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Post by smasonnc on Sept 27, 2023 13:33:24 GMT
This teacher would have bought a gallon of ice cream and our class would have "mysteriously" earned a treat day. I would have said something at the staff meeting and to school and district admin. Using food to highlight the financial challenges of a child (who doesn't even have anything to do with the situation) is mean. School already naturally gives multiple opportunities for students to figure out who is a "have" and who is a "have not" that we don't need something as simple as ice cream adding to it. I would say we need more teachers like you, but most of the teachers I know ARE like you. You don’t single out kids whose families are struggling. Bless you all.
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Just T
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,544
Jun 26, 2014 1:20:09 GMT
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Post by Just T on Sept 27, 2023 13:38:48 GMT
Yeah, those darn free-loading kids need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps if they want some ice cream. I really and truly hate this country sometimes. What the hell kind of person thinks it's okay to single out kids from getting a 25 cent cardboard dish of ice cream because they owe lunch money? Good grief, where is your compassion, kenziekeeper?
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StephDRebel
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,665
Location: Ohio
Jul 5, 2014 1:53:49 GMT
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Post by StephDRebel on Sept 27, 2023 14:14:57 GMT
The balance of the whole school was paid for by a soul food restaurant ( it was $400) and then if I'm not mixing stories the same week that restaurant was also vandalized...someone drew on the decals on their windows.
Ice cream Fridays for us would go along with football season in an effort to hype the energy on game days. I always had a packed lunch- sandwich and a baggie of chips and never got ice cream. At my school they made chocolate milkshakes in Dixie cups.
I remember being singled out in the mornings when the teachers would make a big deal of doing lunch count- how many packers and buyers and how many were getting ice cream, then again at lunch when they had all the packers sit together so they could go through the line after they finished and I would sit alone at the table while they got their shakes. After they sat back down I would sit and blink back tears while they all ate it around me.
I wasn't on free or reduced lunch, my family never would have qualified. We had steady income that was controlled by an addict and I couldn't just find money for treats. That would have been 'stealing' and I would be physically punished if I were ever caught. I was dealing with much bigger things than a cup of milkshake but the way they handled it sucks. I still don't eat frostys.
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huskergal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,998
Jun 25, 2014 20:22:13 GMT
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Post by huskergal on Sept 27, 2023 14:51:12 GMT
Definitely a case of "Fuck those kids"!
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 27, 2023 14:55:24 GMT
Maybe if people had compassion, humanity and empathy for kids, starting in schools, the kids would benefit for their lifetime all to our well being!
Nothing against those who are great caring school employees.. just the ones who make them all look bad..
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anaterra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,843
Location: Texas
Jun 29, 2014 3:04:02 GMT
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Post by anaterra on Sept 27, 2023 15:11:41 GMT
4 of our grands go to a school where they get free breakfast and lunch... dh gives each $25 un their account for extras each month... oldest dgs always wants a 2nd entree... he is a growing boy!! Lol... the other 3 use it for cookies or ice cream
3 of our grands go to school in a district that they have to pay for breakfast and lunch... dh sends their mom 75 (25 for each kid) but she doesn't use it as extra... that is what they use to pay with until it runs out and she or ds have to put more in their account...
It seems unfair to dh but i can understand where the mom is standing...
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anaterra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,843
Location: Texas
Jun 29, 2014 3:04:02 GMT
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Post by anaterra on Sept 27, 2023 15:13:38 GMT
Lexica they dont use actual tickets anymore... they have an account and the student learns their account number and tells the cafeteria worker... and the amount gets deducted from that..
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anaterra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,843
Location: Texas
Jun 29, 2014 3:04:02 GMT
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Post by anaterra on Sept 27, 2023 15:16:07 GMT
I can see the difference between PTA ice cream and everyone pays with their cash vs cafeteria ice cream where it has to come out of your account... but i do think the school should let friends buy for friends if they have it...
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huskergal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,998
Jun 25, 2014 20:22:13 GMT
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Post by huskergal on Sept 27, 2023 15:25:15 GMT
I can see the difference between PTA ice cream and everyone pays with their cash vs cafeteria ice cream where it has to come out of your account... but i do think the school should let friends buy for friends if they have it... The kids brought the money. The school wouldn't let them have it because they had a negative account balance.
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lindas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,158
Jun 26, 2014 5:46:37 GMT
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Post by lindas on Sept 27, 2023 15:34:50 GMT
I can see the difference between PTA ice cream and everyone pays with their cash vs cafeteria ice cream where it has to come out of your account... but i do think the school should let friends buy for friends if they have it... I can somewhat see the school’s point on not allowing friends to buy for friends because of potential food allergies.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 27, 2023 15:35:21 GMT
I can see the difference between PTA ice cream and everyone pays with their cash vs cafeteria ice cream where it has to come out of your account... but i do think the school should let friends buy for friends if they have it... The kids brought the money. The school wouldn't let them have it because they had a negative account balance. In other words the dollar should be applied to the account and the kid should not get ice cream!! Just add to the punishment..
