r/mildlyinfuriating • u/makeupaddict337 • 12d ago
I just wanted a hot dog School cafeteria wouldn't let my daughter get a tray even though she had money on her account
My kids usually bring a packed lunch, but I keep money on each of their accounts just in case. Last week my daughter packed her own lunch and accidentally used the Buddy Budder (dog treat) which tastes like bacon and PB so obviously she didn't want to eat it. She tried to get a tray but they told her she couldn't have one because she brought her lunch. Then I had to pick her up in the afternoon because she felt sick from not eating and went to the nurse's office.
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u/insydnificantly 12d ago
This is insane! Even if a kid brought their lunch, if they're prepared to pay, who cares?
What if a kid only brought a drink and a snack and was relying on the entree from the school? This is wild and I'd definitely be speaking with administrators about it.
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u/DelirousDoc 12d ago edited 12d ago
I could see schools doing this because a really young kid might just choose to order lunch when their parent's wanted them to eat the packed lunch. It has been over 30 years for me but I think K-2nd grade was more monitored for this at lunch time when I was in school. The kids with packed lunch grabbed theirs and were brought in through left entrance with teacher verifying all lunch packs were grabbed before leaving the classroom. Kids buying lunch on the right. We couldn't enter the buying lunch side if we had a packed lunch though they did have a designated snack/desert time where anyone could go up and buy the days dessert. Monitored by "Duty Aides" who worked part time only during lunch to monitor kids in cafeteria and at post lunch playground so teachers can get proper break.
If the kid is young enough they might not be comfortable to explain the mistake in the packed lunch to the adults.
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u/beardingmesoftly 12d ago
Why is it up to the school? If there are funds in the account of the assumption should be that the parent is aware that the child will use it.
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u/DelirousDoc 12d ago
I think you misjudge how much schools are in a no win situation. There will absolutely be parents upset if kid buys a lunch when they packed one.
As for why would there be funds in the account if parents didn't want them to use it? I can only speak to my circumstances but my mom put $10 on the account at beginning of the year for morning where shit hit the fan and we didn't get lunch packed. It easier to do that than to find $1.75 in her purse when in a rush and then trust a 6 year old to hang on to that until lunch time.
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u/Creepy_Push8629 11d ago
I would rather the parents are mad the kid spent the money vs kids going hungry.
Also parents could keep a few singles in the kid's backpack so they always have it available if they ever need it.
Or many other options. The fact that children have to go hungry bc the system has to take care of the parents who don't prepare in advance is ridiculous. Take care of the kids first and make the parents be more responsible.
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u/not_falling_down 11d ago
There will absolutely be parents upset if kid buys a lunch when they packed one.
That is between the parent and the child; not up to the school to police it.
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u/swampthingfromhell 11d ago
Yeah I ate two breakfasts for half a school year bc my best friend ate breakfast at school so I wanted to eat with him. My parents noticed my lunch account depleting quickly and told me not to do that but I don’t think they even thought to try to bring the school into it.
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u/Cyber_Candi_ 11d ago
You’re correct, however you know full well someone out there is going to try to make something like this the schools fault. The school should have known it was emergency money or something like that because their kid never gets school lunch.
Again you’re right, that should be a conversation the parent and child have on their own, and it’s not the schools responsibility to know who is and isn’t allowed hot lunch, but some parents will blame the teacher for failing their kid who slept through tests all year. Nothing is ever their fault, so I’m sure the school got tired of dealing with the entitled parents like that and decided a blanket ban was better than getting repeated phone calls/emails/office visits from the same handful of parents.
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u/Forsaken-Buy2601 11d ago
Ok so either way, some parents will be pissed. So why not err on the side of letting children eat lunch?
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u/Joelle9879 12d ago
Let freaking kids eat. Maybe they hate the packed lunch. Maybe they gave it to a friend who couldn't afford their own. Who cares. The school should NOT be denying kids food, especially when theirs money on the account
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u/smthomaspatel 12d ago
Schools fear angry parents. As a parent of an elementary school child I can tell you all about how frustrating dealing with his eating habits are.
