Lunch debt in schools up nearly $20,000
Warwick schools have a policy for when a student’s lunch payment account goes into debt – the student is charged for and receives a full lunch still, only instead of a hot meal they’ll get either a sun butter & jelly sandwich or a cheese sandwich as the entrée.
The policy takes effect when a student accumulates a debt balance of three or more meals. According to Cathy Bonang in the Superintendent’s office, a student will never be denied a meal because of too much debt on their account.
Bonang said so far this year there has been $27,569 in total lunch debt throughout all the schools, which is up from $9,636 tallied at this time last year.
The policy for giving out the sun butter lunches in the lunch line to students who have debts on their accounts is left up to each individual school. Schools try not to “shame” those students by changing their meals discreetly, according to policy. Bonang said that the cashier views the account when student inputs their ID and makes the entrée change.
In addition, Warwick has a policy that individual principals can give a student a hot meal as long as they fill out an authorization form.
Recently, state Rep. Robert Lancia of Cranston began drafting a bill to put an end to lunch shaming. The bill, he said, is motivated by an incident he heard about at a West Warwick school in which a child had gotten their lunch, went to the cashier to pay, but there wasn’t enough money in their account and tray of lunch was thrown in the trash.
He said that this incident speaks to a broader issue across the state in which students are being “shamed” in front of their peers and are missing out on the proper school lunches that they need.
His bill, he continued, would make it that a child can’t have a tray of food taken away from them after they’ve received it, won’t have to wear a band or stamp that would single them out, and can’t be asked to do chores because they weren’t able to pay.
In Warwick, lunch balances can be monitored continuously on MySchoolBucks accounts and parent/guardians are encouraged to prepay for their children’s lunches if possible.
When an account goes into debt, a notice is mailed to the family’s home. If nothing changes, a second notice is sent by the school’s food service provider Aramark, then a third after that, and finally a notice is sent telling parents that if a balance does not get paid the matter will be turned over to the legal department.
The notices encourage families to apply for free and reduced lunch to see if they qualify, which can be done throughout the year online on the district’s website or at the individual schools in-person.
Bonang said that the total debt accrued by each account does not roll over to the following year, but rather the school department absorbs the hit.
Senior students with debt are still allowed to graduate, however some secondary students may not be able to participate in extracurricular activities, such as prom, on a case-by-case basis.
Rep. Lancia said that the issue of unpaid lunch debt might be solved through funding from outside, local organizations such as Feinstein or the Rhode Island Foundation that could provide funds in a “philanthropic” way. He said that he wouldn’t want to put an “additional burden on the school departments or tax payers.” In West Warwick, he said, a local restaurant, Gel’s Kitchen, is raising funds for affected families so their children can afford lunch.
Lancia has heard from David Machioni, a district director for Stop & Shop who serves on the board for the Rhode Island Food Bank, who said he wants to get involved with this.
“I’m excited about this whole initiative because people are starting to reach back to me,” Lancia said. “It makes sense for everybody, because you don’t want to set the child up for shaming. We’re just at the cusp of the beginning of all of this.”