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Post by picotjo on Sept 27, 2023 15:57:04 GMT
This sounds like something my alma mater would do. I hated that school. They are more concerned about keeping up with the Joneses and building new buildings to host events than the actual kids. Wonder if this school district is the same Is Lebanon OH a good place to live? Living in Lebanon offers residents a sparse suburban feel and most residents own their homes. In Lebanon there are a lot of parks. Many families and young professionals live in Lebanon and residents tend to be conservative. The public schools in Lebanon are above average. I live close to Lebanon. Their behavior is disgusting. Those poor kids.
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Post by hop2 on Sept 27, 2023 16:01:56 GMT
I just hope they were correct with their lunch accounts, as schools have been known to make mistakes with their lunch accounts
Btdt and they always blame the child. Even with proof it is not the child it’s still somehow the child’s fault.
My kids weren’t even in school anymore when the free lunch passed during the pandemic and I was physically relieved because of what we had gone thru with that lunch account bullshit.
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anaterra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,843
Location: Texas
Jun 29, 2014 3:04:02 GMT
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Post by anaterra on Sept 27, 2023 17:08:51 GMT
The kids brought the money. The school wouldn't let them have it because they had a negative account balance. In other words the dollar should be applied to the account and the kid should not get ice cream!! Just add to the punishment.. Because the cafeteria DOES NOT accept cash as payment... you can only pay thru the account.. it ISNT the childs fault... but the cafeteria worker can not just give ice cream to someone who has nothing in their account...
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Post by melanell on Sept 27, 2023 18:06:26 GMT
But if the post is correct, the school DID attempt to punish kids with negative balances, by refusing to allow them to buy ice cream even if they bring the cash to pay for it. This isn't prison. It’s children who are already downtrodden, being exposed to additional unkindness and humiliation. I don’t really care if it was an “existing policy.” It still sucks. We used to have ice cream days at the 14yo’s grade school, and no one was checking lunch balance logs before selling ice cream to a kid with $1 in his grubby little hand. So, if my family has a bill that I don’t pay… Can I continue to use the service? I’m not seeing the difference. I agree with you that it isn’t the kid’s fault. There is ample opportunity to apply for free/reduced lunch if the bill truly can’t be paid. That child could be bringing in their own cash to buy that ice cream for all any of us know. In which case, why should they be refused service over their parent(s)' bill? When I was a kid, money was tight, but I did have my own pocket money that people other than my parents gave to me, and if I wanted to spend it on penny candy or ice cream, I was allowed to do so. (I did have a savings account for saving money as well.) And if I showed up at the corner store, where my parents sometimes kept a tab, the owners never turned away my fist full of pennies & nickels because my parents owed them money. I was my own separate customer, and I didn't have a tab. I had cold hard cash in my hand & I wanted to exchange it for goods. And they wanted to sell goods, so it all worked out. (And yes, after a few lean years my parents reached the point where they no longer needed to keep a running tab, but they were forever grateful for the years when they were allowed to have one, and they continued to patronize that shop until the day the owners retired & the shop closed its doors. My siblings & I continued to shop there as adults as well. )
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 27, 2023 18:09:25 GMT
In other words the dollar should be applied to the account and the kid should not get ice cream!! Just add to the punishment.. Because the cafeteria DOES NOT accept cash as payment... you can only pay thru the account.. it ISNT the childs fault... but the cafeteria worker can not just give ice cream to someone who has nothing in their account... Shaming a child is NEVER acceptable!!
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 27, 2023 18:13:16 GMT
So, if my family has a bill that I don’t pay… Can I continue to use the service? I’m not seeing the difference. I agree with you that it isn’t the kid’s fault. There is ample opportunity to apply for free/reduced lunch if the bill truly can’t be paid. That child could be bringing in their own cash to buy that ice cream for all any of us know. In which case, why should they be refused service over their parent(s)' bill? When I was a kid, money was tight, but I did have my own pocket money that people other than my parents gave to me, and if I wanted to spend it on penny candy or ice cream, I was allowed to do so. (I did have a savings account for saving money as well.) And if I showed up at the corner store, where my parents sometimes kept a tab, the owners never turned away my fist full of pennies & nickels because my parents owed them money. I was my own separate customer, and I didn't have a tab. I had cold hard cash in my hand & I wanted to exchange it for goods. And they wanted to sell goods, so it all worked out. (And yes, after a few lean years my parents reached the point where they no longer needed to keep a running tab, but they were forever grateful for the years when they were allowed to have one, and they continued to patronize that shop until the day the owners retired & the shop closed its doors. My siblings & I continued to shop there as adults as well. ) Thank you so very much for the reminder about running a tab until pay day... How could I have forgotten that?
