Stacy Koltiska was forced to take back hot lunches from students whose parents owed over $25 on overdrawn accounts, replacing meals with cheese sandwiches

Stacy Koltiska loved working in the Wylandville elementary school cafeteria in western Pennsylvania. The hours were perfect – the two-and-a-half-hour shift allowed her to get her youngest daughter on and off the bus every day – and she enjoyed working with kids and seeing their excitement over school lunch every day.

But last Thursday, Koltiska resigned over what she considers a “lunch shaming” school policy. She said she was forced to take away hot lunches from two students because their parents owed more than $25 on the account used to pay for their school lunches.

The policy, according to the Canon-McMillan school district’s website, states that when a cafeteria account is overdrawn by $25, “students in grade K-6 will be able to charge an alternate lunch which will consist of a sandwich, a fruit/vegetable serving and milk. Students in grades 7-12 will not be allowed to charge any additional lunches.” In cases when money is owed, a letter is then sent home to parents. It was enacted this year to handle a backlog of about 300 families who owed tens of thousands of dollars.

During the first week of school this year, Koltiska mistakenly gave a first grade boy with an overdue balance a hot chicken meal. She then had to take it away and give him the sandwich instead. “I will never forget the look on his face and then his eyes welled up with tears,” she wrote in a post on Facebook, which she wrote to inform those in her community about the policy. To her surprise, the post has since been shared more than 4,600 times. When she had to take away a second lunch last week, Koltiska resigned after working at the school for two years, according to CBS Pittsburgh.

“They messed with the wrong lunch lady,” she joked in a phone interview with the Guardian on Tuesday.

“I think it’s easy for these people that sit in these board meetings in suits to pass rules and policies,” Koltiska said. “It’s easy to make laws, but you’re not the one that has to look that little child in the eye.”

According to Koltiska, the alternate sandwich is one piece of cheese on un-toasted bread and parents are still charged the same price as a hot lunch, while other leftovers get thrown away.

The mother of three, who has two children in high school and one in elementary school, worried about kids teasing others over the sandwich, which indicated a lack of funds, and for families that may be financially struggling but make too much money to afford a free or discounted school lunch.

“This might be the only meal these kids get,” Koltiska said. “You never know someone’s circumstance.”

The issue struck a personal note for Koltiska, who said she felt compelled to speak out as a Christian and based on her upbringing. “I grew up poor,” she said. “I remember being on food stamps and just how embarrassed I was as a child even though there was nothing I could do about it – that shame and humiliation.”

Instead of the students being affected, Koltiska recommended the school go after the parents who owe a balance. “Kids have enough on their plates growing up in this world with all the peer pressure and bullying and everything else they have to deal with,” she said. “I mean, honestly, we can’t feed them in school?”

According to the district superintendent, Matthew Daniels, the policy has cut down on parents with balances on their children’s lunch accounts. Previously, more than 300 families owed the district between $60,000 and $100,000 annually. After the lunch policy was implemented, fewer than 70 families have unpaid lunch tabs totaling less than $20,000, Daniels said. The policy doesn’t target those in need of financial assistance.

“There has never been the intent with the adoption of this policy to shame or embarrass a child,” Daniels said.

Koltiska said she is not trying to villainize the school district, despite her disagreement with their lunch policy. Her family decided to move into the district years ago so her kids could go to school there. “The teachers, especially at the elementary school where I worked, were incredible. They’re very loving and kind to the children,” Koltiska said. “It’s just this one policy that I take issue with.”

The Guardian has contacted the Canon-McMillan school district for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.