MATAWAN — A 5-year-old autistic boy at one New Jersey school was denied school lunch Tuesday, forcing him to go hungry the entire school day and sparking outrage with his parents, according to a report by Eyewitness News.

John Robert Caravella of Matawan was in his fourth day at Cliffwood Elementary School when he was denied lunch due to a delinquent bill, the report said.

His parents, Silvia and John Caravella, acknowledge their bill was in the negative but said they did not understand the school’s payment system for lunch. The pair also said they felt their son’s starvation should not have come down to the $2 the lunch goes for.

The couple told Eyewitness News that what is especially bothersome about the ordeal is their son is nonverbal – as part of his autism, he cannot communicate to the school staff when he is hungry.

Silvia Caravella said from 8:45 a.m. when her son left for school until 4 p.m. when he returned home, all he ate was a bag of mini muffins she packed him as a snack.

The boy’s father said he would have done anything to avoid his son going hungry.

"He's in lunch, he's supposed to eat, why don't you make a phone call?" John Caravella said. "Can I have a credit card? Can you drop off some lunch? I would have done anything to get him some food."

The Matawan superintendent called the incident “an unfortunate oversight” and told Eyewitness News it will not happen again.

“It's never happened here before and we will work to ensure that it will never happen again."