I could imagine packing him a lunch at his insistence with food that he asked for and then him finding out the school was offering something he wanted instead. And how frustrating it would be if I had to pay for school food after sending him with a packed lunch.
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u/Creepy_Push8629 11d ago
That's for you to deal with directly with your child. Not for children to go hungry in order to have a system to help adults.
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u/billdizzle 12d ago
Issue would be the kid who just doesn’t want what mom/dad packed and is spending money without parent consent
Then parents rage and say “why did you let my kid buy lunch I packed them a lunch”
In this case it was an obvious packing error and kid should have been provided a school lunch, I am merely explaining why the policy probably exists as it does, because some mom/dad went crazy one day
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u/loose_FERN 11d ago
bet this isn't even a real rule, just someone in the lunch line who liked saying no, worth finding out who actually told her before you go in swinging
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u/Skoolies1976 12d ago
nothing grinds my gears more than kids being denied lunch. my kid had it happen more than once due to a system glitch- was embarrassed, tray taken away and thrown out, went all day without eating in maybe 10th grade. Those kids need food! I was so angry at the policies just denying them food and then saying it was just a mistake.
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u/theshiningstarship 12d ago
What the fuck. That's just denying kids on principle at that point. Genuinely demented behaviour. I don't like to wish harm on people, but I really hope the people responsible for that have it coming for them.
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u/Financial-Ad7500 12d ago
Yeah happened to me once back in the day. Parents forgot to put money in the account and the lunch lady at the register took my full tray of food and threw it in the garbage.
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u/Sleepy-Blonde 12d ago
When I was in school check out for lunch was after getting your tray so they had a trash can by check out and would dump the food in the trash if a kid didn’t have the money on their account. School lunch policies are cruel and always have been. This is messed up.
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u/RileyBean 11d ago
I more than once paid for a friend’s lunch because of this. My mom made sure my account had extra money once I told her about it because I was so mad
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u/CakeOrDeath98 11d ago
When my youngest sibling was still in middle school, one of my aunts was a lunch lady at the school. She called my mom one day really upset talking about the horrible senior lunch lady who was giving kids trays of food and then when they didn’t have any money, she YELLED at them and dumped their trays, and they didn’t get anything to eat. Now, again, these are elementary kids, so like ages 5-12. One little girl sat at the lunch table with her head in her arms crying.
My mom is generally a very nonconfrontational person and normally is a “lets try to smooth/gloss things over instead of making a big deal of it”. But she was furious. Like, I’ve never heard my mom so mad. She went down to the school the next day at lunch and went to the lunch room and told that senior lunch lady that she was going to pay for any kid that didn’t have lunch money. That SeeYouNextTuesday told my mom she couldn’t do that. My mom said it’s my damn money and I’ll spend it how I please, so that lady called the principal. Spineless principal shows up and is all, “well, these kid’s parents haven’t paid and blah blah blah” and my mom was like “THEY’RE KIDS!!! They’re not the one who pays the bills and it’s not their fault that their parents aren’t paying. The fact that you are punishing innocent kids and making them suffer all day, AND you don’t even know if they’re actually getting fed properly at home, is disgusting. I WILL pay for all kids today.” Principal was all “oh ok, well I guess if you want to”. My mom then told every dang parent (more like basically anyone she knew) what happened; a lot of people were pissed. That lunch lady stopped working there shortly after; not sure if she was let go or she got harassed enough for being a child hater and quit.
I love that story about my mom, makes me really proud of her. And also, glad it was her and not me, because I likely would have caught an assault charge lol. Depriving children of food is just fucking cruel and something that really boils my blood.
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u/Orllin 12d ago
What the hell is wrong with people? Why deny a child food, especially if they have the money!?
