Kerry DoughertyNOT EVERYTHING you learn in class comes from a book.
After all, schools are where we learn to get along with each other.
Stand in line. Wait our turn. Raise our hands.
It's where we learn teamwork. Respect for authority. Patriotism.
Unfortunately, children in Portsmouth are being taught something else. They're learning that debt is nothing to worry about and bills need not be paid.
Terrific, if the goal of education is to fatten the ranks of reckless, debt-ridden Americans who live beyond their means.
In case you missed it, The Virginian-Pilot reported Wednesday that Portsmouth public schools are stuck with an estimated $260,000 for unpaid meals stretching back six years. That represents thousands of lunches that were eaten and not paid for, more than $60,000 worth this school year alone.
Before anyone starts boo-hooing over children without enough to eat, remember that this isn't about Portsmouth's poor.
The government offers a free and reduced lunch program for children whose parents can't afford to pay. It can even include breakfast. In Portsmouth, 62 percent of all schoolchildren qualify.
The families who owe lunch money are probably middle or working class. These children presumably have parents who can afford the 85-cent - the best deal around - cost of an elementary school lunch or who could whip up a sandwich and stick it in a sack before their kids head out the door.
What began as a compassionate effort to prevent kids without money from missing their midday meal has morphed into a colossal cafeteria handout.
According to the story by The Pilot's Cheryl Ross, the 14 elementary schools and two preschool centers involved in the limitless credit scheme tried to collect the funds this year through phone calls and letters to parents.
We can pronounce those efforts an abject failure.
So what do school officials propose to do? Some think Portsmouth should hike the price of lunches to cover the losses. That's the spirit! Let's teach kids that those who pay for what they eat are suckers.
To his credit, School Board Chairman James Bridgeford said he would oppose such a move.
"I'm not willing for somebody to pay for somebody else's lunch," he said.
When I spoke to him Wednesday, Bridgeford said he was considering a collection agency to go after the outstanding money, if it could be shown to be cost-effective.
Look, kids forget their lunch money. It happens.
In some neighboring cities, and Bridgeford thinks it's a good idea, a child is allowed to score lunch on credit once or twice. If the parents don't pay up, the student is cut off and offered a bare-bones "alternative lunch." Usually a cheese or peanut butter sandwich.
Sounds delicious. As a teaching tool.
It wouldn't hurt most American children to have a light meal now and then. We've all seen the obesity studies.
Sharon Harris, spokeswoman for Portsmouth's schools, told me that some parents owe the schools $100 to $150 for lunches.
Looks like some kids never paid for a meal.
No point in trying to teach them there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Kerry Dougherty, (757) 446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net
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Wake up!!!
Its not the schools responsibility to feed these kids everyone of them has the option to bring there own meal. So wake up parents of P-Town send your kids with some dough or a meal you decide! And if school officials see your child not eating a lunch at least most days. They should turn you into the child neglect authorities... Problem solved!
Fiscally Irresponsible
I hold the Portsmouth School system accountable for allowing this debt to reach over a 1/4 million dollars; this shows how fiscally irresponsible they are. Good luck Portsmouth in attempting to collect this debt from your 'house-trained freeloaders'.
Here's a thought
Since we pay property taxes each year, why don't they add a "child food tax" but make it clear cut across the board. $275.00 per child no matter what the family's income is like. If they do not pay their child food tax, their child is not permitted to go to school. With this being stated every family can write it off on their taxes. Now, I know that this is a raw idea that could use some tweaking, but you get the point!
Perfect Example....
"Even if the child spent the money on something else, the parent should be tracking it."
Really? How, exactly? Last week I made EIGHT phone calls to the school to try to find out my child's balance. (I send checks, but get no statements.) The office cannot provide this information....and the cafeteria staff don't answer their phone and have no voicemail. Don't even bother calling the cafeteria services office at the city as the accounting is done at the school level.
This is starting to look more and more like incompetance at the school level rather than failure on the parents' part!!!!!
Do what VB does...
VB has their system online through SchoolBucks.com. Of course that requires having internet access at home. In any case, I'm sure they can figure out how to hold parents accountable. From not allowing enrollment, to holding report cards..etc. I will say that making the kids sit at a table of shame or in any way singling out those that have a debt, will cause an uproar. You can't post names, single out students..heck, students aren't even aloud to grade each others papers in class or pass out papers for a teacher. Todays youth are so sheltered from any kind of public ridicule, its rediculous. Making students sit at a table may not work, because its the parents fault. Even if the child spent the money on something else, the parent should be tracking it. Parents are let off the hook too much these days. VB turns over any assessments to the city and they don't let them get their city registration until the debt is paid. Its that simple. Just My Opinion.
juliec is a genius, (and I am not being sarcastic here)
I wish I had thought of it first!
Go Go Portsmouth!
Flipflops – Because the 60% of the lower class get a free lunch ride or half price lunch. And upper class living in Portsmouth don’t send their kids to Portsmouth Public Schools because they are crap.
I hope they get rid of this. You don’t see statements, but they do send a bill. We recently got a $10 and $2 bill for our kids, and no idea who. We always send lunch with our kids, or give them $1 to buy (and no idea where the 15 cents change goes but would be nice if it went to their account). So like elsie-eye said, no accounting. We don’t know if our kids are getting “extra snacks or ice-cream”, we are getting charged for other kids meals somehow, or our kids ditch their lunch and charge a lunch. And it’s rather difficult getting a 5 year old to give you an accurate accounting when that bill comes home with them.
