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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.

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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.

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In your Googling, did you find out anything about free lunches?  I thought some qualified for those.

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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.