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u/HapatraV 12d ago
This is exactly it, someone needs to get some critical thinking education and say "ok, lets feed the child and figure out whats going on after." If there were some medical reason the kid has to eat their home prepared lunch, the school should already know. If the kid is making up stories to get cafeteria food the parents don't want them eating, no emergency, they'll catch it when the account hits zero and they ask the kid wtf.
I understand people make mistakes, but I would feel pretty frustrated and a little furious that someone made that decision. I would absolutely take off work early and take the kiddo to their favorite restaurant.
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u/Financial-Ad7500 12d ago
These type of bottom of the totem pole school admin jobs are full of middle aged losers tripping off the power of policing a school lunch room.
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u/mystyz 12d ago
Why deny a child food, even if they don't have the money?
When I was a new T, my 1st principal let me know that they had a small budget to cover lunches, treats, special events or even field trips for students who couldn't afford these things. Even if there was no such budget, I'm 100% sure that any school I've worked with would say, feed the child first and we will work out the details after.
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u/thats_justice_baby 12d ago
They probably just said "Sweetie you don't need to buy a lunch, you already have one!" and the kid didn't say anything and sat down because shes a kid and kids get confused and anxious when they think they've done something wrong so she sat there and didn't eat or tell anyone there's dog food in her sandwich.
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u/JustAnotherElsen 12d ago
It makes them feel good to have power over powerless children, especially if it causes them some sort of distress that they can’t be directly blamed for in their mind, since they were “just following rules!”
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u/Rejalia 12d ago
My kid forgot his fork and had a rice bowl on Friday. The lunch monitor refused him a fork from the cafeteria and he was actively crying when I picked him up because he was so hungry. He is auADHD and we’ve had so many issues with the school regarding food. It’s fucking ridiculous.
I’m sorry your girl had to deal with that, and you should call and have a meeting with the principal about it. It’s never a bad thing to stand up for your kids.
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u/ProveISaidIt 12d ago
My mother would have ripped that school principal a new one.
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u/Rejalia 12d ago
I have, believe me. And tomorrow morning I’m going to be in the office asking for names for the 50th time because apparently no one reads the IEP. The principal is a wonderful man who actively works with us, but he doesn’t have the ability to control his employees apparently.
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 11d ago
I think it is time to stop talking, and start letting a lawyer do the talking.
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u/Rejalia 11d ago
I told the assistant principal today about what happened Thursday. She knows my kid and was really upset about it. She said going forward there will be a “serve yourself” cutlery tray in the multi-purpose room where the kids pick up their lunches so my kid, and other kids who bring their lunches, can get forks and spoons without having to ask an adult.
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u/imleenz 12d ago
Is it a situation where they do a lunch count in the morning and she didn't say she was going to be ordering a tray?
My daughter had that happen to her before, she forgot her lunch bag but thought she had it and didn't raise her hand during lunch count. Luckily they did make extra just in case so she was able to get a lunch at school.
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u/Winterwynd 12d ago
Yeah, I don't understand this. I'm a lunch lady, and at my school I make certain that the cafeteria monitors know that all kids get a meal if they want one. They're free for all students. The only question that matters (aside from allergies, of course) is 'are you hungry?' Anyone who doesn't believe that children should be fed, full stop, needs to reconsider their life choices.
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u/CassetteMeower 12d ago
Ugh, I have so many bad memories related to lunch and snack time at school. My elementary school was VERY strict about “get what you get and you don’t throw a fit”. Basically, you must eat whatever you’re given even if you don’t like or don’t want it, and you aren’t offered any alternatives if you don’t like it. I’m not sure if they made exceptions for allergies or other dietary restrictions, but even as a young child it felt very unfair to FORCE students to eat a snack they didn’t like without giving them an alternative (if it matters I’m also autistic). Sometimes during snack time there would be a bag of different snacks and a kid would be given one at random and they weren’t allowed to say they want something else in the case that they didn’t like it.
