School cafeteria worker quits after ‘lunch shaming’ policy forced her to take hot meal from 1st grader

A cafeteria employee for a Pennsylvanian elementary school quit her job after she was forced to take a hot lunch away from a child whose parents had fallen behind the $25 limit for school lunches.

Stacy Koltiska says she resigned from Wylandville Elementary in the Canon-McMillan School District last week because she had to deny two children hot lunches under the new strict policy that was enacted to tackle $100,000 in debt built up by unpaid lunch fees.

Under the new rules, students from kindergarten to sixth grade will not be served hot lunches if their parents owe more than $25 to their meal accounts. Instead, the children will be given a cold sandwich, fruit and milk.

“What you don’t know is they are being given one piece of cheese on bread. This isn't even being toasted. Yet they are still being charged the full price of a hot lunch that is being denied to them,” Koltiska wrote on Facebook when announcing her resignation.

“I will never forget the look on his face and then his eyes welled up with tears,” said Koltiska of the first grade boy after she was forced to take a tray of hot food away from him when she accidentally served him the meal instead of the sandwich.

Students above sixth grade get no lunch if their parents owe more than $25, however the policy does not apply to children who qualify for financial assistance with school lunches.

In the Canon-McMillan School District, hot lunches of cheeseburgers, tacos, BBQ rib sandwiches, hot dogs, fries and pizza run for about $2.00

The drastic measure was brought in this school year in an effort to tackle the $60,000 to $100,000 owed to the district from over 300 families who had fallen behind on their lunch payments, according to AP. From a debt recovery point of view, at least, it seems to have worked.

The number of families with unpaid lunch tabs has fallen drastically to fewer than 70, with a total of $20,000 owed in arrears.

"There has never been the intent with the adoption of this polity to shame or embarrass a child," said District Superintendent Matthew Daniels.

http://www.rt.com/usa/360063-elementary-school-lunch-denied/

RELATED:

Idaho woman fired for giving free lunch to hungry child
http://www.rt.com/usa/326913-free-lunch-school-fired/

No comment at this time. Too much profanity in my head.

Good...glad to see a school teaching lifes lessons even in the lunchroom. You don't pay your bills, you don't eat....well, in this case, you get a cheese sammich instead, it ain't like they're starving the kid. And I was a cheese sammich eating mofo when I was a kid.
Another lesson...if you can't foresee ALL challenges you may have to face with kids (paying for their school lunch IS one of them)....maybe don't have any until you can.
My parents sent lunch money thru me every week when I was I school....or, sent a sack lunch....too easy these days with the handout mentality and all....

no no no no no no no
you see price of what they charge nowadays for a so called lunch?


so the child does without?



we have gov programs in place in public schools for this reason

I don't agree with charging full price for that but I remember when I was growing up...if we didn't bring a lunch ot have money, we got a peanut butter sandwich and juice (no fruit). That was good enough for us. My mom was a single mom when my dad died when I was 7. We mainly brought our lunch. If we forgot....our responsibility. If I didn't have money or forgot money...our responsibility. But we still didn't go without

when i was in school, no money equaled no food...

and didn't michelle supposedly do something about hungry schoolkids? pink goo or something like that, no kids were supposed to go hungry at lunch... maybe that was just for the black kids, not real sure

this what happens when the crazy liberals are in charge...i had government job

and happened to us when the young liberals took over common sense went out the

window. we learned to let them suffer the consequences of there actions while

protecting ourselves from being scapegoated.....rule one never help

''stupid is stupid does''........

i remember when i was
in grade school
my lunch was 5cents

lol




now look at the prices

I believe teachers should be able to compensate from their pay when they make these types of mistakes

I dont think its necessary to humiliate a child this way once they already have their food

hold the adults to their responsibilities but dont humiliate the kid if the adult messes up

This is sad

For me I take enough lunch for the kids who don't have any and the schools have packed lunches for kids without lunch.

We don't have hot meals in our schools nor do we have rooms for kids to eat in.
Outside on a sunny day or in the classroom on a rainy day.

Here some schools have a no junk food policy and are encouraged to bring a packed lunch of fruit. Sammies and stuff like that.
MacDonalds. KFC, burgerking you really see.

We also promote no plastic wrappings. That's part of looking after the environment.

We are far from perfect but we try.

That was my experience as well.
If you forgot your punch card or didn't bring your own, you didn't get a meal.
Milk was a nickel, you could usually scrounge that. Sometimes a teacher would give a dollar or a quarter and give kids, who lost their nickel, milk.
Friends shared their food, and the next time someone would bring extra chips or cookies to "pay them back."
The lunch lady monitor that walked around would also spot where people weren't eating their food and ask if anyone wanted it. Some people didn't like hot dogs, or tacos, or their fruit cocktail and if they hadn't touched it then it was given to someone that wanted it.

That was grade school.
High school we just left (or snuck since under 16 weren't supposed to leave) campus and went to a friends house or home and got something if we didn't have money and really wanted something.


And Obamacare was never intended to be considered a tax or lead to rationed care.
Intent doesn't matter except in a court of law. Some things are simply unavoidable natural consequences to doing something.

Why would the teachers be responsible?

As I see it, the parents are accountable for any embarrassment. This didn't apply to those needing federal aid. The district has to buy the food and some parents were neglectful. It goes to the tax payers. I had peanut butter sandwiches and juice a couple of times and I wasn't traumatized by it. My mom was a single mom after my dad died when I was 7. We were accountable if I forgot my lunch or didn't have money....no one else. I learned to be responsible

The parents are the responsible ones

because they gave out a meal that wasnt paid for,,,

the children are not involved with the parents choice

if they dont pay they dont get the meal,, but if another adults gives them one in err,, I dont agree with humiliating them

Its that workers error and they should compensate for it

No....teachers teach. They have nothing to with the food. 1 cafeteria worker made the mistake. Cafeteria workers aren't teachers any more than custodians are teachers

School cafeteria worker quits after ‘lunch shaming’ policy forced her to take hot meal from 1st grader

A cafeteria employee for a Pennsylvanian elementary school quit her job after she was forced to take a hot lunch away from a child whose parents had fallen behind the $25 limit for school lunches.

A minimum wage cafeteria worker,
isn't a teacher...

my mistake, the adult who made the error should pay for their error, the child did nothing to be humiliated over

What about the parents? Where is their responsibilities? A peanut butter sandwich never hurt me as a kid