DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Separating families that owe lunch money! Pay up or we'll take your kids!

According to sources the same letter was sent to parents who were as little as ten dollars behind.

It's okay to admit the school went too far.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/25/us/pennsylvania-lunch-debt-furor-apology/index.html

(CNN)A cash-strapped school district in Pennsylvania's coal country has reversed course on its controversial approach to settling the lunch debt of several students.

The Wyoming Valley West School District issued an online apology Wednesday for sending letters to parents earlier this month that threatened to put children in foster care if lunch money debts were not paid. Not only did the school board sincerely apologize "for the tone of the letter," it also decided to accept the "generous offer" of a benefactor who offered to pay the school lunch debts, the apology note stated.
A CEO says a school district turned down his offer to pay lunch bills for families threatened with foster care
A CEO says a school district turned down his offer to pay lunch bills for families threatened with foster care
At the same time, the school district announced that it now qualifies for the Community Eligibility Provision, a USDA Food and Nutrition Service program
"As a result, all students of the Wyoming Valley West School District will receive free breakfast and lunch in all of our schools for the next five years regardless of income," according to the Wyoming Valley West School Board.
The program "allows the nation's highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications," according to the agency's website.
A letter threatened parents with foster care
Earlier in July, the district had sent about 1,000 letters to parents who owed money for school lunches, CNN affiliate WNEP reported: "You can be sent to dependency court for neglecting your child's right to food. The result may be your child being taken from your home and placed in foster care."
Joseph Muth, the author of the scalding letter and director of federal programs, told WNEP that Wyoming Valley West is owed more than $22,000 by roughly 1,000 students. Parents who received the letter of last resort had been contacted numerous times by phone, email and other letters, he said.
Not everyone saw the necessity for such threats. "I think the person that wrote that letter should think about having their children away from him and put into a foster home," Jack Coslett told WNEP at the time. "Very extreme, maybe unnecessary, maybe cruel and brutal on the government's part," said Ruth Bates.
The furor sparked national headlines and when news reached Todd Carmichael, co-founder and CEO of La Colombe Coffee in Philadelphia, he offered to pay the debt in full. The school district received about 100 additional offers from donors all over the country, school board officials told WNEP at the time.
School Board President Joseph Mazur first refused Carmichael's offer but then reconsidered and accepted shortly thereafter. Carmichael told CNN through his spokesman Aren Platt that he expects "the funds will be used as intended."
The apology note not only announced the acceptance of Carmichael's donation but also addressed some of the misconceptions that followed the original threatening letter: "No student was ever denied a meal for lack of payment... No shaming occurred and no alternate meals were provided."
All federal and state regulations were followed, the school board stated: "It wasn't the intention of the district to harm or inconvenience any of the families of our school district."
The Wyoming Valley West School District is located along the Susquehanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, which has a population of more than 320,000 people, about 140 miles west of New York City and 120 miles north of Philadelphia. "The communities are primarily residential with light industry and retail stores as the district's tax base," according to the school district's website.

And that's the part some people seem to have missed. There were several businesses that offered to pay the debt. So it really wasn't about the debt at all. It wasn't about the money.

It was about punishing and shaming the families. It was a power move to threaten those families with taking away their children.

Yet we seem to have people making excuses for that. They latch onto a small portion of the story to try and make a point while ignoring the rest of it.

I would think that would be a wealthy and thriving town by now. I mean since Trump brought coal back.

So come to find out the community is so poor they fall under the category of being eligible for the entire community to qualify for free lunches.

I guess those that insinuated otherwise might apologize now. Just kidding.

We haven't reverted that far back yet, but they are working on it

Yup, never threaten in the trump era. Just do it.

Come on pitt. You can riddle this one out for yourself. I'll give you a hint. We didn't have sextuplets.

I couldn't resist it!

Couldn't resist a foolish comment? Ok.

Sure, whatever. You set yourself up for it and I couldn't resist poking fun at it. It's not my fault you have zero sense of humor. Maybe I should have left the word humor off of that last sentence.

I have a great sense of humor. Your comment was not funny.

At least now I know what you do for a living. You're a comic critic.

No, wait.....

J/C

Two sides to this story

1. Why should others pay for you kids school lunches, take care of your own.

2. We give billions to others that don't need it, why not give kids a free lunch?

Personally, I think kids lunches should be free to an extent. And what I mean is - 3 bags of doritos, a soda, and a chocolate bar should come out the parents or the kids pocket. but a decent basic lunch should be provided free of charge nationally. A lot of schools already do it.

We give 3 hot and a cot to criminals, lets take care of our own kids.

That wasn't funny either.

Luckily your approval isn't something I'm concerned with.

Well, the light just went out of my life.

Now I really feel bad.

I think its stupid. All kids regardless of income should be able to eat at school for free. We force them there by law the least we can do is feed them so they can concentrate because hungry kids can't focus on learning.

And you keep saying that bold part as if the school district has the power and authority to just do that... it's BS.. the threat was to refer them to the judicial system to be reviewed for neglect at home... one possible outcome of that for extreme cases might be to remove the kids from the home but it would only be done with due process.... so stop acting like they were going to rip kids away from parents for a $10 debt and stop lecturing people on which parts of the story we are "ignoring" if you are going to present it in a fabricated way that fits your agenda...

I think the fact that these businesses and individuals are willing to pay the debt is great... but here's an idea, take ALL of their money and set up a fund to pay for future years of kids who don't pay for their lunches... send a letter home saying that lunch will still be provided and the parents can pay for it if they want (or are able) but if they don't, no harm, the fund will pay for it... then let's see how long the fund lasts...

