# What the heck is going on with our school lunch program? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 17, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130 "2019-05-17T21:04:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2019, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/61 "2019-05-21T08:13:12Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > … that guy again… OK; how come every time I hear any news from the US mentioning a chef, it’s that guy? Not very local btw: while his company may have local openings, the lunch lady is in New Hampshire. He specifically has local openings in her area, as I understand it. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2019, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/62 "2019-05-21T09:56:05Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I know what you mean. > > Inner city = black. Are you going to advocate re-segregating schools next? Depends. Why not? Are you saying a black kid cannot learn unless they are sitting next to a white kid? Do you want a system that skims off the top black students and sends them to a majority white school which happened back in the days of desegregation? Are you against the idea that a group of black parents and educators cannot set up their own school which promotes black education like at [Kansas Cities African Centered Academy](https://www.kcpublicschools.org/acpreplower)? ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/63 "2019-05-21T18:11:03Z")
> [@](#): > > The problem with this is 2 fold. First they are forced to go there, this is not the adult life decisions that lead to their chosen career, this is almost gun to your head if you want to eat you are going to work sort of stuff, so it is not fair to require them to pay as their decisions have not put them in this situation. and second they are children and should learn as a life lesson that children do not pay as adults do. Moreover, you are making them “serve” (clean up after) their peers. Janitors are already low on the respect pole, and surely most of us have heard horror stories about how people are treated in the service industry - hell “nice to you and rude to the waiter” is a very-well-known trope/saying. You are absolutely setting those kids up for increased bullying by putting them in that position. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/64 "2019-05-21T21:43:54Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > And if kids are NOT doing the basics like learning and only causing trouble like roaming the halls, I have no problem taking away their free lunch. > > You probably have no idea how bad inner city schools are. And if drivers aren’t doing the basic things like signaling their turns and not throwing litter out the windows, I have no problem taking away their privilege to drive. You probably have no idea how bad highways are at rush hour. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/65 "2019-05-22T20:30:53Z")
Now the [food services company is saying that the fired cafeteria worker hadn’t charged the student in 3 months](https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/21/us/lunchroom-employee-fired/index.html). Not for his lunches, not for extras. He went through the line, she put more items on his tray (besides the extras and the lunch he had), then didn’t charge him anything. Like I said before - giving a friend’s kid free merchandise. StG ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/66 "2019-05-22T23:26:27Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Moreover, you are making them “serve” (clean up after) their peers. Janitors are already low on the respect pole, and surely most of us have heard horror stories about how people are treated in the service industry - hell “nice to you and rude to the waiter” is a very-well-known trope/saying. You are absolutely setting those kids up for increased bullying by putting them in that position. My dad was still working the cash register even in his first job as a civilian engineer. He was still getting out and pumping his own gas even when he was a professor. I think service jobs become low-class to the extent that we confine them to low-class people. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/67 "2019-05-22T23:35:07Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > When the son was in high school we were somewhat dismays to discover that the lunch period was in the range of 25 minutes. So they all ate like Tasmanian Devils, because NO CHILD CAN BE LEFT BEHIND!!!11! (Even the ones that required three resource officers to sit on to get the ‘child’ to stop breaking things…) From Ellison’s _Invisible Man_: > [@Lucius](#): > > A man don’t need no more’n fifteen minutes to eat no-how; then I say let him git on back on the job. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/68 "2019-05-23T02:19:05Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > My dad was still working the cash register even in his first job as a civilian engineer. He was still getting out and pumping his own gas even when he was a professor. I think service jobs become low-class to the extent that we confine them to low-class people. I never encountered this personally, but I heard more than one story about a pharmacist who refused to touch the cash register because “I did not go to college for 6 years to do this.” They usually didn’t last very long at those jobs, often for other reasons, like treating Medicaid patients poorly. ---
**Author:** ![Monocracy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monocracy/32/4493_2.png) [@Monocracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monocracy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/69 "2019-05-23T17:24:05Z")
> **[School district rescinds job offer for fired cafeteria worker](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/school-district-rescinds-job-offer-fired-cafeteria-worker-after-student-n1008876)** > > The New Hampshire district says it has “commissioned an independent administrative review of all facts and circumstances surrounding this incident.” > [@](#): > > The student’s mother also said the perception of Kimball acting charitably towards a child in need was incorrect, saying her son is well taken care of and was supposed to pack his own lunch for school. “She did not get fired for feeding a hungry child,” the mother told the New Hampshire Union Leader. The article also says that the cafeteria worker tried to cover up the theft through a Facebook message to the student. > **[New Hampshire cafeteria worker, fired for giving boy free lunch, is shocked...](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fired-new-hampshire-cafeteria-worker-who-gave-boy-lunch-shocked-n1008311)** > > Bonnie Kimball said she was fired after she let a student take lunch when he didn't have money. The reason the lunch was $8 was that in addition to the standard lunch, the student also had a la carte items on his tray: fries, 2 packages of cookies, and a Powerade. > [@](#): > > Fresh Picks Cafe said students are not denied a standard lunch if they don’t have money, but per the school’s policy they need money in their account or cash for a la carte items. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/70 "2019-05-23T18:40:53Z")