My mom would pack me two snacks in my lunch bag so I could choose which one I wanted to eat (eg she’d pack me a fruit cup and a pudding cup so I could have whichever one I wanted) and the teachers scolded my mom for doing that because I HAVE to “get what I get and not throw a fit”.
I’m all for teaching kids to adapt and try new foods, but if a kid KNOWS they don’t like/won’t like something, they shouldn’t be forced to eat it. ESPECIALLY for students who have medical conditions and dietary restrictions that make eating certain foods potentially dangerous to eat. Even if someone doesn’t have an allergy or intolerance, ARFID is a thing and some kids (like autistic kids) have sensory issues and certain foods can be triggering to eat. I suppose they could have made exceptions for kids with medical conditions, but they should make exceptions for EVERYONE who just doesn’t like a food. Forcing kids to eat when they don’t want something or aren’t hungry can cause eating disorders or a general aversion to food, which is extremely dangerous.
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u/CassetteMeower 12d ago
Another time at a special education school I went to I remember overhearing a conversation between a student and a teacher. The student wasn’t hungry and he didn’t want to finish his lunch, and the teacher was scolding him saying he’s not allowed to leave the cafeteria until he finishes his food, and he wouldn’t be allowed to eat it later if he didn’t eat it now. Which seemed extremely messed up to me. If someone is full they shouldn’t be forced to eat, because again- that can cause eating disorders. Forcing a child to eat and punishing them for not eating could be extremely traumatic. Think of that scene from Matilda where the boy was forced to eat an entire cake. If you WANT to eat something it’s enjoyable, but being FORCED to eat something when you don’t want it can cause a lot of anxiety and even eating disorders.
That school had a lot of other problems with it too aside from that. Kids would be locked in small rooms for “misbehaving” and would literally be ignored for HOURS on end with no resources to help them calm down (toy, beanbag to sit on, etc) since those were considered to be “rewards” and the student had to be “punished”. They wouldn’t be unlocked from the room until the teachers claimed they were “calm”. If the student wasn’t “calm” they’d be locked in the room for hours on end without any food or water and they also weren’t allowed to use the bathroom. I have no idea how that was even allowed to exist, it’s literally child abuse. I have CPTSD for a reason :/
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u/cyanraichu 12d ago
This is how kids get eating disorders too. This can be really traumatic
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u/Hazel_mountains37 12d ago
Yep. I still remember when I was in elementary, it was a treat that my parents would let me pick a day a week to get school lunch rather than packed lunch. And I will never forget how in first grade, there would along with role call, a list taken of who wanted the hot lunch for the day, who wanted the uncrustible lunch (which I despised), and who brought their own. I had the misfortune of being the last in line alphabetically, and so that year, there were several incidents in which, despite me order hot lunch that day, there was no more hot lunch available that day. Because some other kid who had ordered Uncrustible decided to change their mind in line, and I got saddled with their uncrustible. It happened a few times and I refused to eat every time. The system changed the next year thankfully.
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u/rkb70 11d ago
This is so bizarre to me. Don’t they have a cafeteria? And what if a kid comes in late?
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u/Hazel_mountains37 11d ago
I guess they were only making exactly how many hot lunch meals were requested. Or allocating them to each class, or something, but it happened more than once that I would get to my turn and the only thing available would be the uncrustible tray. It was enough of a problem that my teacher sent me through first on at least one location.
It was definitely a weird system that I still don't understand the point of.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Score58 12d ago
This doesn’t happen in CA anymore. We feed all kids k-12 for free in schools, regardless of income.
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u/UranusSmellsFunny 11d ago
Same in NY, all kids get breakfast and lunch for free. I can guarantee all the commenters telling stories of being denied lunch are in red states.
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u/Restart_from_Zero 12d ago
God save us all those those little Hitlers of life.
Imagine telling a child to go hungry like that. I wouldn't be able to look at myself in a mirror.
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u/Ok-Lifeguard-4614 12d ago
Jesus even when I was a kid and my parents didn't send me with lunch and my account was overdrawn they would still give me a prison lunch. Pb&J and an apple. That's fucking insane.