Yeah, turning people into childrens services isn't an attempt to threaten anyone. Right.......

Childrens services are notorious for giving out those "greatest parent awards".

If you don't understand the implied threat of involving the court system and childrens services into the life of a family, then you shouldn't be blaming those who do.

People who don't provide lunch for their kids, either through their own money or through a program already established to do so.. they don't deserve greatest parent awards.


Oh I fully understand the threat.. the threat is, you either come up with the money or we will send social services out to look at the conditions under which this child is living at home because, who knows what they might find.. if you don't want them to come out and start looking around and asking questions, pay your bill.

So the school is threatening to use law enforcement and government agencies to collect a debt. Just as I said.

And in some cases, for as little as ten dollars.

And there were businesses willing to pay the debt to begin with which the school system refused to accept an decided this was the better option. So as I said, it wasn't about the money at all. It was a power play to threaten families.

So it's exactly as I described it to begin with...

So let me ask you, is this a policy you advocate? If say a family is having a tough financial month, threatening them with the court system is the proper action to take?

I think there is a case to be made that if these parents aren't providing their children with food during the day, a check is needed to see if they are providing food after school.

Help is available to those who need it.
Law Enforcement is available if the kids are neglected or if someone is gaming the system.

I think the electric company should turn them into the court system too.

And their landlord if they're late on their rent. And let's not forget the water company. Oh, and if their auto insurance lapses too.

I mean it has nothing to do with them using the court system to collect a debt. It's "all about the children".

People that don't pay their electric bill get the electricity shut off until they do pay.

Landlords evict people all the time for unpaid rent. Same with water.

Don't pay your auto insurance? You don't have insurance.

What's your point again?

It is the duty of the schools to report suspected abuse, whether it is a constantly unwashed, unfed or bruises on a child.

It is the duty of the electric company and the rest of us to report suspected child abuse if we witness something.

This is an easy one Pit.

I'm sure the point flew right over your head, as usual.

When you're only a month behind in your electric bill they don't turn your electric off. Same with your water bill. And you can't just evict someone for being a little late with their rent.

So what part of they threatened to do this with parents as little as ten dollars behind?

Yeah, I thought you were for smaller government?

Then why did they reverse their actions and issue an apology?

Some of you will argue even after a position you support admits they were wrong. See just how easy that was?

Because people like you raised holy hell and they won't get reelected.

Right is still right. So very easy.

So now you make excuses why they admitted they were wrong?

Are they a part of the poor Christians who get harassed all the time?



Or the poor white people who get discriminated against?

[quote=PitDAWG

I'm sure the point flew right over your head, as usual. [/quote]

Does it make you feel better about yourself to, you know, do what you at times rail against?

I could have a better discussion with my cat than with you.

TDS is flaring again.

Well maybe you should stop posting in response to me and spend that time talking with your cat?

Don't most people go through the court system to collect money on a debt if all other attempts have failed?


What does the school system gain by threatening families vs just taking the money from a 3rd party? The only answer to that is, they know that if they let a 3rd party absolve the debt, then this will happen again next year only probably significantly worse... as families now know that they can just not pay for lunch and ride it out until somebody comes in and bails them out.. so what does the school system do when that bail out never comes?


I can get behind a policy that if phone calls and letters
haven't worked over a period of time that you have to up the ante to do something.... If they have just flat out ignored you, they haven't come forward with a plan to pay $10/month until they are caught up or something... most people will work with you if you show you are willing to make a good faith effort to work with them.. did that ever happen?

What does the electric company do? The phone company? The cable company? Your car loan holder? Your landlord? They just shut off your service or take their stuff back if you don't pay and ignore their phone calls to try to work out some kind of a plan to get you back on track... is that a better option? To just start denying these kids lunch until their parents either pay up or get on a free lunch program?

Quick question... a kid's parents can't (or won't) make an effort to clear up a $10 debt for past due school lunches.. do you think there is a CHANCE that kid might not be getting fed at home?

I think you are making up excuses and rationalizations for the schools to involve the government to intrude on the life of its citizens by using a tool that has nothing to do with collecting a debt.

They aren't attempting to collect a debt. There are avenues to do that. And they don't involve investigating families.

I highly doubt you actually advocate this at all.

They could sue each and every family... how much would that cost the school system in money they don't have and for each family to defend themselves?

You keep making this 100% about the money and won't address the safety of the children... when the threat was about checking for neglect at home. You haven't really addressed why these parents couldn't communicate their financial troubles with the school system to get into a free lunch program, even if it was only temporary. You haven't addressed what next steps the school system could have taken to try to get repayment. You haven't addressed where an already strapped school system should come up with the $22K that wasn't in the budget. You haven't really addressed much of anything except the pure emotional response that the big bad school system is bullying these poor parents.

You didn't answer my last question... do you think it's possible, even plausible, that a kid whose family can't come up with $10 to pay his lunch debt is not providing adequate food for that kid at home?

I'll answer for him since he won't: Yes.

Just read in a local paper today about schools - breakfast prices, lunch prices, and after school food prices. Free for those making under a certain amount of money. And I had to ask myself "If the school is providing free breakfast, lunch, and after school food.............how do the parents eat, since apparently they can't afford to feed their kids.?


Eh, just add it to the tab.

Are you really in favor of people who can pay for their children's lunches refusing to pay for them and passing that cost onto others? Seriously?

No that's not what I'm in favor of.

But let's look at what they used as recourse. Do you consider calling family services and family court to put families in the cross hairs of family services as the proper response?