Kids who haven't paid for school lunches complain about getting cheese sandwiches

Parent Cafe
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<p>The fact is…schools do provide for kids in need. They offer free and reduced lunch. The kid doesn’t have to fill out the paperwork. </p>

<p>If a family doesn’t fall under that rubric, they need to step up to the plate. The school is not letting them starve. They are providing food. You’d have a good point if the school made the kids sit in the lunch room and have no food. I don’t think the school is obligated to give the kids who can afford to pay but whose parents do not pay, the same lunch as the ones whose parents were organized and responsible. If they were to do that, why would any parent pay? Schools are not social service agencies.</p>

<p>Also, for instance, when there is a field trip, and a family can’t afford to pay, others make donations to help so that those kids can go too. </p>

<p>I see the schoo here as making a donation of a sandwich, fruit, and milk. It is not like they left these kids with nothing.</p>

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<p>Yesterday’s news stated the Albuquerque schools have collected over $91,000. in overdue lunch fees. The cheese sandwich plan is working, and the number of families filing for free lunches is up. Sometimes parents need a little motivation!</p>

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<p>I guess I don’t oppose this plan. I just wish the parents had to eat the cheese sandwiches.</p>

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<p>My school district also offers cheese sandwiches.</p>

<p>When my daughter was in HS, she told me about a friend of hers who didn’t have any lunch (parents divorcing, weird situation). We simply made an extra lunch every morning for D to give her.</p>

<p>By the way, mayonnaise is fairly easy to make in a blender and tastes so much better!</p>

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<p>What is wrong with cheese sandwich? Being vegetarian that is the only sandwich I can eat.</p>

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<p>My kids pack but my son frequently will “forget” his lunch on the kitchen table because he likes the free generic lunch (cheese sandwich, veggie sticks, and milk) they give at school better than what he gets from us. Go figure.</p>

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<p>Mayonnaise on anything</p>

<p>Never would have brought a mayo-only sandwich to school but I did get teased for bringing one of my favorites (and then never again) which was peanutbutter, pickles and mayonnaise</p>

<p>I think I learned that one from my father.</p>

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<p>Firefly, I admire your generosity towards your daughter’s friend. I once purchased a White Castle lunch for junior’s kindergarten class and it was worth it too see the delight on the kids (and the teacher’s) faces. I don’t believe that there are very many of us who would knowingly let a child go hungry. The district’s actions are precisely preventing such an outcome. Also, I don’t want other worthwhile school activities to be canceled because the district has a $200K deficit on account of parents whom are ‘too distracted’ to pay attention to their kids’ needs.</p>

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<p>My family’s favorite sandwich was sliced bananas and mayo on white bread. Yuck.</p>

<p>When I was a kid there was no “emergency lunch” given. In my child’s system they will allow charging lunch once, but it has to be repaid before charging again. School districts in my area are very tight on money, I can’t imagine running up such a huge unpaid tab.</p>

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<p>I think the cheese sandwich lunch is certainly no worse nutritionally than what the kids are probably getting in the hot lunch line.</p>

<p>Dr. Oz was on Oprah recently and showed video of some public school lunch offerings. It was absolutely appalling what is being served to these kids. No wonder teen obesity is at an all time high. While the cheese in these sandwiches is probably not the best, at least they get some fruit and milk vs. soda and fried fried fried fried fried.</p>

<p>In response to :</p>

<p>“I just wish the parents had to eat the cheese.” </p>

<p>That’s pretty darn funny. And I agree.</p>

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<p>I love cheese sandwiches, too. I’d eat them more often if they were lower in calories.</p>

<p>I am vaguely aware that it is possible to make mayonaisse, and I am sure that it is better. I’ve never tried it, though.</p>

<p>simba, do you like hummus? You can make a good sandwich out of it, with tomatoes, cucumber, basil.</p>

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<p>I honestly don’t understand what’s wrong with cheese sandwiches. Even the reporter seems to have written the story as if something were wrong with cheese sandwiches. Far as I’m concerned, the lunch those kids are provided for FREE sounds as nutritious as is the lunch kids are paying for. The kids and parents should be grateful, not angry. If they don’t want that lunch, then the parents should pack a lunch or pay for one. I continue to be floored by some people’s sense of entitlement.</p>

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<p>NSM, I completely agree with you. </p>

<p>Besides, how do they expect the school system to afford this?</p>

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<p>Did I miss something? I thought the point of the article was not about whether or not it was fair to serve a child a free cheese sandwich instead of a hot meal, but more about the emotional effects of singling out these children in front of their peers and treating them like the “deadbeats” we assume their parents must be - even though the families/students featured in the article were actually in the process of applying for and eventually did receive aid. </p>

<p>I remember the shame of growing up poor (mayo on bread was sometimes the only choice we had, although it was usually margarine not even mayo); we received reduced lunch prices when I was little but I was not singled out for this, I could at least stand in the same line as all the other kids, and the color of my lunch ticket, and the food I ate, looked no different from theirs.</p>

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<p>A 24 ounce loaf of natural whole wheat bread runs about $2.50 at Trader Joes. It runs from $2.00 to $2.50 at our local grocery store on special. A jar of Peanut Butter (let’s say Trader Joes again) is about $1.80. Let’s say that you can conservatively make 10 sandwiches. That’s about 45 cents per sandwich. If you want to go a little nicer with cashew or almond butter at $5 a jar, you’re still under a buck per sandwich. The only sticky thing recently was the Salmonella problem and the bad stuff was sold to some schools.</p>

<p>BTW, I could eat PB on WW Bread every day for lunch. My wife prefers to cook fancy stuff though.</p>