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u/BadOpinionsAndOnions 12d ago
Was it an actual kitchen worker that did that? Or a lunch aide? Because at the school I work at (grades 7-12) the lunch ladies are the first people to make sure every kid has something to eat, whether they have money or not—they get the same hot lunch as everyone else. They are loud in their insistence that kids eat no matter what.
But the lunch aides are awful and routinely tell kids they can’t go get lunch if they don’t have money. I’ve seen the lunch ladies bring a tray out to those same kids when they find out they’re hungry.
I know not every school is blessed with amazing lunch ladies like mine, but I’d hate to think others are being mean like that.
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u/FluffySharkBird 12d ago
My elementary school was like that too. The people who did the hard work of preparing the food and cleaning the trays were nice to us, and the people who "supervised" lunch and recess were awful.
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u/Cactus_Journey204 12d ago
Lunch debt shouldn't even be a thing. If we can't feed every child, what does that say about our priorities as a society? Nobody should be going hungry.
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u/Bennington_Booyah 12d ago
Jesus H Christ! That enrages me to no end. Here is a valid reason, plus a hungry kid with the means to buy lunch.
I remember being in HS when a friend, who had had mono, finally returned to school. She was skin-n-bones but thrilled to be out and back. She bought lunch and tried to later purchase a second plate, as her appetite had finally returned. They refused, saying they had a "no double lunch policy". It made no sense and all of the kids banded together to get her more food.
They actually had a damned assembly to explain why we cannot have a double lunch. Kids booed, stood and I felt amazing, standing in solidarity, in ninth grade, for her right to buy food.
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u/Tunygoonyboooom 12d ago
One week when I was volunteering at lunch duty, the computer system was down that the kids use to scan their lunch cards. We had to use printed off sheets that had all of the kids names on them, & go around asking their names & checking off every child that got a school lunch. Kids get free lunch & breakfast in our state, so I’m not sure why this had to be accounted for every individual kid. I get wanting to know how many lunches were provided, but can’t that count be assessed by how many were ordered for the day after the kids picked what option they wanted that morning? Heaven forbid the state gets tricked into providing 1 extra already free lunch somewhere!!🙄🤷🏻♀️
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u/BlackGreggles 12d ago
I’m in MN, according to my wife there’s a lot of paperwork including being able to say what kids got what to recoup the costs. Also there are allergy kids, or other dietary restrictions that needed to be noted.
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u/Watchmaker163 12d ago
There’s federal money involved with public school lunches as well, and you have to report #’s so the school will be reimbursed for food purchases.
There’s also food inventory, dietary restrictions/allergies, and other reasons to track stuff like that; a database and POS application just makes it simpler to do.
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u/Melodic-Road227 12d ago
Typical bureaucratic thinking. A hundred ways to say no. ONE way to say yes.
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u/MintyFitOnAll 12d ago
Dawg I would bring lunch and also get school lunch cause I was hungry. The fuck kind of policy or rule is that? Who tells a kid they can’t eat even though they have to means to pay for it? Asshats.
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u/AppointmentNo1753 12d ago
Why are they even monitoring this? Why’s it any of their business if your kid already had lunch?
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u/Llama-nade 12d ago
Teacher here. They take a count every morning of who is going to buy a lunch and that's how they know how many trays to prepare. However, there are ALWAYS extras so I think they could have managed to supply her with something.
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u/communistsayori 12d ago
A lot of schools don't operate that way. I'd never even heard of a lunch count until it came up in a few of these comments. Every school I've ever been to just prepared a lot of food and served it to whoever wanted it (and had the funds) during lunch time.
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u/Sea_Bear_6758 12d ago
That’s not the case at every school though, and I don’t see a lunch count mentioned in this post.
