PORTSMOUTH
Faced with $260,000 in unpaid meal costs, some school leaders say it is time to ban students from charging lunch.
Students in the city’s 14 elementary schools and two preschool centers have been allowed to charge their lunch whenever they don’t pay.
Portsmouth is the only school division in South Hampton Roads to allow unlimited charges. Other school divisions limit the number of meals students can get for free. Those divisions have reported outstanding charges at several thousand dollars a year at most.
The Portsmouth School Board will discuss the issue Thursday and is scheduled to vote later this month.
If the board approves banning deferred lunch payments, it could instead offer students an alternative sandwich meal that other local school divisions already provide. The meal would cost the schools’ food services division no more than 30 cents, officials said.
Increasing lunch prices to help recoup unpaid costs is another option. Elementary school lunches, now 85 cents, and middle and high school lunches, which cost 95 cents, could increase to $1.15.
However, even if board members do not approve increasing lunch prices to offset outstanding debt, students may still pay more next school year because of higher food costs. Prices could increase 15 cents next school year, to $1 for elementary schools and $1.10 for middle and high schools, school leaders said.
In an interview this week, board Chairman James Bridgeford said he plans to vote for the alternative lunch and the price increase associated with higher food costs only.
“I’m not willing for somebody to pay for somebody else’s lunch,” he said.
The division’s food services department operates on federal and state funding and from food sales.
About 62 percent of Portsmouth’s elementary and preschool students qualify for free or reduced lunch as part of a federal program that helps buy meals for children from low-income families.
Last year, the board discussed the unpaid debt when it was told that the fees had reached about $196,000 over a five-year period.
At the time, some board members said they were
concerned that offering an alternative lunch to a child who did not have money would embarrass the student.
Instead, school leaders tried to recoup unpaid meal fees by enlisting school principals to call and send letters to parents who owed the division money.
Nita Mensia-Joseph, the schools’ operations director, said that in many cases parents’ phones were disconnected or they did not return messages.
Letters were returned to the division because of incorrect addresses, she said.
The current $260,000 unpaid tab covers nearly six years, officials said. The tab includes this school year’s debt, which by mid-May was about $63,000 for lunches – about $5,000 more than what was owed during last school year.
While the alternative meal option didn’t go over well with all board members last year, some seem more receptive to it now.
“I just don’t want children to be singled out and made fun of,” board member
B. Keith Nance Sr., said.
School leaders also want to make it easier for parents to pay for meals.
Starting next school year, they will be able to pay for lunches online with credit and debit cards, Mensia-Joseph said. Virginia Beach is the only other school division in South Hampton Roads to offer an online payment option.
Portsmouth parents will be able to check account balances online during the school year and will be notified by mail when their account is nearing $0, Mensia-Joseph said.
Students will be required to pass a finger through a scan at the checkout when they get their lunch. That’s because some parents disputed that their children had lunch debt, Mensia-Joseph said. Currently, students enter a personal ID number at the checkout.
The scanning program will flash the students’ image on a screen so that there will be no question that the correct student’s account is being charged, she said.
Cheryl Ross, (757) 446-2443, cheryl.ross@pilotonline.com
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How do you know if the children are even advising the parents that they have a backlog of lunches that are not paid for? Its nice for some parents that have the luxury of packing their kid's lunches every day. Most of these residents are probably out the door way before the kids go to school. I do agree a better system needs to be put in place but stop with your hateful and inconsiderate comments on people that living at or below the poverty line. Food stamps do not last the entire month let alone packing sandwiches every day for a child. Do not sit back and complain about a school system you are not aware of and stop thinking people are expecting handouts. Educate and inform yourself first before making a jackass and commenting on a issue that you are not fully aware of. Some of the comments are really ignorant and stupid. If you do not have a correct address and phone , how do you expect this same person to have internet access!!( THINK).I do applaud the City of Portsmouth of being considerate of the children when it comes to making their decisions and making sure they get fed. Unfortunately, as always when few abuse a system that's in place ALL suffer. Yes, I am a resident of Po
First, Portsmouth needs to
First, Portsmouth needs to limit the charges. Maybe 2-3 meals, then it's a cheese sandwich until the bill is paid. Parents need to be responsible for their children.
Second, Portsmouth is still charging less then a dollar for "regular priced" meals?? Chesapeake full price lunches in elementary school are $1.35, I think. It only goes up from there. Portsmouth needs to charge more.
Third, FYI-- children who's family receives food stamps automatically qualify for free lunch.
Parents not paying or kids not paying?
There were many times when I was young that my parents sent money for lunch and I used it for other things. If I could have gotten a free lunch and kept the cash I would have done that too. We don't know if it is the parents or the kids that are working the system.