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Post by 950nancy on Sept 27, 2023 18:21:51 GMT
I completely get how schools get stuck with lunch bills that are never paid. I paid for my students' lunches (and breakfasts) when they had maxed out their credits for school lunches. If a student owed over a certain amount, notes went home, phone calls were made, more notes went home again, sometimes a student got a stamp on the hand to remind them (this was later dropped), and more calls were made. Parents that qualified for free and reduced lunches also were guided in filling out a form and given extra time if needed and an interpreter was offered if that was a need. Our lunch lady (for about 20 years) was an absolute saint and also paid off kids' bills if she could.
However, a kid should not be responsible for paying a bill. It is embarrassing enough for a kid to go through school knowing their parent can't or won't pay for them.
I don't know what the solution is. I know in my state, meals are paid for and I know there is a lot of waste from that situation, but the other side of the pendulum isn't good either.
I feel for those kids. This just wasn't a good solution.
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Post by sean&marysmommy on Sept 27, 2023 18:24:59 GMT
Ugh, one would hope that schools don't do this kind of thing anymore, but then articles like this pop up. When I was in elementary school, they would line us up in groups. Free lunch kids first, then reduced lunch kids, then everyone else. I'm sure it was for the ease of the cashier, trying to get a class through the line as quickly as possible, as back then we had to bring actual cash for lunch.
But still. Even as a 1st grader, I knew I would be embarrassed if I had to be at the front of the line. Kids will pick on each other for anything.
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Post by Mel on Sept 27, 2023 18:39:21 GMT
I think one of the things that jumps out at me is that they call it "Ice Cream Friday" like it's a school-wide treat that everyone can participate in. They should just say "Ice cream is offered as an ala carte item on Fridays during the lunch period". I wouldn't think of that as any different than offering cookies as ala carte items on the days that they bake extra. Bringing attention to it as "Ice Cream Friday" is sort of misleading.
I agree with all of you who have said kids shouldn't suffer for the parent's lack of money or motivation to keep up with the lunch account.
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Post by Mel on Sept 27, 2023 18:42:39 GMT
Ugh, one would hope that schools don't do this kind of thing anymore, but then articles like this pop up. When I was in elementary school, they would line us up in groups. Free lunch kids first, then reduced lunch kids, then everyone else. I'm sure it was for the ease of the cashier, trying to get a class through the line as quickly as possible, as back then we had to bring actual cash for lunch. But still. Even as a 1st grader, I knew I would be embarrassed if I had to be at the front of the line. Kids will pick on each other for anything. When I was in school, we had a ticket system, free, reduced, paying were all the same.
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Post by cmpeter on Sept 27, 2023 20:58:41 GMT
On ice cream Friday the ice cream should be free for all kids.
I do get why they won’t allow friends to buy for friends. Some kids (my dd for example) would volunteer to buy for everyone she was friends with. I certainly wouldn’t mind her buying for a friend that couldn’t afford it, but she wouldn’t even pay attention to that. She would buy for anyone.
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twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,985
Jun 26, 2014 13:42:47 GMT
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Sept 27, 2023 21:10:47 GMT
On ice cream Friday the ice cream should be free for all kids. I do get why they won’t allow friends to buy for friends. Some kids (my dd for example) would volunteer to buy for everyone she was friends with. I certainly wouldn’t mind her buying for a friend that couldn’t afford it, but she wouldn’t even pay attention to that. She would buy for anyone. Mine would have done that , too, and since I had our lunch account on autopay with a credit card, I would have been hit with a $30 ice cream bill for the class LOL.
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Post by cecilia on Sept 27, 2023 22:53:53 GMT
This sounds like something my alma mater would do. I hated that school. They are more concerned about keeping up with the Joneses and building new buildings to host events than the actual kids. Wonder if this school district is the same Is Lebanon OH a good place to live? Living in Lebanon offers residents a sparse suburban feel and most residents own their homes. In Lebanon there are a lot of parks. Many families and young professionals live in Lebanon and residents tend to be conservative. The public schools in Lebanon are above average. I live close to Lebanon. Their behavior is disgusting. Those poor kids. No clue. Alma mater is in Arkansas. I can see them having a similar story done in them too.
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Post by freecharlie on Sept 28, 2023 0:16:47 GMT
I can see the difference between PTA ice cream and everyone pays with their cash vs cafeteria ice cream where it has to come out of your account... but i do think the school should let friends buy for friends if they have it... I can somewhat see the school’s point on not allowing friends to buy for friends because of potential food allergies. that is flagged
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Post by freecharlie on Sept 28, 2023 0:21:19 GMT
We went on a field trip today. The permission slip clearly stated bring $ or food. Two brought neither. They said they usually didnt eat lunch (it is free in my state). One brought a sandwich. All the rest of the kids got to get fast food.
