As I posted here on February 1, the Salt Lake School District has as policy of taking lunches from elementary school students who had negative or zero balances in their lunch accounts, and throwing the lunches into the trash, then offer the child an apple and a carton of milk. Today, responding to national and international pressure, the district has issued a new policy, effective immediately, which corrects the previous policy. The new policy states that the schools will serve full lunches to students, regardless of the account balance. Policies and procedures are being implemented that will improve the communication between the lunchroom staff, the administration and the parents. Other school districts in Utah are also implementing similar policies. (Salt Lake Tribune, 2/7/14)
This is a great step forward, and I applaud the district for establishing this new policy. The bigger question, however, is why did it take national and even international attention to coerce this district into applying common sense to the issue? The elementary school children do not control the purse strings of the parents. (The new policy states that the school administrators discuss the issue with the parents, and leave the students out of the communication.) Have our school districts become so money-centric that the ideal of an educated student body has taken a back seat to money? Yes, I know that school lunch is not directly coupled to a successful education. The larger body of evidence, however, demonstrates that elementary school students who are not hungry tend to pay more attention in class, and thereby have a better opportunity to learn while they are in school. Learning-education- is what they are in school to do.
Utah loves the Founding Fathers of our country. Let us then read what Thomas Jefferson had to say about education:
“The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance”-Thomas Jefferson.
Our nation was not conceived, nor will it flourish, without an educated population. It is imperative that we all consider all children as our future, and that we attend to their education. If that means, as demonstrated, that we provide an opportunity for the children to eat a nutritious meal while they are in school, so be it. That school lunch may be the only decent meal that student receives in that day.
The credit for this change in district policy is due in no small part to an un-aligned group of parents who were angry about the policy, and I congratulate them for speaking out. It is my considered opinion, however, that it is the advent of social media, of user groups, of Facebook and Twitter, and of the internet that brought this issue to critical mass. Without the use of social media, of the internet, perhaps this would have been nothing but a discardable issue for the school board.
I accept that the parents have a responsibility to know what the account balance is. I have been a parent to three school age children, and I acknowledge that the rush of events in my life, and in my spouse’s life, prevented us from reviewing the daily balances of our children’s school lunch account. However, we paid attention to the notices from the school when the balances were close to zero, or negative, and responded accordingly. The Salt Lake School District has admitted that the new system failed to properly notify the parents.
The Salt Lake School District has failed, noticeably, to apologize to the students for the embarrassment the students experienced at having their lunches taken from them in front of their peers.
Sally in the 4th grade does not understand all the politics and uproar behind the district’s action that day in the lunchroom. All she knows is, her lunch was taken from her and thrown in the trash, and she was embarrassed in front of her classmates. The ball, so to speak, is now in the hands of the Salt Lake School District. It is now their responsibility, and their duty, which they will evade, to speak to each of the 40 students (and their parents) affected, to admit that they made serious mistakes, and to let the children know this is the effect of adult (mistaken) hubris on their part.
Congratulations to the Salt Lake School District for taking late but corrective action. The punitive actions the district took against the students have been exposed to public scrutiny, worldwide. Now, the district management needs to apologize, in front of media cameras, to the students. The lunchroom supervisor who cried when ordered to take lunches from students deserves a public accommodation, not paid leave while the district administrators cover their respective backsides.
Utah, a state that “promotes family values.” A state that declares positive concern about children. A state, however, that has demonstrated that money is more important than children. The people in charge of the Salt Lake School District have responded to the legislature, a legislature that decries any potential waste in public schools. A legislature that prefers charter schools over public schools.
It is time, Utah voters, to wake up. It is time to vote for legislators that will defend your children’s right to public education. It is time to challenge the status quo. It is time to say, I want my children to do as well, or better, than I did. That is the American dream, that is the future of America.
I know some of you will have divergent opinions on this subject. I challenge you to present them here, this is a forum for discussion. Click on the "comment" below, post your thoughts, let’s talk.
I challenge you. Will you respond?
Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57512768-78/district-parents-balances-negative.html.csp doiwnloaded 2 7 14
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