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<p>But Scansmom, didn’t full article indicate that some school districts allow at least 10 meals to be charged while applications for free/reduced cost lunches are in process? And in the Lynwood, WA school district, I’ll wager that since the acculmated debt was in excess of $200K, some students had numerous unpaid meals on their accounts. As for parents who are truly in financial distress, there are always options, like offering to partially pay the account for a time, until the free/reduced lunch application is approved. I’m not surprised that some of the non-paying parents were found to be clearly eligible for free/reduced cost lunches. But it doesn’t require much time or energy to submit the application. And like other posters have said, some kids prefer the alternative lunch, so I’m skeptical about hearing that primary schoolers whom get the cheese sandwhich suffer shame and low self esteem.</p>

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<p>Most of the article implies that something is wrong with a lunch that consists of a cheese sandwich, fruit and milk. Maybe the families getting such free lunches would prefer to be in districts that give nothing to kids who don’t get free lunches or whose families haven’t paid for lunches. </p>

<p>""ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A cold cheese sandwich, fruit and a milk carton might not seem like much of a meal — but that’s what’s on the menu for students in New Mexico’s largest school district without their lunch money…</p>

<p>Critics argue the cold meals are a form of punishment for children whose parents can’t afford to pay…</p>

<p>Second-grader Danessa Vigil said she will never eat sliced cheese again. She had to eat cheese sandwiches because her mother couldn’t afford to give her lunch money while her application for free lunch was being processed.
“Every time I eat it, it makes me feel like I want to throw up,” the 7-year-old said…"</p>

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<p>I am laughing my head off. Son just called to tell me he has decided to stay on campus for spring break to work. When I asked him what he was doing about food since the dining hall is closed he said, “I’m good. I went to the store and got some peanut butter, some applesauce and a couple gallons of milk”.</p>

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<p>I don’t feel that they are singling out poor kids. That would be the case if all those on free or reduced lunch got a different meal than the others. But that is not the case. Those who qualify for free/reduced get the same meal as everyone who pays. The kids who got a cheese sandwich lunch were simply those who did not pay or did not file forms, one or the other. </p>

<p>Typically, in a school lunch program, kids would have no idea who was on free or reduced lunch. I don’t see this particular situation in the NM school as being about free lunch and children from poor families. </p>

<p>By the way, at our elementary school, not only do many bring in lunches from home, but the school lunch has a few options…a hot lunch, a cold lunch, or a veggie alternative. Thus, not everyone is having the same thing anyway. For that matter, some are CHOOSING the cold lunch option (similar to the one served at the school in the article).</p>

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<p>I work in the Food Service office of our public school district. Let me clarify a few things:</p>

<p>1) Students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch get a complete meal, whatever meal is being served that day. They do not have to just eat a cheese sandwich, although they can get one if they want one. Moreover, it is illegal to single these students out in any way - in our district, the free lunch card looks just like the cards for the kids whose parents prepay. There is a numerical code on the card that tells the lunch ladies whether to ring the lunch in as free, reduced, or prepaid. The kids this article refers to were charging their lunch - they were not qualified as free lunch students.</p>

<p>2) The cheese they refer to is almost certainly government “commodity” cheese. It’s “sliced, processed cheddar.” I haven’t read the ingredient label, though…</p>

<p>3) At least half of our free kids never had to submit paperwork. They are “automatically” free based on a list we receive from the state. This happens if their family receives food stamps or TANF (formerly known as welfare). For the kids whose families do submit paperwork, it is a single page that is not difficult to fill out. </p>

<p>For every family we have who submits “falsified” paperwork or tries to game the system, there is another family who qualifies but won’t submit the paperwork (or turns down the automatic free lunch) out of pride, or because their kid simply prefers lunch from home. And for every kid who is embarrassed because their parent forgot their money, there’s a kid who is hoarding the money OR a parent who will abuse the system as long as their kid can get away with it. </p>

<p>Pugmadkate, I understand where you’re coming from, but think about it: a free lunch at a school that charges $2/day for lunch is worth $360/year. For a $360 benefit, a parent can take 10 minutes to fill out a form. And for those kids who are known by the schools to be in need but whose parents can’t be bothered to fill out a form (and yes, we have those kids), a school administrator can fill out a form and simply write “Child in Need” and sign their name and we will put them on the free lunch list. We’ve done this recently for two kids with parents with serious illnesses, and other times where administrators have told us that these kids are just stuck with lousy (often substance abusing) parents.</p>

<p>Many kids are not above playing on the sympathies of the lunch ladies. The Boston Globe did an article last year on a school with the cheese sandwich rule, and followed a kid in the lunch line who wanted chicken nuggets but said he had no money. The lunch lady took the tray and told him to get a cheese sandwich. He responded by making a rude comment, then pulling the money out of his back pocket! The Principal said since they cracked down on letting kids charge their lunch, they’ve had fewer kids smoking on the sidewalk after school - this was a high school, and kids were using the money their parents gave them for lunch to buy cigarettes. And at my son’s elementary school, the Principal told us that parents were disputing the lunch charges, saying, “I give him lunch money!” The principal replied, “Does your kid walk to school? Does he pass by the 7-11 on the way to/from school? Well, did you ever think that the kid might be spending the money on soda and candy?” Turns out that was indeed the case…</p>

<p>Our school’s rule is a maximum of 5 charged lunches for elementary, 3 for middle and none for high school. If you forget your money, borrow it from a friend. We send home charge slips weekly. If you owe money to the cafe, you don’t get your report card. We cannot afford to give out free lunches. The “free” and “reduced” lunches we provide are reimbursed to us by the state & federal government. </p>

<p>I hope this clears things up. The school district is totally within their rights to give out a “courtesy” lunch to kids who charge lunch on a regular basis and don’t pay off their charges, IMHO. Sometimes that’s the only way the kids - or the parents - will learn to be responsible.</p>