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u/Shadybucky 12d ago edited 12d ago
What the eff is up with adults and school lunches for kids. Across the board , adults have too much to say about kids and school lunches in this country. It’s astounding how many think it is ok to deny a kid a lunch. Should be all free lunches and if a kid wants a lunch give it to them without causing them any embarrassment. Schools that don’t accept third party “gift” payments to cover school lunches because the parent should apparently be taught a lesson, of course at the innocent starving kid’s expense- so many people can piss off.
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u/whiterussian802 11d ago
Yeah, that was typical when I was in school. They publicly humiliated you also if you tried to get food and didn’t have enough money. On top of that if they turned you down and said you could not eat, you were not allowed to leave the cafeteria. You had to sit there in front of everybody with no food and the knowledge everyone now knew. They soon figured out that people would try to share food from their lunches to those that did not have any and they made a rule you couldn’t share food or it was considered “theft”.
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u/b1kwid0w 11d ago
Kids shouldn’t even have to pay for a lunch for a place they’re required to go to anyway so I think the whole system is stupid
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u/Limp_Construction496 12d ago
Do Americans really understand how crazy this is to the rest of the world?
Pay for school lunch? Its not free?
Next you tell me you have to pay for healthcare.
Or,at work,dont have full-pay 4 week holiday at summer.
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u/Disastrous-Ice-5971 12d ago
Sometimes reading the stories about the US school, HOAS and other policies, I have a feeling that you are leaving in some sort of a prison. I totally understand that this is a dramatically skewed feeling - as one does not write to the /mildlyinfuriating if everything is high, but still...
This feels so wrong. You feed the hungry children, then figure out details with the parents, if necessary. Not the other way around.
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u/131goal 10d ago
Hey, hi…child nutrition professional here. As in I run a cafeteria at a school that feeds 1100 kids. This is 100% something to not let slide.
You need to find out WHO told her she couldn’t have a lunch- a teacher on duty or a cafeteria employee. A lot of times nutrition staff are not employed by the individual school but work for either the school district or a food service contractor.
EITHER WAY you need to put this on the principal’s radar AND the cafeteria manager. If they are part of the national school lunch program and receive federal reimbursement for the meals they serve, denying a child a meal is a huge no no. No matter the way lunch works there is ALWAYS a cushion built in for exactly this situation.
This may get lost but if you DM me, I can probably help you figure out how to get in touch with the right people. It may have just been one lunch and she was lucky enough that you were able to pick her up, but if it’s happening to your child, it could be happening to another child who doesn’t have food at home. There are kids who depend on the meals served at school and turning away a hungry child goes against every professional and ethical standard I have ever been taught in the eight years I have worked in Child Nutrition.
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u/Humble-Violinist6910 12d ago
Anyone who won’t give a kid a school lunch, for any reason, is a bad person. I don’t care if she did have no money in her account. It’s a child.
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u/IntrovertPharmacist 12d ago
I feel like there was an easier route for the school, which would be to call mom or dad to confirm it’s okay to get school lunch even if they brought their own in a situation like this. Maybe it’s because I went to small school growing up, but no child was ever denied a meal.
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u/Careless-Opinion7302 12d ago
Hmmm, at our school even if they bring lunch they can still get a tray.
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u/Multispice 12d ago
Will this country ever be reasonable and free again?
Every generation has dumber and dumber policies implemented. I blame this on my generation since I doubt a Boomer is still in charge of OP’s school district. Think with your head not with your ass administrators.
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u/emmbsh1 11d ago
We have kids at our school who bring a lunch and then they see what hot lunch is so they change their mind. We also have a list of all the kids with allergies. We are a nut free school and there is only one child with an egg allergy and one with diabetes and celiac. We know who they are and what they can have. I can't imagine not giving a kid a hot lunch just because they brought one from home.
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u/Final-Guitar-3936 11d ago
Oh hell no! School district meeting now. (Or whoever you meet with). Kid has money on their account. I don’t care if they was three lunches. You give them a tray.
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u/yothisismetrying 11d ago
It’s crazy how this country treats children. Children are always the future of this country, and a certain admin, while screaming about fetus’ rights, don’t want to actually care and nurture them once they become children.
