After several students found what appeared to be maggots in Madisonville Middle School lunches, some were instructed to write notes to the cafeteria staff to say what they're thankful for.

Brandy Shubert's daughter, Madison Smith, sent her a video Tuesday of maggots or some sort of insect crawling around in her granola. Thursday, a friend of Madison's sent another video to parents showing more maggots crawling around on blackberries.

School board wouldn't hear parents

Several parents, concerned about the school cafeteria's sanitary conditions, turned out to a school board meeting Thursday.

Shubert and another parent, Misty Neal, showed up, but school board members cut them off, saying the issue had "been addressed" and it would not be discussed further because it was not on the school board agenda.

"They said they contacted the distributor and the health department has already been out there, and that's all they can do," Shubert said. "We were not happy with that answer and so we told them we would go further with the issues and contact the state health department again."

Shubert said school board representatives told them if they wanted to speak about the issue, they would have to contact the school board and ask for it to be put on the agenda for the next meeting.

"I feel like they should have spoke to us about it and not be rude and cut us off," she said.

In a brief phone interview with the News Sentinel on Friday, Board Chairwoman Janie Harrill was firm that the issues had been handled.

She stressed that the company producing the granola was contacted, the health department inspected the cafeteria and gave it a good rating and then reinspected it when another incident occurred.

“We’ve done everything that we possibly can to answer to this situation,” Harrill said before hanging up.

School officials' response

Friday morning, Monroe County Schools Director Tim Blankenship would not discuss the blackberry incident, focusing only on the granola and explaining school officials believe it was an isolated problem.

"After being made aware of the granola incident, the health inspector was contacted to return to Madisonville Middle School and follow-up after an unrelated health inspection that had occurred earlier that same day, resulting in a score of 97. During the reinspection all dry goods were checked and a report was issued by the inspector indicating that no bugs of any kind were found, as well as no out-of-date food. The food distributor was contacted and they are continuing to work with the manufacturer of the granola to identify the cause of the issue," Blankenship said in an email to the News Sentinel.

No action will be taken against the school, according to Elizabeth Hart, associate director of the Office of Communication & Media Relations for the Tennessee Department of Health.

A couple of days after the granola incident, students found what appeared to be maggots in blackberries.

Staff removed the blackberries from the serving line. School officials said the blackberries had been washed three times before being served.

'Making an effort to be positive'

Shubert showed the News Sentinel a photo her daughter sent from class, showing assignments written on a classroom whiteboard.

The board instructs students, after finishing a math assignment, to "write a letter to the cafeteria ladies" and "use descriptive language" to say what the students are thankful for.

"We are making an effort to be positive," the note said.

Shubert pointed out the dirty walls in the photo and the "random acts of kindness" bubble around the letter writing instructions.

"It's like they are bullying our kids," she said.