A former lunch lady begs schools across the country to provide free, nutritious meals for all students, regardless of income, in order to keep them well fed and in good standing among their peers, she writes in the Washington Post.
Della Curry says her Colorado school district fired her from her post as a kitchen manager at an elementary school because she gave a first grader who was unable to pay a hot lunch instead of a cheese sandwich. District rules mandate, she says, that any kid who can’t pay for lunch for the third time can’t receive a hot lunch, such as a hamburger and fries, as all her friends are eating, but must be given a cold cheese sandwich and carton of milk.
An editor’s note accompanying the article says the paper was unable to confirm the reason Ms Curry was fired but a district official said it was for unrelated reasons.
Voxitatis reported in October that some schools, but not all, in low-income communities in Maryland were using the Community Eligibility Provision to provide free meals to all students, regardless of the income their individual families made. In April we reported that many kids who are eligible to receive free breakfasts at school don’t avail themselves to the program in order to avoid the stigma of poverty and the potential for bullying.
The same stigma happens in Ms Curry’s Colorado elementary school, where she reports having seen kids forego a meal just to save face with their peers.
Not only is a cheese-sandwich meal unhealthy, it’s humiliating. Children are teased by classmates who perceive them as “poor.” Others cry as they watch their hamburger and French fries swapped for a slice of cheese. I saw one first grader choose to go hungry rather than suffer that shame. …
At the very least, we know the cheese-sandwich system can’t stand. It is humiliating, unhealthy and unnecessary. … No school policy should include the type of public humiliation children face when their hot meal is taken from them and thrown out. Any student in the school lunch program can tell you just how degrading that flimsy cheese sandwich is. It shames them for a situation that is not their responsibility and sets the stage for bullying. Schools cannot justify balancing their budgets by sacrificing children’s physical and mental health.
