In just one week, the City Schools of Decatur will begin serving a cheese sandwich and milk to students with unpaid lunch bills.
Beginning Feb. 1, a public charter school district in DeKalb County, Georgia, will allegedly single out students with balances on their meal plans by serving them a different lunch from other students. The school district has implemented new meal charge protocols that give students a maximum of three meals charged to their accounts for the entire school year.
Students will
be served an alternative lunch once the meal charges are maxed out. It equates to a balance of $10.50 for middle and high school students and $9.75 for elementary students before they are given a cheese sandwich and milk to hold themselves over throughout the school day.Parents expressed their concerns with the alternative meal plan during a Jan. 17 Decatur School Board community meeting. Many are upset with the different treatment some students will receive for something that is beyond their control.
The new procedures are in response to the school district’s balance of about $88,000 in unpaid meal charges.
“I would love for the administration and nutrition department to come up with some creative solutions between now and winter break that lowers the risk that these kids are going to be shamed, or the kids will be given an alternative lunch,” School Board Chair James Herndon said during the community meeting. “I hope they are working on that. I look forward to seeing what we can do.”
The school district also claims students won’t be deprived of nutrition with the alternative meal plan.
“To offer an alternative meal at no additional cost to students, we have selected the most economical choice that still offers a nutritious meal,” a spokesperson for the City Schools of Decatur said.
The school district is asking parents to pay any outstanding balances for meal plans to help reduce the $88,000 debt, 36% of which is from students who receive free or reduced lunch.
“At this point, we have not made any progress as far as paying off the debt. We are a nonprofit organization,” School Nutrition Director Monique Breedlove said.
“We want our kids to have a regular lunch, but our program can’t run if we’re not bringing in the funds from students paying for it.”