•Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP)
•Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR)
Children approved for these programs may be “directly certified” for free school meals, based on data supplied to MDE by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. For more information, see Direct Certification.
•Food Stamps
•Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP)
•Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR)
Children approved for these programs may be “directly certified” for free school meals, based on data supplied to MDE by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. For more information, see Direct Certification.
Posted by Self-Banished on Feb. 18 2014,12:02 pm
Minnesota Family Investment Progam?Is that code for "slam dunk" democrat vote?
Posted by irisheyes on Feb. 19 2014,2:16 pm
(Self-Banished @ Feb. 18 2014,12:02 pm)
QUOTE
Minnesota Family Investment Progam?
Is that code for "slam dunk" democrat vote?
Is that code for "slam dunk" democrat vote?
Republicans receive government money just as much as democrats, often more so if you compare the Red and Blue states, yourself included since your recent post about retirement.
Many of these "fiscally conservative" types have received free lunches and assistance and they didn't become guaranteed democrat voters like you think. Joe the Plumber is one example, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is another.
QUOTE
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said Saturday he could have chosen his words more carefully when he compared people who take public assistance to stray animals Friday... Bauer said he's been poor, unlike most S.C. politicians. Bauer is a child of divorce. As a result, he and his sister qualified for reduced-price lunches in the Irmo school system
< Bauer: Says "don't feed stray animals", even though he was one himself. >
< Bauer: Says "don't feed stray animals", even though he was one himself. >
Maddog:
QUOTE
I hadn't done any googling on "free lunches." Sheesh! Everyone one wants a free lunch, free ride, gimme, gimme, gimme.
You said yourself that you want to see these kids taken care of. If the parents don't pay the bill, in a civilized nation the rest of us cover it.
I mean, some of those needy kids will grow up to be TEA baggers like Joe the Plumber or that Republican Lt Governor. We need people like that for comic relief.
Posted by MADDOG on Feb. 19 2014,8:24 pm
(irisheyes @ Feb. 19 2014,2:16 pm)
QUOTE
Maddog:
You said yourself that you want to see these kids taken care of. If the parents don't pay the bill, in a civilized nation the rest of us cover it.
I mean, some of those needy kids will grow up to be TEA baggers like Joe the Plumber or that Republican Lt Governor. We need people like that for comic relief.
QUOTE
I hadn't done any googling on "free lunches." Sheesh! Everyone one wants a free lunch, free ride, gimme, gimme, gimme.
You said yourself that you want to see these kids taken care of. If the parents don't pay the bill, in a civilized nation the rest of us cover it.
I mean, some of those needy kids will grow up to be TEA baggers like Joe the Plumber or that Republican Lt Governor. We need people like that for comic relief.
B-b-but if you feed everyone, Jesus isn't quite what Philip said to Jesus. It ws more like "Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”
Don't or can't?
Parents that don't pay the bills is the part that needs to be addressed.
Yes, children need to be fed. In a civilized world each of us is to give to cause just as this. Paul said "Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." I do. Cheerfully. We have a local food shelf.
Posted by pepi-lapew on Feb. 22 2014,9:19 am
HELL NO tell them to get a job or starve.
Posted by irisheyes on Feb. 27 2014,7:06 am
(MADDOG @ Feb. 19 2014,8:24 pm)
QUOTE
Yes, children need to be fed. In a civilized world each of us is to give to cause just as this. Paul said "Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." I do. Cheerfully. We have a local food shelf.
Altruistic giving is always admirable. Corinthians has plenty of good to say about this. But charities are not going to supply all the food the schools need.
As for compulsory giving (taxes, duties, fees), someone with a lot more authority than Paul was said to have an opinion on that.
QUOTE
Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?
18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.
20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.
20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.