Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Child Welfare / Education / Parenting_______________________________
The epidemic of bureaucratic stupidity has again taken another strike at children at school.
"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...
Schools are now parenting the parents by ridiculing their children if the account for student lunches falls short. What a positive Christian behavior that we all can be proud of. It's what happens when schools become corporations instead of community education centers.
These issues aren't just arising in Utah, but across the nation over the last several years:
Middle School Students Short on Lunch Money Ordered to Throw Food in the Trash
Beaverton school worker takes girl's lunch when account empty
Beaverton school worker takes girl's lunch when account empty
Schools and school districts are adopting the attitude that the parent is there to service them:
"Well, we're hoping it doesn't happen," says Dr. Ronald Taylor, the Superintendent [in Willingboro, NJ]. "It's either all or nothing type of policy, when you have parents not taking advantage of the reduced lunch and taking away dollars for instruction we have to adopt a policy to enforce it."
Superintendent Ronald Taylor explains that the new policy is in place because parents abused the Free and Reduced Lunch program last year.
"Upwards of $50,0000 for students who had not applied for Free and Reduced Lunch who received free lunches," says Dr. Taylor. "Part of the reason we're doing this is to help hold parents accountable."
Let's get this straight: a parent who pays taxes to have your school buildings built, pays for the books, and pays for the salaries of all the teachers and incidentally the Superintendent is a bad parent that needs to be punished for not paying for a less than a dollar lunch because it eats into your budget?
Aren't the parents your boss?
And for a school, aren't they required by federal law to give milk and a sandwich to a child who does not have food or money? So who is committing the crime here? A parent who has already paid into the system with their taxes to create and maintain the school system or the school depriving and even embarrassing a child because they cannot pay for lunch?
Maybe schools need to start rethinking their strategy. Parents are your customers and your supervisors, not the other way around. It seems that bureaucrats are overstepping their boundaries.
It's time for parents to take back their schools.
Source: The Salt Lake Tribune, My Fox Philly,
