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Let’s return to the latest Brooks High School scandal, aka LunchRoomGate. We’ve been told that all Lauderdale County schools employ the same payment policy for school lunches. We have no doubt that’s true, but…
For some reason, Brooks began to implement that policy with dramatic results this past Monday. Why? Obviously, it was at the direction of an administrator for Brooks. Who was it? Why was it?
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There would seem to be three kinds of students who were not allowed to eat on Monday:
1. The student who left lunch money in his/her vehicle. Why are these students not allowed to return to the parking lot? Do school admins fear drug deals? Sexual liaisons? Huffing? Just why are students not allowed to return to their cars during the school day?
2. The student whose parent forgot to give their child lunch money. Okay, some have called these children/parents irresponsible, but it obviously happens. Perhaps a child has only one parent and that parent is in the hospital. Why make the child go hungry (after being embarrassed in the admin’s office, of course)?
3. The student whose parent(s) has no money to give the child. These parents need to be sure to sign up for federal and state programs which pay for these lunches. Yes, we’re sure there will be some abuse, but had you rather a child went hungry? How about a garden club or Sunday school class adopting a certain student? $60.00 a month should cover one student; how financially painful for an organized group would that be?
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Over the years we’ve known many parents of one or two children who suddenly faced the prospect of taking in several nieces and nephews. These are circumstances where every penny is needed; there’s no shame in soliciting help when it’s available:
Finally, if your child witnessed what happened at Brooks on Monday, please send us an e-mail or FB message. While it shouldn’t have happened to even one child, there are conflicting reports as to the number of children who suffered due to what could be called an inane policy…or at least the poor implementation of this policy.
I can understand why students aren’t allowed to commute back and forth to their vehicles. Safety. When kids arrive and leave school, there is almost always someone out in the parking lots observing. Can’t man the parking lots all day and you most certainly can’t make exceptions and start escorting students to their cars for this.
ReplyDeleteI agree there is a problem here, but I’m not 100% sure how to fix it without holding their parents responsible. Maybe discreetly identify these students and follow up with their parents. As an administrator, you pretty much already know who everyone is so this should be pretty easy to accomplish. Maybe allowing the administrators to apply for lunch assistance on the students behalf? I’m sure if that didn’t help, DHR possibly being referred would do the trick for most situations. There also should be money set aside to cover this “charge account” so no one should go without lunch. Maybe some local charities could offer to cover this for those students that find themselves in this bind until the school can help get lunch assistance set up, one way or the other.
Not one student should be denied lunch, I blame Administrator. My opinion!
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