Parents, what does the school do when your child runs out of money on their lunch account?

She seems to be keeping record of this, so why can’t she have a website you can go to and check your child’s account? If she doesn’t do this already, ask about the availability of her doing this. Then you can check your/his account daily.

Is this elementary, middle, or high school?

I got free lunch in elementary school, so I’m not sure there, but in middle and high school it was my responsibility to keep track of this. If I didn’t have money, there was no “free lunch” option and I would have to pay a fee for being in the negative on my account. It wasn’t quite $3.50, but close enough.

I guess it’s the same logic as charging overdraft fees on a checking account – which is generally way more than a few dollars. The account holder keeps track of their own balance and, if they spend more than they have, they’ll pay.

The issue I’d have isn’t the fee, it’s them not telling him what his balance is. We could always see our balance on their computer screen when we paid for our meal. Can he ask what the balance is, say, every Friday, and keep you informed? Then again, if you know his lunch is $2.50 every day, it would be pretty easy to calculate when he’ll need more money. Mark on your calendar when he’ll be running low to remind yourself.

If lunch costs the same every day, can’t you keep a record of how often the account needs to be topped up?

To put money on his account, I have to go into the front office and place cash in an envelope, write his name & teacher on the front of it and stick it in a little metal box sitting on the wall, its pretty dubious. Somedays she collects the money before kids go to lunch and sometimes it’s after, there is no way to guarantee that she gets the money on his account in time for him to use it at lunch. He doesn’t always eat the schools lunch, even though they have a Calander of what’s served, they don’t seem to stick to it very well and he doesn’t like everything they make so somedays he just skips all together. Yesterday all he wanted was an apple and since they didn’t mention he would be out of money, I had to pay $6 for that apple, yay! There have been times where he has $2 on his account but because he doesn’t have the 50 cents, they still charge me $6. They don’t have an online account access, so by the time I even find out that he’s out of money, it’s usually like “oh, hey mom the lunch lady said you owe her $18.”

@cheebdragon That does seem like a particularly frustrating system.

Almost seems like a scam on lunch lady’s part. Charging 6 bucks for a shortage is even more than a bank would charge. Can you talk to the principal or board over this? I’m kinda getting pissed over this. I want to kick her butt!

This does sound like a scam. My mother is a teachers aide at her school. If it’s a one time thing the staff kicks in the funds for the child meal. But guess how many parents try to take advantage of this. Both are disgusting.

If I were you I would talk to the Principal. The Principal is the boss and so she should not pass you off to the lunch lady.

At my child’s school, they let them eat anyway and then back bill you. I usually send about $50 at a time but when it runs out they notify me and I send a check asap.

I feel like its a huge scam because the 6$ is bad enough, but the kids go to lunch at 11am so when he getsout at 2:40 he’s already hungry again, not for just a snack but an entire meal, my neighbor works at the school and she told me they dont give the kids very much food.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m funding the kids who get free lunch.

In my kids’ elementary school, I’m pretty sure they gave the kids PB & J sandwiches if they ran out of money. It was never an issue in middle or high school, because they always brought their lunches then.

What you’ve described does sound ridiculous, both the system for putting the money on the account, and the extra charges.

It seems crazy to let the burden of telling the parent that the account is almost empty rest with the kids. Could they not bring in a punch card system or something, so you can check it every couple of days when he comes home?

It’s a crime that they charge anything at all for that “food”.

Did you sign a contract at the beginning of the year that outlined these ridiculous charges? If not, refuse to pay it. Send a strongly worded letter to the lunch lady, principal and superintendent.

They need a new system. Seriously.

The policy in my school district is that food is never withheld, regardless of the balance due. In fact, our district is so poor that ALL kids get free lunch this year, regardless of parent’s income. This is because >80% of the students fall below the federal poverty level.

Unrelated – my little brother had the lunch person claim he didn’t pay the $20 my mom sent in to school with him. Turns out, it was a scam and the lunch person was pocketing the money.

Not only would I write a letter to the Superintendent as suggested by @Cupcake, but I would bring this topic up at the next Board meeting, where the public can attend and discuss school issues.

Grandaughters elem. school does the peanut butter sandwich thing with a carton of milk. Evidently, some of the kids think this is punishment!

I would never hand over cash in any system that did not immediately write a receipt for it. Also, if the set fee is not a ‘per day’ amount that you can track and is something arbitrary for the child to decide as he goes through the line, it would not work for me. I need to know what my kid is eating, what he is throwing away and how much he is spending every day.

This morning after a lot of digging on the Internet I found the email address for the head of the school districts nutrition services department, and she replied asking for my sons name so she could research his account because “We do not charge $6 for a borrowed meal nor is it district policy what a borrowed meal cost.”

So are they saying the school gets to choose what they want to charge?

No, it sounds like the lunch lady is extorting money from everyone.

It sounds like she’s going to wish she hadn’t pestered you about all those late deposits. On the upside, maybe you’ll get your $70 back. :)

so my pocketing money scam comment wasn’t unrelated…

That makes more sense, but I’m sorry it’s happening.

It is a fucking scam! A pretty good one actually, this is what they wrote back,
“there are no lunches charged at a $6 rate, only $2.25, which is the elementary school price at all primary grade schools within our district. After you have had a chance to examine the report please let me know if you find any errors and then contact me so I may either correct his account or explain the charge.”
Fucking bullshit! If they aren’t charging me a $6 fee why is my son coming to me saying they told him I now owe $12 or $18? He’s not seeing a dime of it so what would be his motivation to lie about it? And why does he always know the exact amount I supposedly owe if someone hasn’t been telling it to him? Or better yet if they aren’t taking out a $6 fee, why is he already running out of money within a week when I know I put a $20 on it less than 4 fucking days ago?
What the fuck?!?!

Have you tried asking other parents if they’ve had the same problems?

Very interesting. I would be in there talking to the principal and the lunch lady/extortionist asap.

Please post an update as to how things turn out and what you conclude. Keep calm and lunch on!

JCA
The Update Lady