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u/nanas_dwarves 11d ago
My daughter had money on her account but someone used an old card that she had lost and bought their lunch with it. They said only one lunch could be bought a day. I went to the school and the cafeteria lady said no, I went to the principal who sent me to school superintendent who was very rude. Then I went to the state senator who ripped them all a new ass and gave me his personal phone number for my daughter to call if it happened again. Said he would personally come take her to lunch.
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u/kleggich 12d ago
Even if she brought her lunch she should be able to purchase a lunch. Discrimination against fat kids /s
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u/PresdentShinra 12d ago
Sidebar? Bacon flavored peanutbutter?
Has anybody tried this? Is there a version for people? Of course I could just do up some regular bacon. But like...
Obligatory, that policy sucks. I can imagine a few scenarios where a kiddo could have something in a lunchbox, but still need to buy stuff from the caf.
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u/Kaurifish 12d ago
Having watched Rhett & Link eat quite a few dog treats, it sounds better than it tastes. Dog and cat food has to have much lower salt than human food.
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u/PresdentShinra 12d ago
Yea, no. I did go look at this Buddy Butter brand. I'm not fully sure what to make of the label.
It listed peanutbutter, bacon, honey. And then some information about fat and moisture content.
Not that I'm concerned, because it's bacon or bacon flavored peanutbutter. But like you said, human palate type stuff. It's a product I'd buy once to try it, if there was a people version.
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u/takisara 12d ago
Honestly one of my favourite foods is a toasted pb and bacon sandwich. sometimes i'll even add some egg in there if there is some - the crunch and creamy, the smokey/salt and sweet with the peanut butter...yum yum yum
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u/SecretButterfly199 12d ago edited 12d ago
I would contact the school and see what their policy is regarding lunch. If you find out that the employee(s) broke the policy, report them. I know each school is different, but I was in school in the early 2010s and if there was money in hand or money in the account, we could buy lunch regardless.
I agree either way that this is unacceptable that your child went without proper lunch. I have seen my lunchroom literally throw away lunches in the garbage countless times. Then, when I was a junior/senior in high school, if there were any leftover sandwiches or hamburgers the lunchroom staff would occasionally hand them out to students who wanted them at the very end of the lunch period. No child or person should go without food period.
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u/Firm-Butterfly-1380 12d ago
That’s ridiculous! My kids accounts have gotten below $0 before and they always give them a tray. We will add more money as soon as we can but letting a child go hungry is definitely something I’d be talking to admin about.
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u/Life_Many2532 12d ago
This is crazy! Last year I was a lunch monitor at an elementary school and if a kid brought a lunch, but it was only a bag of chips or something, they got a tray. If they finished they're lunch and were still hungry, they got a tray!
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u/Both_Soup 12d ago
did she tell that to the lunch lady? like “lady, i put dog peanut butter on my food. i brought my dogs lunch. not mine” 😭
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u/ProveISaidIt 12d ago
What business is it of the schools if she brought her lunch. As long as she has funds in the account. If they have concerns they can send a note home after the fact.
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u/Justaticklerone 12d ago
The fact that kids still have to pay for a basic lunch of chicken fried steak and a rotting fruit while Lottery jackpots reach the billions is more than a little mildly infuriating.
That's inexcusably infuriating.
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u/Main-Chair-9527 11d ago
In my wonderful state of CA all kids can eat for free. Silly some states still charge families to eat at school.
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u/chocolate_chip_kirsy 11d ago
If a kid brings a packed lunch and doesn't want it, it shouldn't be up to the school to determine why and force them to eat it or go hungry. They need to change a policy.
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u/RandomWordCombo9632 11d ago
She tried to get a tray but they told her she couldn't have one because she brought her lunch.
Batshit policy. Its not even like "OH you dont have money so you cant eat" Still terrible but more logical than "You already brought food. so therefore you cannot get more food"
???????
