As if she didn't have enough on her plate with the FRACAS OVER FORD'S FOULNESS, LIL' LORI has taken on free lunches that are not free.
You see LPS has this policy not to REFUSE any kid lunch. I think that is GOOD cause we don;t want no kid playing any HUNGER GAMES! The thing is if a kid does not get FREE LUNCH (and sorry LORI it's closer to 90% THAN 80) and they get lunch when there is no money in their account then their account is marked with an IOU and once that IOU balloons to $20 the parent gets a bill.
Now if I understand LIL' LORI'S LAMENT correctly brings out the point that a student/child is under age therefore cannot enter into a legally-binding contract. Okay......
BUT....
really, do you want to hang your hat on such a titillating technicality. I mean, I do see where you are going with this. I was not always POOR. I use to pay property taxes. No one likes surprises. Everybody would rather get a Christmas card from CATHE than an invoice for your kids spaghetti O's.
I have one word of advice for her" "PICK YOUR BATTLES:.
You might be technically right and win the debate on points......
BUT....
the image left leaves a petty picture.
In the spirit of this culinary chaos: "WE HAVE BIGGER FISH TO FRY".
Hungry kids don't learn well and for that we all pay.
I thought all kids in elementary school got free lunch and breakfast in this city???? Just because parent makes a little over the top doesn't mean that they have a lot of money left over for lunch plus when all your friends can get a free lunch, is it fair you need to pay?
ReplyDeleteAll students have an opportunity to have free lunch depending on their family income. at the beginning of every year parents are asked to fill out a legal binding form that asks their income , whether they receive food stamps, have foster children , etc. the scale is sliding so if you make over the basic level you only pay a bit and goes up from there. It is very fair and people who can afford only a little just pay a little. Why should it be totally free? Title 1 money is awarded on the basis of these forms so it is very important that all parents fill one out.
ReplyDeleteIf all your friends jumped off a bridge ...isn't only fair you do too...are you serious?????
ReplyDeleteI do not think LPS should be using student ID cards like credit cards. Last I checked, the legal age to have a credit card or account was 18. Students who do not get free lunch because they are not eligible, have a lunch account for a reason. If their parents wanted them to get school lunch, they would put money in their lunch account. There are reasons why parents do not want their child eating school lunch, such as dietary restrictions or they simply cannot afford it. Just because a parent is not eligible for their child to receive free lunch, does not mean they are not struggling to make ends meet and living pay check to pay check. LPS is charging these students accounts without the parent's knowledge or authorization. These charges add up quickly and if a parent is unable to afford these charges (which they did not authorize) their child will have an uncleared account and will not be able to graduate. There is no law or district policy that states LPS must not refuse any student a lunch. This is just something the district has decided to follow without notifying parents and without getting their approval to make charges to their child's account. If LPS wants to continue this, they should send a notice out to all parents explaining the procedure they want to follow and giving parents the option to either accept or decline charges to be made to their child's account should there not be enough funds in it. Parents must then sign the notice and return it to their child's school. Someone making unauthorized charges using my child's student ID, and then turning around and requiring me to pay for those charges is a battle I AM choosing!!
ReplyDeleteBe careful little one, this may br a FEDERAL policy thereby absolving LPS responsibility or blame. Of course it could just as easily be one of those unwitten ones where everybody gets political cover. Remember UNFUNDED MANDATES?
DeleteIt is not a federal or state law and LPS does not have an official written or any other policy about it.
DeleteAn interesting thing to think about, don't they give FREE LUNCH and BREAKFAST to everybody?
ReplyDeleteIn the summer
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ReplyDeleteSo, what would you say is the solution here? To deny these hungry kids food because their mom forgot to give them money or add to their lunch accoun? If the parent truly cannot afford lunch, their child should qualify for free lunch. If it has been judged that they can afford it, yet they still are not providing their child with money for lunch, that is an even bigger problem. I don't think the solution to anything is to let a kid go hungry. Am I missing something here? I might be going out on a limb, but I would wager a guess that $20 would buy an awful lot of school lunch...