Is it the same kids all of the time?
I would be interested in knowing if the charges were being made by the same group of kids on a regular basis. If it is, then the parents of these children need to be reported to a family services agency for child neglect. Forgetting your lunch money once in a while is one thing, but every day is abusing (working) the system. Like several have said before, the families of these children probably receive food credit cards (no more stamps - too embarrassing to use). Why are we paying for free lunches and food stamps? Is the dollar amount for the free lunches deducted from the food benefit from the state? If these kids do qualify for free lunches, are they not receiving them because the parents haven't filled out the paperwork? Why haven't they? We need to say that we are done taking care of people who won't help take tare of themselves, and mean it. Unfortunately, it's the children who would suffer in this case.
just crazy!
How stupid can they be?? I rather give a kid a peanut butter/jelly sandwich then have a bill for over 200,000.00!!! Embarrassed, give me a break, its food!!! How can parents let their child walk out of the house with out any lunch?!?! I understand not having money, but if a sandwich is hard to come by I would think you would have food stamps or free lunch.
we need to stop
Taking up for these slack parents, I pay for and pack my kids lunch every day. I may not have a new outfit every week or drive a lexus, we do have a nice home and food on the table and he knows that his parents care. I say we should give them a sandwhich along with a note home that afternoon letting the parents know that this is child neglect and the next time it happens we will turn lil susie over to PPD and scoial services so that they can find someone to take care of her.
yeah, right.....
Parents with disconnected phones whose mail is undeliverable will be paying delinquent lunch bills over the internet. A pb&j sammich, banana and carton of milk for the lot of 'em.
Another fine example of the bizzaro world of municipal-government-think.
How much you want to bet.....
that 99% of these "low income" parents that have accrued are paying probably a minimum of $100.00 per month for a cell phone bill, $20.00 a day on lotto and they will not pay for their kids to get a reduced price lunch. Go figure!
Accountability?
My solution:
Child gets sandwich. Parent receives letter from School Board after 3 sandwiches in any grading period. If parent refuses to respond to letter to appear before the school board, parent is referred to local police for child neglect. Let the courts and Social Services deal with it. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
Hmmm...
The low income people who actually do qualify as "low income" are probably receiving food stamps too. Why aren't the children being sent to school with their own lunches (already purchased with our tax dollars)? There definitely needs to be a cap on the charged lunches and/or implement the "alternative" lunch. Is it really the school's/City's responsibility to feed the children? The City/State are already feeding the families by providing food stamps and then the food doesn't get sent with the children to school. The City needs to find a way to track all of the "freebies". Perhaps an interwoven database among all of the agencies, including the City Treasurer, that way if someone is driving around in a new BMW they would certainly not qualify for food stamps or free lunches.
Pay Or Get A Sandwich
“I just don’t want children to be singled out and made fun of,”... how can they be singled out when the majority (62%) fall into this catergory. Besides, we single out students that make the Principal's List & Honor Roll. Yes, these are the "smart" students, so conversely, those that do not make it are the average and/or "dumb" students.
$ 260,000 so they won't be embarrassed?
Step up, support the kids you choose to have, and stop being a burden on society. It is ridiculous that the city schools would allow the deficit to reach so high. We are talking about $1 a day, $5 a week? The problem is the school officials in charge are too emotional and burden taxpayers to cover it; so noone is embarrassed.
Nothing is free any more
Nothing is free any more in todays world..You can call one students lunch free but someone else usually picks up the tab..Anyony can lie on any form..It said in the artical over 64% of Portsmith students get free lunches..Thats a lot of poor people..Makes one wonder what the cut off income is..and are these applications for free lunches being reviewed..I bet their just being filed..The artical also said that finding the parents who owe monies was not easy..I find it hard to belive that a school board cant find these parents or parent..someone is droping the ball here and the dollars keep adding up..I wonder how much these finger readers and photos are costing the school system..not to mention set up and running times the letters and the phone calls just to be ignored..sounds like my tax dollars just going out the windows
public notice
Again we are side steping the real problem, the parents!!! Maybe we should post there names in the newspaper. Better yet include every parent in a lawsuit to recoup the funds to include legal fees.
If it's good enough for other school divisions...
...it's good enough for Portsmouth!
"some board members said they were
concerned that offering an alternative lunch to a child who did not have money would embarrass the student."
Too bad. The parent would be warned that the student couldn't get any more lunches for free until the parent paid up. If the parent chose to ignore the warning, their child gets a sandwich lunch. What's wrong with a sandwich lunch, anyway? My kids bring bag lunches, and sandwiches are good enough for them (and many other brown baggers, also)!!!