How long until we find out the lunch lady and the student were having an illicit affair? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/71 "2019-05-23T19:40:36Z")
Apparently there was more to this story than originally known. Lunch Shaming is still a problem. I see news articles every month about a new incident. Some states have passed laws to address the practice. CNN recently published a comprehensive article. > **[The government already knows how to end school lunch shaming | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/12/politics/school-lunch-shaming-children-debt/index.html)** > > School lunch shaming was back in the news last week when a Rhode Island school district prepared to serve a separate cold meal -- sun butter and jelly sandwiches -- to students with lunch debt. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/72 "2019-05-24T20:07:03Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > We already have programs that pay for school lunches for kids that need it, so either > > 1. People whose kids that should be in the program aren’t. > > 2. People that can very well afford to pay for lunch for their kids are being deadbeats or terrible money managers. > > 3. People who can afford a basic lunch have kids taking more “extras” than they can afford above a basic lunch. 1. Someone put the wrong dates on paperwork, mistakenly terminating a kid’s eligibility period in the program. 2. Someone entered the wrong data in the system, so a kid’s eligibility was terminated at the wrong time. 3. Someone or something screwed up the database, wreaking havoc on a whole lot of kids’ eligibilities. 7, 8, 9…999) other non-nefarious administrative problems occurred which were not the fault of the kids, their parental units, the cafeteria staff, et al. This isn’t to suggest the problem should be dismissed. Quite the contrary, the problem should be analyzed so the root cause can be discovered and rectified. However, those of us who are compassionate (yeah, bleeding-heart types) would rather keep the kids learning in classes than toss them out with the used water under the chafing dishes. –G! Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. [COLOR=“White”]…–Hanlon’s Razor[/COLOR] ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/73 "2019-05-24T21:47:36Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I never encountered this personally, but I heard more than one story about a pharmacist who refused to touch the cash register because “I did not go to college for 6 years to do this.” They usually didn’t last very long at those jobs, often for other reasons, like treating Medicaid patients poorly. I encounter it personally every single working day. I work at a very large law firm, one of the biggest in the country. I’m not a lawyer, I’m an IT guy. The firm hires lots and lots of lawyers right out of law school. From the top-ranked law schools. Recent grads (first and second year lawyers) are notorious for refusing to do anything that they consider beneath them, and being obnoxious to support staff. It’s especially true (and I’m far from the only person to observe this) of Harvard Law grads and NYU Law grads. Other schools are a bit better. Usually they get over it in a year or two – being a first-year at a big firm is such a miserable existence that they’re pretty much crushed into submission. Oddly, paralegals seem to persist in this behavior much longer. But there aren’t as many of them. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/74 "2019-05-26T02:09:07Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > There are many school districts throughout the country that are going to _free lunch for all_. And there is a proven cost savings associated with it. Especially in poorer districts where there is a high percentage of needy families. By eliminating the administration of the free lunch program and collecting data on needy families the school districts have found that the money saved from the back office administration more than pays for all of the additional free lunches. It also eliminates the stigma of showing your special card that says you are on free lunch. My local school district made this change recently. Something like 85% of the kids were already on free/reduced price lunch, so it’s not as though huge numbers of kids were suddenly joining the rolls, raising the expenditures by megadollars. The change makes perfect sense as far as I’m concerned, and I know it’s been well received by teachers. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/75 "2019-05-26T21:41:54Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > The ones only coming for a free lunch are the idiot ones who schools are better off with not having anyways. EXCUSE ME, but when I was in high school, my best friend and her siblings got free lunchs, and they certainly were not “idiot ones who schools were better off without having”. Being poor doesn’t make a person an idiot or a troublemaker. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2019, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/76 "2019-05-26T22:17:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > EXCUSE ME, but when I was in high school, my best friend and her siblings got free lunchs, and they certainly were not “idiot ones who schools were better off without having”. Being poor doesn’t make a person an idiot or a troublemaker. I completely agree with you, but I don’t think that was what urbanredneck was saying. The original line: “The ones ONLY coming for a free lunch…” (my emphasis). Pretty sure the idea is that if kids come to school for the sole purpose of getting a free lunch, then they’re troublemakers–not that kids who get free lunch aren’t serious students. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130/77 "2019-05-27T00:01:47Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I had 10 minutes in school, 25 minutes seems more then enough though, a McD’s has a sign limiting seating to 20 minutes. after all how long does it take to eat a lunch? And what to do with more time, just sit there? I’ve only seen those signs in McDonald’s in areas where vagrancy is a problem. Typically areas like downtown were the homeless tend to congregate. When I was in high school we had 55 minutes for lunch which was just the standard length of a class. It didn’t take me that long to eat of course but it was nice having time to relax, socialize, and maybe even work on my homework. I can’t help but think that the break meant I was better prepared for my afternoon classes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-our-school-lunch-program/834130.md?page=3)