ReplyDeleteI think the solution is for LPS to get parent's authorization before making any charges to their child's account. It costs almost $300 for a child to get school lunch for a school year. It may not sound like a lot of money to some, but there are families who do not qualify for free lunch, but are still struggling every day and do not have the extra money. The income guidelines may surprise you. For example, a family of 4 cannot gross more than $821 per week. That means in a 2 parent household that has 2 children, if each parent makes more than $10.25 per hour, they are not eligible. Now do you think this family where both parents only gross $10.25 an hour are not struggling? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the fact of the matter is student ID's are NOT credit cards and should not be used as such. Again, I think a simple solution would be for LPS to send an authorization notice to all parents. Those parents who wish to have their child's account charged can sign the form giving LPS authorization to make those charges. Those parents who do not want their child's account charged, can simply toss the notice and not return it.
DeleteHere is an interesting thought. Since we have such a high percentage of eligible families, I might argue the cost for all this paperwork might be more than the cost of the paid for lunches.
DeleteAnd if the parents don't authorize it, what do we have? Hungry kids. It doesn't sound like the most compassionate solution to me.
ReplyDeleteI have 5 kids and only my husband is working. There are times we struggle to make ends meet but I have never made my kids go hungry as a solution to my financial issues. I don't know why anyone would think that is a viable solution. Honestly, I don't even think this should be an issue. People should feed their kids or make sure they are fed before they spend their money on anything else...to me, that's a no-brainer.
Ok so if you think free lunch should be a given...why am I working my tail off to provide for my family....might as well work less and get more ?????
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you are responding to me or Lori, but I don't think either of us is advocating more free lunch: she wants the school to stop giving lunch to the kids who can't afford to pay for it and I think that the parents should find the 45 cents or 2 dollars a day or whatever it is to make sure their kids are fed. That is one of the jobs of parents, to make sure their kids are not hungry.
DeleteNo I am not advocating for everyone to get free lunch. And I am not advocating for hungry kids. Parents don't put money in their child's account for many reasons, one is because they may not be able to afford to, but another reason is because maybe they packed their kid a lunch. I agree...most parents will make sure their child has something to eat for lunch. This does not mean they have to put money in their child's account. Families already spend a lot of money buying food for their household and don't want to spend or cannot afford to spend the additional money to purchase the school lunch, so they may pack their child a lunch. Again, the issue is not whether you feel school lunch is affordable to everyone or whether you feel that parents should make sure their kids are not hungry....The issue is that student ID's are not credit cards and should not be used as one by LPS. Would you be ok if someone made charges to your credit card without your authorization, even if it was $2.00 a day?
DeleteIf it was one of my children and he or she was buying food for lunch, then, yes, I would be more than okay with it.
DeleteWell fortunately for you, you can afford to. Unfortunately, many parents cannot.
DeleteLook, the bottom line is this: if one cannot afford to feed their children, then they need to figure out a way to do it. Letting your kid go hungry should not be an option for anyone. If people really can't afford it, they should qualify for free or reduced and, if not, maybe they need to make certain sacrifices so their kids can eat...
DeleteI am not finding a problem with the way LPS is doing things...they are making sure that kids are not hungry.
And my financial situation is not the topic here, but I do have 5 kids and only one income so you can make your own guesses. But I can afford $2 so my kid can eat. It's funny, that's about what a coffee from Dunkin Donuts costs..and I bet some of these parents who "can't afford" their kid's lunch indulge in that every day.
I want to give you a little exercise. Imagine you are working on the lunch line a kid comes says he is hungry and forgot his lunch money. What are you going to do?
ReplyDeleteThe cafeteria workers are doing what they are instructed to do by LPS. My issue is not with these hard working people at all. They are doing their jobs. Now let me give you a little exercise. Imagine you are being charged $31 per month without your authorization and must pay this. What are you going to do?
DeleteAh, there's the conundrum. Those policy-setting LPS administrators don't have to face the hungry kid. Me if I got the bill, I would refuse to pay it and then flood everybody's inbox with letters. I'd probably enlist your help in composing them. There are NO easy answers. Solutions have unintended consequences.
DeleteStanley, would you really refuse to pay if one of your kids had forgotten their lunch money and the LPS 'fronted' him a lunch and then billed you later? I might be wrong, but I think you might simply be happy he got to eat lunch that day...maybe?
