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John Robert Caravella, a 5-year-old kindergartner with autism, was denied a $2.30 meal by Cliffwood Elementary School in Matawan because his parents had yet to settle an $8 charge that was just a few days overdue, reports the Newark Star-Ledger.
Both parents worked in the town where the school is, but they were not called. They could easily have brought in the $8.00
That just isn't right. No child should go without lunch for a meesly $8. At my daughters school, if a parent owes a certain amount, I'm not sure what it is, and hasn't paid the child will get a cheese sandwich and a milk. They should have given him something.
On the 4th day of school? How could the parents owe $8.00 unless they hadn't paid anything?
Both sides are at fault here. The school, for not providing any food, even a basic sandwich, and the parents of a special needs child, for not making sure they understood the payment system. Taking it one step further, is this special needs child sent to the cafeteria without any adult supervision?
Seems like there is plenty of blame to spread around.
That just isn't right. No child should go without lunch for a meesly $8. At my daughters school, if a parent owes a certain amount, I'm not sure what it is, and hasn't paid the child will get a cheese sandwich and a milk. They should have given him something.
I live in NJ and our district works the same way. If we owe too much money on the kids accounts they won't let them buy the hot lunch, but they give them an option of a cheese or PB&J and milk and I think they toss some graham crackers or a piece of fruit in there as well. They will not let the kids go without eating. There was one time my son's account got messed up when our check wasn't processed and posted in a timely manner and his Kindergarten teacher went and had the principal authorize having him served the lunch anyway.
It sounds like there was a serious breakdown in communication over the account, but that still isn't an excuse as to why they let the kid go hungry, regardless of his medical issues.
This is not right at all, and especially because this child is severely autistic. Yes, the parent should be keeping up on the money owed for lunch, but it is the beginning of the school year and there is no valid reason for this. I hope these parents raved bloody hell over this.
On the 4th day of school? How could the parents owe $8.00 unless they hadn't paid anything?
Both sides are at fault here. The school, for not providing any food, even a basic sandwich, and the parents of a special needs child, for not making sure they understood the payment system. Taking it one step further, is this special needs child sent to the cafeteria without any adult supervision?
Seems like there is plenty of blame to spread around.
In my school district, as in the school districts near me, a child is never left to go hungry. It is our policy that if the child's lunch account is overdrawn they get a cheese or PB & J sandwich and a milk (and usually the cooks add some fruit).
Now, we have had an occasional problem with a child refusing to eat the food that is offered to them. For example, they left their bag lunch of cookies, chips, gummy treats, and juice at home and refused to eat the sandwich and drink the white milk given to them at school, but thankfully that is pretty rare.
I had a slight run-in with our school cafeteria just last week.
We had a credit from early June till September. I let my kids buy lunch only 1 day a week and they buy milk when they bring their own lunch. I usually send a $50 check when I figure we are getting low on credit but sometimes there is a lag from when the check gets from the District Office (where they ask them to be sent) to the cafeteria manager. One daughter was refused milk because the worker said she owed $6.50. My daughter was embarrassed and thirsty and had tears in her eyes when she handed me the slip from the cafeteria.
I immediately got the manager on the phone and told him to never tell my child she could not eat or get milk because of a meager amount. I understand they can't be giving food away but this is not what happened. The manager simply had been so busy with a new school year he had not had time to post all the credits from the district. They run a tally every day and I had him send me the sheet so I could see what was happening. Turns out there was another child with a similar name who was using up our credit.
Wouldn't it be just as easy to send a note home that your account is less than $10 than to wait and send a note home that you owe $6.50?
I had a slight run-in with our school cafeteria just last week.
We had a credit from early June till September. I let my kids buy lunch only 1 day a week and they buy milk when they bring their own lunch. I usually send a $50 check when I figure we are getting low on credit but sometimes there is a lag from when the check gets from the District Office (where they ask them to be sent) to the cafeteria manager. One daughter was refused milk because the worker said she owed $6.50. My daughter was embarrassed and thirsty and had tears in her eyes when she handed me the slip from the cafeteria.
I immediately got the manager on the phone and told him to never tell my child she could not eat or get milk because of a meager amount. I understand they can't be giving food away but this is not what happened. The manager simply had been so busy with a new school year he had not had time to post all the credits from the district. They run a tally every day and I had him send me the sheet so I could see what was happening. Turns out there was another child with a similar name who was using up our credit.
Wouldn't it be just as easy to send a note home that your account is less than $10 than to wait and send a note home that you owe $6.50?
Actually, many school systems now have pay online systems. You can get an email reminder when the account is low as well. Ours does this - I am not sure if the funds are direct from a bank account or if they are from paypal.
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