Parents outraged after children ‘humiliated’ by school cafeteria staff who seized lunches from Utah students
Tuesday February 5, 2014
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/01/31/parents-outraged-after-children-humiliated-by-school-cafeteria-staff-who-seized-lunches-from-32-students-in-utah/
The business reflection that I chose to write about is a school in Salt Lake City, Utah: Uintah Elementary School to be exact, taking lunches from children actually, who have unpaid balances for lunches at the school. Salt Lake City School District Spokesman Jason Olsen said officials started contacting parents on Monday that they had overdue balances and started seizing children's lunches the very next day. Other parents got mixed up in the situation as well; some parents say they never got the message and some parents did. One parent called the school only to have the school say that they didn't have an overdue balance but their child got mixed up and still got their lunch taken away.
Whether I was a parent or not, I find this appalling, it is absolutely ridiculous. 32 of these children suffered because there parents did not get a message the school sent out THE DAY BEFORE. So, in front of all their teachers and classmates and the rest of the school, there children were no doubt mortified to have their pizzas and hot lunches get thrown in the garbage in front of everybody and given fruit and milk instead. I'm glad some of the other children were kind enough to share their lunches. All of the children were upset and confused as to what was going on. If a child doesn't have money for school on that day, so what, get a hold of their parents and deal with them about it, this should never reach the children, EVER. The schools will get reimbursed for it anyways, so why humiliate these children even more. The elementary school definitely went about the wrong way in dealing with the situation; I can not even begin to explain how much this blows me away.
The comments that go with this article are worth the read too.
Wow Brittney this is appalling! I cannot understand why there would not be a petty cash fund for students who fall short of having lunches. Even our college advertises if someone is hungry, there is money for lunches and a food bank to make sure your belly is full at home as well. I also view this story as unacceptable. Great job Brittney!
ReplyDeleteWow, I totally agree! Taking lunches away from children is a little bit out of line. I believe that the parents with "outstanding bills" should have been notified, and dealt with. A child should never go hungry, especially at school. How is this school to know, maybe certain children do not have money and the only food they have is school lunch! I know for me, I would totally be willing to cover the bill if it meant giving kids a meal to eat. I believe the school should look at these money issues the same way.
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