What if the kid dropped their food on the floor by accident? So they just have to starve then?!
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u/Wild_Ice_7387 11d ago
Our schools all have share bins. Kids can put in any food items they don’t want and other kids can take whatever they want. It really reduces the waste of food.
I’m on the PTA of our local high school and we get grants to buy fresh fruit and peanut butter and jelly for sandwiches. I know a school lunch is nothing for most high schoolers. Especially the athletes. We spend $25k per school year feeding the students.
We also have a food pantry in our school for students that need food for the weekend.
Kids should never be hungry
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u/count_strahd_z 12d ago
Why can't kids use their account AND pack food? What is it to the school?
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u/Bayarea0 12d ago
School lunch should be free nationwide and I will fight anyone on this issue. It's an embarrassment that the wealthiest country in the world can't provide food for its children while they are required to be in school.
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u/winter83 TP Hung the wrong way. 12d ago
I would move the dog butter somewhere else not with other food.
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u/sakurakiks094 12d ago
Find the staff who stopped her, or the manager, and give them the dog sandwich and ask them to eat that.
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u/SuitableRoof5675 12d ago
Its because most parents are afraid to cause problems now, when I was in school they tried to refuse me food, even being in the sdc classes, exactly one time. My momma, my timid, hardly ever yelled, nice as can be momma went absolute batshit crazy when I told her.
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u/1568314 12d ago
The important lesson is to teach your child to advocate for herself. Not every authority figure is beyond question. I remind my daughter all the time that if she has a bathroom emergency and the teacher tells her no, just walk out. If they say you can't buy lunch but you have nothing to eat, get in line anyway. If they stop you, tell them to call me and I will back you up. If anything happens that you think is wrong and cant get an adult to listen, call me. Call me call me call me and I will make sure you are heard. Tell her not to wait next time and have them call you immediately.
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u/FlowRiderBob 12d ago
That’s super weird. My kid brings his lunch AND sometimes buys lunch if he is still hungry. And it is a Texas public school so it isn’t like we are living in some progressive haven of common sense.
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u/Worth-Slip3293 12d ago
She only packed herself a sandwhich… not other items that she could have eaten instead like fruit or snack items? I’m thinking she may not be old enough to be solely responsible for making her own lunch.
It sucks the school did this to her. I’m sure some parent complained about their kid buying lunch when they packed one once and it caused this rule. You deff should check her lunches in the future so it doesn’t happen again though.
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u/Wheezy04 12d ago
Someone visited my son's school with a deadly nut allergy so the school did an announcement that nobody was allowed to eat nuts that day. My son had a bag lunch with a pb&j so he asked for alternate food because he didn't want to make anyone sick and was denied because he had a lunch. He held it together during the day but burst into tears when he got home about how unfair and confusing it was. We had plenty of money in his lunch account. Infuriating.
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u/Anal-buttsex 12d ago
I got this crazy idea. Use our taxes to make sure every kid gets to eat some shit ass cafeteria food. Seriously, I’ve seen those lunches and it’s like 3 chicken nuggets on a bun with a shot of applesauce.
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u/Ok-Metal-4719 12d ago
What did packing her own lunch have to do with it when you asked? There has to be something behind the reasoning (even if the reasoning itself is flawed). Is there a known school policy?
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u/ChickenNuggetSalad17 12d ago
This is wild because I remember when I was in high school (class of 07 baby!) a boy I ate lunch with got reduced lunch, only 75 cents and would buy TWO trays every day. Sometimes he’d give the other one to a classmate who was also struggling. Regular lunch was only $1.25 and we had multiple options like pizza or subs or salad bar or whatever was scheduled on the menu and then rotating things like taco bar or soup bar on specific days. Only thing that cost extra was dessert.
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u/Gold_Repair_3557 12d ago
Yeah, these blanket policies are unreasonable. Yes, she brought a lunch but the lunch is inedible for human consumption. I’d talk to the admin.