There is not a chance in hell I was going to let those three kids be left out and I bought their lunch...and these are seniors.
I used to tell my kids that they were to help pay for any of their teammates who didn't have money if they stopped on the way home from a game. They just used their debit card and I'd reimburse them.
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Post by dewryce on Sept 28, 2023 4:18:06 GMT
I can somewhat see the school’s point on not allowing friends to buy for friends because of potential food allergies. that is flagged And the student they’re buying for could come up with them.
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Post by melanell on Sept 28, 2023 11:08:57 GMT
That child could be bringing in their own cash to buy that ice cream for all any of us know. In which case, why should they be refused service over their parent(s)' bill? When I was a kid, money was tight, but I did have my own pocket money that people other than my parents gave to me, and if I wanted to spend it on penny candy or ice cream, I was allowed to do so. (I did have a savings account for saving money as well.) And if I showed up at the corner store, where my parents sometimes kept a tab, the owners never turned away my fist full of pennies & nickels because my parents owed them money. I was my own separate customer, and I didn't have a tab. I had cold hard cash in my hand & I wanted to exchange it for goods. And they wanted to sell goods, so it all worked out. (And yes, after a few lean years my parents reached the point where they no longer needed to keep a running tab, but they were forever grateful for the years when they were allowed to have one, and they continued to patronize that shop until the day the owners retired & the shop closed its doors. My siblings & I continued to shop there as adults as well. ) Thank you so very much for the reminder about running a tab until pay day... How could I have forgotten that? My dad, only a week or two ago mentioned to me that he used to have a tab at the gas station in town as well, which I never knew. It makes me wonder how much worse things were for them during those years when we were all small & his job was still inadequately paying him. And yet, ironically, my parents never took part in the free or reduced lunch program. Back then the kids had a special card to present, and having grown up without himself, he couldn't bear to let us go through the line with those cards. So we had our little lunch boxes that we took to school each day. It was easier to hide what was or was not in your lunch box than to hide one of those cards. If I recall correctly they were bright orange, so they certainly stood out. But every year, when they had the special Thanksgiving meal (at the same price as every other meal), my dad would hand over coins enough to cover bought lunch for that one day. And yes, he was handing over those coins despite probably owing on his tab(s) to others, but he wanted us to be able to take part in at least this one something special on occasion if there was any way he could.
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Post by Merge on Sept 28, 2023 11:17:43 GMT
Thank you so very much for the reminder about running a tab until pay day... How could I have forgotten that? My dad, only a week or two ago mentioned to me that he used to have a tab at the gas station in town as well, which I never knew. It makes me wonder how much worse things were for them during those years when we were all small & his job was still inadequately paying him. And yet, ironically, my parents never took part in the free or reduced lunch program. Back then the kids had a special card to present, and having grown up without himself, he couldn't bear to let us go through the line with those cards. So we had our little lunch boxes that we took to school each day. It was easier to hide what was or was not in your lunch box than to hide one of those cards. If I recall correctly they were bright orange, so they certainly stood out. But every year, when they had the special Thanksgiving meal (at the same price as every other meal), my dad would hand over coins enough to cover bought lunch for that one day. And yes, he was handing over those coins despite probably owing on his tab(s) to others, but he wanted us to be able to take part in at least this one something special on occasion if there was any way he could. We took lunch boxes to school for the same reason. Couldn’t afford the school lunch every day and mom - who grew up in poverty - didn’t want us in the free lunch line. I usually had a sandwich on homemade bread and a homemade cookie and I didn’t appreciate it like I should have, haha. Always tried to trade the cookie for someone else’s Oreos, which were a treat never seen in our house. 😂
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Post by peasapie on Sept 28, 2023 11:46:29 GMT
This is local-ish to me. If read the full district statement, you’ll see that it was a statement reiterating an existing policy. If a kid has a negative balance, they still can buy lunch - just not an extra like ice cream. This seems logical - you can’t continue to run up a negative balance on non-necessities. They did apologize for the lack of empathy in the way the original message came across. But if the post is correct, the school DID attempt to punish kids with negative balances, by refusing to allow them to buy ice cream even if they bring the cash to pay for it. This isn't prison. It’s children who are already downtrodden, being exposed to additional unkindness and humiliation. I don’t really care if it was an “existing policy.” It still sucks. We used to have ice cream days at the 14yo’s grade school, and no one was checking lunch balance logs before selling ice cream to a kid with $1 in his grubby little hand. 100% agree. Not the kids fault, and not the parent’s fault if they can’t afford food. More tolerance for food insecurity is needed in our world. Bless the folks who filled in that gap.
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