School district accused of embarrassing children: No longer take tray from students who can’t pay

Responding to complaints that children were being embarrassed, Muscogee County School District cafeteria workers no longer are supposed to take the tray of food from students who don’t have enough money to pay for their meal.

That change is among the new procedures MCSD school nutrition director Susan Schlader announced during the Muscogee County School Board’s meeting Tuesday night.

The new procedures also will eliminate the need to throw out the unpaid meal, based on health department regulations, Schlader said.

The Ledger-Enquirer reported about the complaints two weeks ago, when 986 delinquent student accounts (608 in elementary school, 275 in middle school and 103 in high school) amounted to a deficit of $3,542.82 in MCSD’s School Nutrition Program. No MCSD money funds the program; its $20 million budget comes entirely from the federal government, Valerie Fuller, the district’s communications director told the Ledger-Enquirer then.

Now, thanks to 19 donations from the community totaling $2,150 and some parents and guardians paying the balance in their accounts, a little more than $1,000 is left in the deficit, all in elementary schools, Schlader said.

That prompted Kia Chambers, the nine-member board’s lone countywide representative, to tell Schlader, “I’m going to write you a check tonight for the $1,000.”

Schlader replied, “I don’t know how to thank you for that.”

MCSD plans to set up “house accounts” at schools that receive more donations to help pay for the meals of students whose parents or guardians are in arrears. District 7 representative Cathy Williams, however, cautioned that could result in only “favored schools” having such accounts. She suggested creating an open account for the entire district.

Williams also said the new procedure Schlader described to the board still risks embarrassing students, especially the elementary school children who would have a tougher time understanding.

After MCSD has tried to notify the student’s parents or guardians by mail and phone that they owe money for their child’s meals, the cafeteria manager is supposed to meet with the principal and ask for help in contacting the parents or guardians.

If the problem isn’t solved, the next step in the procedure says, “If a student comes through the line and they already have their tray, ask the child to come to the Manager’s office. From there, have the child call the parent and let you speak to them. Advise the parent of the meal charge and that you will serve the student today. If no money is received the following day, the student will be given an alternate meal. Never take a tray from a student and throw the food away.”

An alternate meal consists of a sandwich (a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a cheese sandwich), a fruit and milk.

“After all avenues have been exhausted and you are forced to serve the alternate meal,” the new procedure continues, “make sure you speak with the student’s teacher before lunch and let them know the student needs to see the Manager when they come to the cafeteria. A good practice would be to leave the list in the teacher’s mailbox at the end of the day so he/she would have it first thing the following morning. The student will be served a ‘special meal.’ Place it in a bag with a smiley face or something cute drawn on the bag.”

The procedure document adds in all capital letters, “REMEMBER: IT IS NOT THE STUDENT’S FAULT. BE SENSITIVE TO THEM AS WE DO NOT WANT THEM TO FEEL LIKE THEY ARE BEING PUNISHED.”

Williams asked whether those steps could be reversed. She suggested having the cafeteria manager speak to the student’s teacher first and ask the student to see the cafeteria manager before the students gets in the line. Naomi Buckner of District 4, John Thomas of District 2 and Vanessa Jackson of District 3 voiced similar concerns and suggestions.

Schlader agreed. She said she would revise the procedure accordingly.

Buckner also suggested providing low-income parents and guardians more help in filling out an application for their child to receive a free or reduced-price meal.

Thirty-eight of MCSD’s 53 schools qualify for school-wide free lunch, meaning every student at that school may receive a free meal regardless of their family’s income.

These 15 MCSD schools don’t meet the criteria so they don’t offer free meals to every student: Blanchard, Britt David, Clubview, Double Churches, Eagle Ridge, Mathews, Midland and North Columbus elementary schools; Aaron Cohn, Blackmon Road, Midland and Veterans Memorial middle schools; Columbus, Northside and Shaw high schools. But students at those schools may qualify individually for free or reduced-priced meals if their parents or guardians apply.

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 12:00 AM with the headline "School district accused of embarrassing children: No longer take tray from students who can’t pay."