DeleteWe are not talking about one day's lunch. We are talking about 180 days worth of lunches, totaling almost $300 that LPS took upon themselves to charge you. Again, you are fortunate to be able to afford this.
DeleteWhat happened to agreeing to disagree?
DeleteMy question here is why a person wouldn't give their kid money to buy lunch. I get hungry in six hours...
And what you are missing is that I am not 'fortunate' that I can afford this. I make sacrifices in my own life so my kids can eat...it's what parents are supposed to do.
If you or someone else has a problem with this situation, perhaps some alternatives should be discussed with the child, i.e. bringing a lunch. I fail to see how providing some kids with food (and yes, later billing them)is an problem the school committee needs to address. As Stanley said, don't we have bigger 'fish to fry'? The time spent on this issue is time that could be spent on the more pressing issues in the LPS. I only wish this were the biggest problem the school committee had to work on...
Sue, I would refuse to pay the invoice. The lunch has already been served. I don't think the bill would have to reach $300 before it was resolved. My question is are these students being served against their will? They have to be physically going through the line before their ID's can be charged.
DeleteThat is my thought process too. Maybe these people need to be having this conversation with their children and not the LPS.
DeleteWow...20 comments!! I guess this has been quite the debate! I thank all of you for your thoughts on the issue, but I am all debated out for the night. I will bring the issue to the school committee at the next meeting and let them decide if the issue should be addressed further. Enjoy your night everyone!!
ReplyDeleteIf I were being charged $31 per month without authorization, as you put it, I would want to know where and why. And when I found out it was to FEED MY CHILD, I would be fine with it.
ReplyDeleteSo, if you bring it to the school committee, and they say, fine, we won't do it anymore, you will be satisfied? And then more kids will be HUNGRY...
I hate to sound harsh, but I find it hard to believe anyone would have a problem with this. I applaud the LPS for giving these kids food when they have forgotten their money...I would be grateful if it were my child, not angry that they spent the money so my kid could eat. I am incredulous that any parent could be upset about this...unless the kid is ordering the filet mignon every day, I don't see how it could be a problem.
You keep saying that kids will go hungry if LPS does not give them a lunch. I can assure you that kids will not go hungry if they go 6 hours without eating. Also, LPS is not 'giving' these kids food and 'they' are not spending any money. And yes, I would be satisfied if LPS stopped this. Let's be honest, if LPS was really so concerned and thought these kids were going hungry, they would just give the kids the lunch without charging their account. Also, getting authorization from the parents is not difficult at all, so why doesn't LPS do this? Finally, it doesn't matter what the money is being spent on. The fact of the matter is LPS is making unauthorized charges to student's accounts and it wouldn't surprise me if there were some legal issues regarding that fact. Rather than continuing to go back and forth to no end, let's just agree to disagree.
DeleteI can see why Lori stopped the conversation. Sue,you are making judgements and posting comments about things you have no idea about!I am a parent who struggles and makes sacrafices every single day for my kids and most times it's not enough and I still cannot afford my normal monthly expenses.I do not go to dunkin donuts and I do not indulge in anything ever!Yet I do not qualify for free lunch.I do not get help with my food,housing,medical,or any other expenses because I do not qualify.I cannot afford for my kids to get school lunch.It is additional money that I do not have,but my kids are not going hungry.You mentioned school lunch costing 45 cents and you thought that $20 would buy an awful lot of school lunches.My guess is your kids must get reduced lunch because for those of us who have to pay full price,$20 does not buy a lot of anything including school lunch.I find all your ignorant comments offensive!I suggest that in the future you refrain from talking about issues you have no idea about.Go say a pray thanking God for what you have because if you can afford to pay $300 a year for one kid,nevermind 5,then you are fortunate.Some of us are not as fortunate,but that does not make us less of a parent!Go spend some time with families who are really struggling,because you do not have a clue!
DeleteFYI: I am also a parent that struggles and yes, my kids do get reduced lunch and I still struggle, so I do have a clue. But if a child is buying lunch at school with no money in his pocket, wouldn't it stand to reason that that kid is hungry? No one's kid should be hungry.
