JUST WRONG!!! Lunches seized from 40 kids in debt at Salt Lake City elementary

[kpete]

Lunches seized from kids in debt at Salt Lake City elementary
Education » School officials cite unpaid balances on students’ meal accounts.
By Lisa Schencker | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Jan 29 2014 05:29 pm • Updated 8 hours ago


Up to 40 kids at Uintah Elementary in Salt Lake City picked up their lunches Tuesday, then watched as the meals were taken and thrown away because of outstanding balances on their accounts — a move that shocked and angered parents.

"It was pretty traumatic and humiliating," said Erica Lukes, whose 11-year-old daughter had her cafeteria lunch taken from her as she stood in line Tuesday at Uintah Elementary School, 1571 E. 1300 South.


Lukes said as far as she knew, she was all paid up. "I think it’s despicable," she said. "These are young children that shouldn’t be punished or humiliated for something the parents obviously need to clear up."

Jason Olsen, a Salt Lake City District spokesman, said the district’s child-nutrition department became aware that Uintah had a large number of students who owed money for lunches.


more:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57468293-78/lunches-olsen-lunch-district.html.csp

[Scuba]

1. Republicans cheered as children went hungry. "They should have cleaned toilets" said Gingrich.

[dembotoz]

2. teaches kids at an early age that some adults are just assholes

[jsr]

3. "They are the children of Buono voters"

Truly vile.

[catbyte]

4. Jesus. What are we coming to? THat's right up there with letting a house burn to the ground for

not paying a fee. And for them to waste all that food is just plain despicable.

[jsr]

5. Contact info:

http://www.slcschools.org/departments/child-nutrition/

[Arkana]

6. This is absolutely monstrous.

How on earth anyone could live with themselves after doing this is anyone's guess.

[Rex]

7. America - you don't pay, you don't live.

Money money money! It is the ONLY thing that matters in this fucked up country.

[siligut]

8. Fucked up Utah

Yes, the Mormons believe they should be the model for the whole country, but they are not.

[TalkingDog]

9. Oh, what's the big deal?

It's just hardening them up for their inevitable futures.

Besides, if somebody would teach them to smoke, there would be a triple benefit: Less hunger along with stunted growth, so fewer clothes buying trips and less food over all, profits for tobacco CEO's and finally, an early death so they don't burden the system once they are too old to be productive. What are those teachers doing with your tax dollars anyway?

[think]

10. Move over school yard bully.

This is how to really shake a kid down for their lunch money...

[okaawhatever]

11. The friggin' arrogance of Jasen Olsen the school superintendent spokesman:

"This can be easily prevented," Olsen said. "We need to make sure proper notification goes out to the parents and they have time to put money in the account.
OR...it can be easily prevented by not doing it again. The whole blame the victim we've come to know from cold-hearted Repubicans. The children aren't responsible, the parents are. Also, we all know the parents often don't make it a priority so maybe a jolt is needed but as education administrators are you teaching kids that this is the way to solve problems?

But like many stories of human evil there is someone whose kindness helps brighten the situation:
She said her daughter told her one of the cafeteria workers cried at the sight. And her daughter’s best friend was so upset that she went home Tuesday night and made lunches for all the students who had theirs taken, she said.

From another story in the Salt Lake Tribune:


Utah is last in the country — again — in providing breakfast at school to impoverished children, according to a new report that says the morning meal boosts learning and overall student health.

One in four Utah children live in households deemed "food insecure," said Gina Cornia, executive director of Utahns Against Hunger. About 36 percent of students in Utah schools qualify for free or reduced lunch.

But of that low-income group only a third get breakfast at school, according to the report from the Washington, D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center. In the 2012-2013 school year, that was equivalent to about 73,000 students. Utah also was last during the previous academic year.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/57433288-90/according-anderson-breakfast-cornia.html.csp

[jsr]

12. The superintendent makes $259,699 a year and doesn't give a shit.

[DreamGypsy]

17. That was probably last year's salary...

Utah's Right to Know -Public Employee Salaries says:

Mckell S Withers Superintendent Of Schools 2000 Support Services $275,124

That $15,000 raise would cover a bunch of $2.00 lunches.