Letting people get more than a $10 balance is ridiculous.
easily settled
All the school's have to do is not allow the deliquent student's enroll in this upcoming school year, just like if they do not have their shot record's current, and they could at least collectsome of the money from those loser's. And I mean the parent's, with the multiple phone calls/letter's home, they know they are in arrear's bu now. And if the child is pocketing the money, then the parent can deal with that. What's the point in having to pay for a collection agency of the bat, when they can try this for free first in two months. It will take that long for the school board to make a decision anyway.
Visit the sins of the parents on the kids?
Nice!
The fairest thing is to allow the kids to charge one or two lunches, which would take care of an honest "oops, I forgot my money" or "I forgot to tell mom that my account was run down" and after that, an alternative lunch.
As for the parents who are currently in arrears? Send a letter home with the kids and one through the mail to the address of record, then send 'em to collections if there is no response.
I am willing to bet you are going to find that there are a lot of kids pocketing their lunch money and not telling their parents they are charging lunches. I know the article says that they contact parents with account information, but I can attest by personal experience that they don't. In fact, I have been trying to find out for a week now the balance of my daughter's account to find out if they owe me or I owe them!
Back in the dark ages, a few years ago
When my kids were too young to understand/handle the whole lunch money thing, I'd write a check for a month in advance, paying that bill every month, just like I did my mortgage payment, it was that easy. When they were older, I'd get a stack of $1 bills, enough for two weeks at time for each of them, and it was their responsibility to pay for their lunches. If they chose to do something different with their lunch money, their problem, not mine. That didn't happen very often because boys always seem to be ravenous at lunch time. There's absolutely nothing wrong with teaching personal accountability to a kid of 10 or 11, it makes for better adults.
Well, if what they reported is correct
It seems to me that the media is always dercying the obese children in our society, so if what the media says is true, I don't think it would hurt the kids to missa lunch or have a cheese sandwich. Here's another idea, for those kids that don't pay up, sit them at a "special" table where they might have a sense of shame for not having a current account.
I hate to tell you in this day of overprotected self-seteem, but shame WORKS, let's try it.
An idea...
How about posting a list of all the parents who owe money for these lunches in the paper on a weekly basis? Maybe a few of them will have enough shame to pay up...
FOIA request
Since these people owe the state, they have in fact borrowed money from us taxpayers. Therefore, one could file a petition to gather the names of those who owe. I would be interested to know what kind of houses these people who can't afford 85c a day live in, or what kind of cars they drive. I imagine some parents have no clue they owe the money and their kids have duped them by pocketing or spending the money. Hopefully, the parents will discipline them appropriately and teach them right from wrong.
No Win Situation
Portsmouth can't win this argument. If they keep letting the children eat, they have poor accounting. If they cut off the children, they are "starving" them. I agree that something has to be done, and that looks like a monthly statement sent home to parents, including those on the free and reduced lunch program. A $20 deposit upon the first day of school would cover the first month with a buffer, and a statement at the 20 day mark would let the parents know the status to either add to the account, or to see what their children are charging.
An online account may not be the panacea since a lot of the people on the free and reduced program may not have access to a computer and the internet on a daily basis.
bad bebt
Come on parents!! I'm sure most of you are smarter than this. If you're sending money to be put on the account, do the math. If lunch is .85 cents and there are 5 school days in a week (duh). As a parent it is YOUR responsibility to keep track of what YOUR child is spending. Give your child rules and make them accountable as well. Ask what they had for lunch each day.As for the schools, limit how many charges a student is allowed and once they,ve reached that limit and go w/o lunch a few days, trust me they'll make sure these parents pay up.
It's a sad day when children are learning to beat the system with help of their own parents. Yet another example of how those who do the right thing and show responsible behavior have to pay for those who DON'T.
Snacks? Part of this $260,000 debt is for junk food!?
If the kids are abusing the system by buying snacks in addition or instead of lunch isn't this all the more reason to cut off their credit? A debt of $260,000 for lunches is outrageous. But for snacks? That borders criminal. Even the $60,000 (and growing) for this year is mind boggling. I hope at least they are healthy snacks. I was worried kids would going hungry when I first read the story. Seems I was wrong in my original beliefs.
Lets see. Five school days a week for 4 weeks a month is 20 days. An 85 cent meal times 20 days is $17. Round it up to $20 a month.
So. How about they owe $20, or a month's worth of lunches their credit is cut off. This helps keep costs under control so the parents who ARE paying their bills, are not in effect buying lunch for someone who is not, and, it forces the kids to explain how they are spending their lunch money.
Here's a thought, Kerry....
Speaking as a middle class Portsmouth parent (IOW...I know a little more about this than you do) there are NO notes coming home to parents about the lunch accounts. I randomly send $30 checks in with my 4th grader...I have never had a statement of account or a note sent home...I have no idea as to the balance of my child's account, if the check has been applied to the correct account, if someone has used my daughter's ID number, if I owe them or they owe me.
Why can't I keep up with the balance, I hear you ask? Well, sometimes my daughter takes lunch with her (because she wants to) and sometimes she gets snacks, which cost extra. And, yes, I have asked for a balance.
Now, consider for a moment the parent who sends their child with 85 cents in their hot little hands. If account statements aren't coming home, and I know they aren't from my daughter's school, what is to stop the child from spending the money on snacks or something else and charging the lunch? Hmmmm? How long would it take a child to figure THAT out?
Personally, I can't wait for the accounts to go online...and I bet I am not alone!
Hmmm
I'm not sure how you know that the kid's parents who haven't paid are middle class. "Probably" doesn't mean actually.