Then there's the silver lining - the people who step in and pay the negative balance of all the kids so that the children won't be refused food.
I think this is awesome. Because anyone who has their heart in the place to want to protect kids from shame and make sure that kids get a good meal - that's someone doing the right thing.
But things have to change beyond bringing balances up to zero dollars. Because what happens the next day? Another lunch or breakfast purchased... and another negative balance.
Most school lunches cost around $2-3. My school's elementary lunches are $2.30. In a week, if my child buys every day, that's $11.50.
Bring a balance to zero, it goes negative the next day and you are back in the same boat.
Bring a balance to zero, give an extra $20 and the kid eats for almost 2 weeks.
But more than that, put pressure on the school to change their policies.
Lunch ladies should never be the Lunch Gestapo. Schools shouldn't be empowering them or expecting them to assert this type of control over who does or doesn't eat. A lunch lady should be focused on providing food for kids. Period.
Negative account? I think the office should handle it. I get that every role in a school is overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated. But I think you end up with a conflict of interest when you ask the people who prepare and serve the food to also police the food.
A consistently negative account may well be a sign of bigger problems. Did a parent lose a job? Was there a divorce? Or illness? By following up more directly, maybe the school ends up learning something valuable about the child's home environment. Maybe the child needs to be on a lunch program but the parent hasn't been able to pursue that for whatever reason.
Can the PTA or PTO somehow be involved in the solution? We do fundraisers for classroom iPads but what if there was a fundraiser to provide a cushion fund for lunch accounts? Maybe the PTA/PTO can work with the cafeteria to sponsor a dinner and parents and community people can attend and the money raised becomes that fund?
I have a lot of emotional connections to food and hunger and embarassment and shame. I don't have any bad memories of not being able to eat at school or anything. I have no idea if I had free lunches or if my mom sent in lunch money or if I packed a lunch - I just don't recall.
In my ideal world, no person should feel shame about food. It's a dream, I know. And maybe the first step is empowering people to encourage the hungry and support anyone who needs food. Heck, even picking up the bill for a friend or co-worker when they realize they forgot their wallet is a way of encouraging and supporting!
What can we do as a community to help alleviate the school lunch hunger situation? Call your school and ask how they handle cafeteria accounts that are negative. Offer to head up a fundraiser to alleviate the negative balances and build positive ones. Or if you're just extremely generous, put your own money towards it. But more than throwing money at it... see if there is some way to work with and support your local school to make changes to their current policies. Get involved with your school board if necessary. You don't have to have kids in school to be involved. You can take action as a concerned citizen.
Paying off negative balances is certainly generous and gives us all warm fuzzies. But it's essentially a bandage on a bigger problem. What can YOU do to help fix thebigger problem?
7 comments:
This lunch balance thing is such a weird concept to me. When I was a kid, if you wanted to buy school lunch, you brought cash that day. I mean, if it's a case of bullying or whatnot, that makes sense. It just seems that there are easier/better/more efficient ways of handling these situations. And to deny a child food seems completely wrong to me. I can't imagine doing anything like that.
You just reminded me that I need to put $$ in my kids' lunch accounts. Honestly, there are days that I'm glad the school is there to feed them because we are pinching pennies to the end of the month and the cupboards might be a little bare until I can get to the store in 2 days. Not destitute hungry bare, but heels of the bread, no peanut butter and no chips bare.
You are so right that the lunch staff should not have to deal with this. I think it should be done from the office and probably even the counselor's office. Sometimes it is just a matter of the parents forgetting to send the money. But for all of those times where there is a bigger problem, it would really help to get the counselor involved so that they can talk to the parents about all of their options for lunch, breakfast, books, etc.
I would be the parent who simply forgot to add money to my kids' account. Why should my child be punished for my forgetfulness. I like the idea of PTA/ PTO perhaps getting because it's a community getting involved. No child should have to starve, especially at school where they should have your child's best interest in mind.If we only thought as a community instead of me, myself and I and $$$$.
At our school, if a child's account is negative, the school provides a plain brown bag lunch which includes a note to the parent as a reminder. No child is hungry. The child goes through the line and requests a brown bag lunch. The other children know what has happened, especially if it has happened to them. Charges continue to accrue and the final report card is delayed until the bill is paid. The principal makes the announcement about the lunches often at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. Written notices go home to parents.
Honestly, I wish our schools could just feed our kids. That everyone could eat and no one had to worry about paying. It's a pipe dream, I know. I agree with you 100%, the office should deal with the financials, and food should never be taken away from children. We should never be more concerned with the bottom line than with the health of a child. Great post, Liz!
I thought about your Girl Scout Cookies in the closet issue...
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