School District Announces Plan To Serve Cold Sandwiches To Kids Whose Parents Owe Money

One Rhode Island school district is catching some heat after announcing a new policy for school lunch.

According to New York Daily News, Warwick Public Schools notified parents in a statement that students with parents who owe lunch money will soon be served cold sandwiches instead of hot food. The entire statement reads:

“Effective Monday, May 13, 2019, if money is owed on a paid, free, or reduced lunch account a sun butter and jelly sandwich will be given as the lunch choice until the balance owed is paid in full or a payment plan is set up through Bev Burd in the food service office.”

Since releasing the announcement, the school district has received its share of critics with some arguing that the policy will embarrass children whose parents are struggling to afford school meals:

“There is no need for any child to be denied a hot lunch,” the owners of a local business wrote on Facebook. “We never know a child’s or their families situation, everyone struggles at some point.”

This same local business, Gel’s Kitchen, offered to donate $4,000 to the district to assist with the lunch debt, however, officials declined the offer, according to the restaurant owners. District officials responded in a statement, saying they have to treat students equally instead of arbitrarily picking which debts to reduce.

The district, which is south of Providence, has more than $27,000 in school lunch debt, according to WPRI. Despite all this, some parents were still outraged by the new policy:

“I know as parents this is our responsibility but why take it out on kids if parents are struggling,” a Jennie Holmes wrote on Facebook. “The same thing every day is not the greatest way to show children that their parents may need help financially!!!”

Others argued that providing free lunch with no accountability could result in families taking advantage of the system:

“That does create a burden to taxpayers and it creates an incentive for people to be irresponsible about their child’s health and irresponsible about their obligation to pay the school for the food that’s provided,” one Facebook user Marie Ann Hopkins wrote.

What do you think of the new policy? Serves them right or feed the kids!?