DeleteI think the piece that you are missing here is that the child is asking for lunch...if you don't want your kid to buy lunch, make sure there is an alternative. As far as I an concerned, the problem does not lie with the way the school is handling this; it lies somewhere else.
And btw, the major difference between you and me is that I did not attack or call anyone names and I certainly did not hide behind 'anonymous'. I am simply thinking of the kids here...
First of all,I did not call you a name.Second of all,my kids bring lunch to school everyday.Third of all,how can a kid buy lunch at school with no money in his pocket(this is the issue at hand isn't it?) I know I cannot buy anything without money in my pocket,can you?Fourth of all,Sue is just as anonymous as anonymous.Finally,why are you even commenting on this issue when your kids get reduced lunch?If you think you can afford $300 a year per kid,why aren't you paying that?It's easy to claim you would pay this,when the reality is you obviously would not.Otherwise,you would be paying it now and not getting reduced lunch.So again,don't comment on issues that don't concern you or that you know nothing about!Good day Sue! I will not be commenting back since speaking to you about this issue is pointless because you don't even pay full price for your kids lunch.
DeleteAh, so, first I don't understand your struggle because I have too much money. Now, I am not allowed to comment because I am so poor my kids get reduced lunch. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteI do apologize if people have found my postings on this offensive. My ONLY thought process here is that kids should have access to food when they need it. The end.
That is why I floated the idea of FREE LUNCHES for everyone. I mean the cost of keeping track has got to be almost as much as providing the lunches. Hungry kids do not learn and learning is what school is about.
DeleteI also find Sue's remarks offensive! You have a lot of nerve passing judgement toward parents who are struggling and MUST pay full price for school lunch and DO NOT get any help whatsoever from any local,state or federal program for ANYTHING. You sat there and posted comment after comment about what makes a good parent and what parents could and should afford and do with their money,when you do not even pay full price for your kids lunch! My guess is you also get other benefits since the income guidlines for most programs are about the same.My suggestion is until you no longer get any assistance from a governmental agency to support your kids,don't make judgemental comments on such issues.
ReplyDeleteWell, since you asked, I will kindly tell you my financial situation is none of your damn business. But since you did ask so nicely, I will tell you I get no benefits of any kind except reduced lunch. Hmm...reduced lunch for 3 probably equals about 1 not reduced in price, yes? And still I afford to feed my kids everyday. Don't make assumptions about me and my life. The only assumption I have made is that we should all be making sure our KIDS are FED. Where I come from, that's a GIVEN that you feed your kids. Rich or poor, just make sure your kids are fed. I had no idea that was such a radical concept. SMH.
DeleteFYI: I am done with this debate. My assertion is that the LPS is acting in a compassionate way to make sure kids that have forgotten their money can still eat. If I were their parent, I would be grateful.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that this has turned into a personal attack on me and my financial situation and first, I was too rich to comment, then I was too poor. Well, I will tell you what I am and that is a resident and taxpayer of Lynn and my opinions are just as valid as the rest of yours, certainly as valid as Lori's.
People, feed your kids or make sure they have access to food. I'm done.
Oh my!! I cannot believe this has generated so many comments and caused such a debate. I do not want to begin another debate on this issue. I just want to give a brief update regarding it. Dr. Latham will be addressing it at Thursday's meeting. From what I have heard, she and the committee will be coming up with some official policy. Hopefully it will include a process where kids (those who get reduced and full priced lunch) who frequently go through the line with a lunch without having money in their account will be cut off and the parents notified at a certain point. None of us want any child to be hungry, but there has to be some restrictions. As it stands now, a child who receives reduced lunch can get about 44 lunches and a child paying full price can get about 14 lunches without having money in their account before a bill is even generated notifying parents. There needs be some cut off and notification done well before this. We shall see what the superintendent and school committee come up with. Hopefully, it will be a policy that is beneficial to both kids and parents.
ReplyDeleteIt's not on the posted agenda yet!
DeleteNO POLICY can be passed if it's not on the agenda. In fact , I don't believe it can even be discussed without a motion to suspend the rules. I don't know, ROBERT'S RULES always confused me,
DeleteI love all these comments, they're good for my numbers!
ReplyDelete