LAFAYETTE — A Lafayette Parish School System policy takes effect today requiring school officials to report to the state the parents who repeatedly send their child to school without lunch money.
This is what you call administrative lethargy. The only way the school could come up with was to call the state. How about calling the parents?
At least 15,745 meals have been served to students without lunch money since school started in August, according to Renee Sherville, child nutrition supervisor.The policy is in compliance with new state legislation that sets guidelines for schools who don’t allow students to charge school lunch meals.
For the school to allow 15,745 meals to be written off is a fine example of school administrators who have no clue how to run a school. Why would they allow it to get to these levels?
Prior to its no-charge policy implemented in 2007, the school system ate more than $250,000 in unpaid meal bills each year, according to a school system release.
All the school had to do was to send the free/reduced lunch form home with the kids, post it online, call the local media and run stories, and go out into the community to let families know that all they had to do was fill out the form, but noooooo, the school racked up a $250,000, which would have been reimbursable if the forms were passed out and filled out. Obviously, we are not dealing with the sharpest knives in the drawer.
The legislation applies to students in grades pre-K through eight and requires schools with no-charge policies to provide students either a “sandwich” or “substantial and nutritious snack” if a meal is denied for nonpayment.The majority of those meals were served to elementary students, she said.
Fine. Then have the teacher call the parent. This means doing the job as an educator by educating the family. How about parent resource centers? A school is suppose to be a pillar in the community, not an epi-center of fear.
The child’s parent or guardian must also be notified when a meal is denied and of the consequences of a third incident of no lunch money — a report made to the Department of Children and Family Services, according to the legislation.
How about notifying about the lunch forms? Then a report is going to be made to Child Protective Services because the school is too lazy to take proactive measures to see it does not get to this level. Pathetic. Is CPS now a bill collector?
The legislation also requires schools to track each instance of denial and the reasons why as part of an annual report to the state.
Where are the parents? How about establishing some form of billing system? There could be online accounts, or how about just notifying parents about the forms for free lunches. Better yet, why not have a rainy day fund for those little incidences where a parent simply forgot or the child lost the lunch money. Then establish a "re-payment" program where the parent and child volunteers for school and community work to help others who make mistakes or just have a bit of a financial challenge for that day.
How about making a lunch to carry to school? Lazy.
The new legislation applies to those students who do not meet federal guidelines for meal assistance, the release said.In addition to complying with the legislation, the school system will notify parents weekly of their child’s account balance. Parent notifications are already part of the system’s policy, Sherville said.
If a parent does not meet the federal guidelines, there is another issue here and that is qualification of services. If a parent does not meet the poverty means test, that means, in the event CPS is called, there will be another bill assessed for the state intervention.
Children of families who meet federal guidelines can receive lunch for free or at a reduced cost.
Districtwide, 52 percent of all students receive free lunch and 8 percent of all students pay reduced prices, according to Sherville.
Of the elementary and middle schools population, 57 percent of students receive free lunch and 8 percent buy lunch at reduced prices, according to Sherville.
Lunch meals cost $1.50 for elementary students and $1.75 for middle and high school students. The reduced price for lunch is 40 cents for all students.
Since notifications of the new policy, more families have applied for the free and reduced-lunch programs, according to the system. Families simply need to fill out a form to determine whether they qualify for the service.
Notice the keyword in this article which comes at the end. 'Notifications'. Families did not know of the meal resources out there. So, due to the administrative woes of growing with the needs of the changing community, legislatures had to go through the process and create law to pick up the slack for the incompetency of the school district.
For $4.50, you run the risk of having Child Protective Services in your life, who all have salaries and expensed paid through tax dollars. This may save the school district its $250,000 but at the possible expense of a few million dollars all because no one wants to make change, not even the parents who should be contacting the school and discussing the needs of the child.
The school system also provides an online payment option. Information on payment options may be found athttp://www.lpssonline.com/mealpayments.For more information, call Child Nutrition Services at (337) 521-7375, or visit the office at 101 Evans Lane.
Just like this situation, the information comes at the end.
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