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Newsjock

(11,733 posts)
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 12:11 AM Jun 2014

Cafeteria worker tosses child's lunch when he's 26 cents short

Source: KOMO Seattle

KENT, Wash. -- A father is fuming after his son told him a cafeteria worker at Mill Creek Middle School took back a lunch when the boy didn't have enough to pay for it, then threw it in the garbage.

Jimmie Keys said his son was humiliated when it happened two days in row last week in front of other students.

... Lunches cost 40 cents, and many students pay through a meal account, similar in concept to a debit card. Parents can use credit or debit to load money onto the accounts. Keys' son had just 14 cents remaining on his account when he reached the cashier and had his lunch taken away.

School district spokesperson Chris Loftis said the incident was a terrible mistake that should not have happened. ... Loftis confirmed the father's account of what happened, and acknowledged the cafeteria worker made more than one mistake. The school is required to give any student who cannot pay a free substitute food item like yogurt or cereal. That did not happen.

Read more: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Cafeteria-worker-tosses-childs-lunch-when-hes-26-cents-short-262636571.html

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Cafeteria worker tosses child's lunch when he's 26 cents short (Original Post) Newsjock Jun 2014 OP
I don't agree with how the worker handled it but why didn't the father statementofgoods Jun 2014 #1
That's your take away from this? That the father shouldn't react with anger? Gravitycollapse Jun 2014 #2
He should react with maturity and take care of the problem so his child statementofgoods Jun 2014 #5
Wow. I think you'd better read the TOS TBF Jun 2014 #10
the cafeteria worker is at fault here. blame that worker. hrmjustin Jun 2014 #12
That is ridiculous. The school humiliated the kid, not the dad. Gravitycollapse Jun 2014 #13
Wow, you have never forgotten a due date? Live and Learn Jun 2014 #8
because the school failed to notify him magical thyme Jun 2014 #9
I think denying children meals PumpkinAle Jun 2014 #3
^^This!^^ +1000! LeftofObama Jun 2014 #7
Just give the kids their damn food defacto7 Jun 2014 #4
I've written about this before, but the PTA in my sons schools always had a reserve fund to FSogol Jun 2014 #14
You don't get it? its called...(Thank you Saint Ronnie) 1981 The Privatization of Public schools Drew Richards Jun 2014 #16
Yep... defacto7 Jun 2014 #20
I'm still trying to figure this shit out... jmowreader Jun 2014 #6
Time for free school lunch - TBF Jun 2014 #11
+1 Hekate Jun 2014 #15
It used to be that way...you got a standard lunch and if you wanted anything extra then it cost Drew Richards Jun 2014 #17
Quick, what picture is more appropriate for the story? Tommy_Carcetti Jun 2014 #18
The most disgusting part to me: DFW Jun 2014 #19
 

statementofgoods

(68 posts)
1. I don't agree with how the worker handled it but why didn't the father
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 12:50 AM
Jun 2014

take care of the account when it happened the first time.
Instead he wanted to take his change jar and throw it at the cafeteria worker or in the school office.

That's just childish on his part.

 

statementofgoods

(68 posts)
5. He should react with maturity and take care of the problem so his child
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 01:16 AM
Jun 2014

wouldn't feel humiliated again as he said.

TBF

(31,919 posts)
10. Wow. I think you'd better read the TOS
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 08:29 AM
Jun 2014

of this website before you really step in it. Democratic Underground is for democrats only.

 

hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)
12. the cafeteria worker is at fault here. blame that worker.
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 08:33 AM
Jun 2014

The parent could have fotgotten or could have been short that week.

Gravitycollapse

(8,155 posts)
13. That is ridiculous. The school humiliated the kid, not the dad.
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 01:34 PM
Jun 2014

You seem mighty defensive of the actions of the school.

Live and Learn

(12,769 posts)
8. Wow, you have never forgotten a due date?
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 06:27 AM
Jun 2014

You are truly amazing? Or are you just suggesting that is would be fine to embarrass your son and leave him hungry for the day because you did so? I don't think you will find many on this board that would ever do such a thing.

 

magical thyme

(14,881 posts)
9. because the school failed to notify him
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 08:25 AM
Jun 2014

His son probably didn't say anything until the 2nd time because in the past the school notified the father (as required by their policies) so he could rectify it. So the boy probably expected it was fixed after the 1st time and didn't tell his father until they left him hungry a 2nd day.

"Parents are also supposed to receive notification when a meal account is short or about to be. Keys says he never received that notification as he has been for the past two years."

PumpkinAle

(1,210 posts)
3. I think denying children meals
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 01:11 AM
Jun 2014

should be classified as abuse. It is time this nonsense stopped - children should be fed - period.

defacto7

(13,485 posts)
4. Just give the kids their damn food
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 01:11 AM
Jun 2014

and deal with the money later or not at all. What is this, the third national incident of throwing kids food away in a school lunch program? What's with these cafeteria workers? I don't get the irrational behavior. It's sick.

FSogol

(45,355 posts)
14. I've written about this before, but the PTA in my sons schools always had a reserve fund to
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 01:50 PM
Jun 2014

pay for lunch for anyone who needed it. They solicited donations in the main office in a big jar and a local tire dealership dropped off a $20 every Friday for the fund. We'd always dump our change whenever we were in the office.

Drew Richards

(1,558 posts)
16. You don't get it? its called...(Thank you Saint Ronnie) 1981 The Privatization of Public schools
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 03:39 PM
Jun 2014

Food Service...

They don't give a fuck about the kids...its all about the bottom line...

jmowreader

(50,447 posts)
6. I'm still trying to figure this shit out...
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 05:25 AM
Jun 2014

Why in hell do they not take the kids' money BEFORE they get to the point in the lunch line where the food is? The schools I went to did it that way. Every Army mess hall does it that way. This shit about letting the kid get all the way through the line before they find out his lunch ticket is empty has got to stop.

TBF

(31,919 posts)
11. Time for free school lunch -
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 08:31 AM
Jun 2014

across the board. Yes, you heard me. FREE. We fund it with property taxes just as we fund the rest of the school expenditures. Grants from federal for economically disadvantaged areas. Enough of this nonsense already.

Drew Richards

(1,558 posts)
17. It used to be that way...you got a standard lunch and if you wanted anything extra then it cost
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 03:40 PM
Jun 2014

no more with Private food service...

DFW

(54,047 posts)
19. The most disgusting part to me:
Wed Jun 11, 2014, 03:44 PM
Jun 2014

The humiliation of the poor kid. And the glee with which the cafeteria worker must have shown while dumping the kid's lunch in the trash. I would have been more than fuming, I can say that much.

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