There is good news, however. The school district has a new payment system (as of 9/30/2013) intended to avoid snafus like the one reported:

Dear Valued Parents

The Salt Lake City School District is always moving forward to simplify and improve our service to you and your student. This school year we will roll out a new school lunch software package that enhances your online payment options and simplifies the application process for free and reduced meal benefits.

MyPaymentsPlus is a state-of-the-art online service that provides you the convenience and information you need to manage your student’s meal account. This system speeds up serving lines in the cafeteria, eliminates the need to send checks to school or worry about lost or forgotten lunch money, and ensures that your child will receive a nutritious meal.

At no cost, MyPaymentsPlus allows you to check your student’s account balance 24/7 online, view what your student has been eating in the cafeteria, and receive email notifications when the account reaches a low balance. For a small fee of 4.75% per transaction you can pay online into your student’s meal account using a check, credit card, or debit card. These payments are usually available for student use within a matter of minutes. You can also create settings to automatically replenish your student’s account when it reaches a low balance.

So, for $20.95, your child gets to eat 20 $1.00 breakfasts! Nice.

(hmm. there doesn't seem to be a cynicism smiley.)

[CrispyQ]

13. That's not just mean, that's cruel.

What the fuck is wrong with adults who make decisions like this?

on edit: IMO, a hot school lunch should be provided free of charge to every child. We have plenty of money to pay for banksters martini lunches, we can sure as fuck feed our kids.


Every day I reach a new level of disgust with this country.

[Skittles]

21. I agree

hungry children do not learn

[marions ghost]

14. I grew up in a food insecure household at times

--we didn't even have free lunches (I dont know why)... we just didn't eat lunch when the money ran out. We wouldn't tell anybody at school--too embarrassing.

Yeah that's a good idea, humiliate the children.

But that's life in Murka where the stupid rule...

[hunter]

15. There are few "real" jobs adults have.

Feeding children is one.

The district took the coward's way out by bullying children.

The high road would have been to discover what was wrong with their system and then fix it without involving the children at all.

If you call home and find the kid has been embezzling lunch money, that's one thing, if you call home and find the parents are having difficulties of one sort of another, then that's another. You don't punish the kid for troubles at home.

Teachers and administrators should always strive to make schools a safe, inviting, environment.

A place where adult penny-pinching weasel-people steal lunches is not such a place.

[Eleanors38]

16. Very cruel and humiliating act. There is even a sadistic aspect...

whereby one goes beyond the pleasure of inflicting pain, by doing such to those who are in effect captive and defenseless. I can understand the tears of cafeteria workers who could not fulfill their humble duties to children!

[DreamGypsy]

18. UPDATE: Utah school district apologizes for seizing kids' lunches for unpaid bills ...

...a couple hours ago...from NBC News:

One of Utah's biggest school systems apologized Thursday and told angry parents it was investigating why dozens of elementary school children had their lunches seized and thrown away when they didn't have enough money in their accounts.

"This was a mistake," said Jason Olsen, a spokesman for the Salt Lake School District. "There shouldn't have been food taken away from these students once they went through that line."

The district came under national criticism after as many as 40 kids were given fruit and milk and their real lunches were thrown away Tuesday at Uintah Elementary in Salt Lake City.

Olsen said that parents had been notified about negative balances Monday and that a child nutrition manager had decided to withhold lunches to deal with the issue. They were thrown away because once food is served to one student it can't be served to another, he said.

<snip - "traumatic and humiliating", "despicable", "heartless" and "inhumane">

That brought a storm of criticism on the elementary school's Facebook page...

...which sent the entire school district scrambling to cover its ass.

[JI7]

19. Schools need to just provide meals for all students , stop with the lunch money, lunch ticket etc

[sabrina 1]

20. Privatization brought this to us. I would be willing to bet that the 'food suppliers' are Private

Corps. School lunches should be free, and this incident should spark a movement to end the privatization of children's lunches.