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At the risk of addressing a stale topic today, I bring you The Portsmouth Cheese Sandwich Solution, Part II: Revenge of the Cafeteria Workers.
First, a quick recap.
Last week, we learned that the delicate children of Portsmouth were so traumatized by the sight of cheese sandwiches that taxpayers would now be on the hook for perhaps thousands of dollars, as full lunches will be provided to students whose parents are behind on their cafeteria bills.
These are not poor children. These are the offspring of families that have run up lunchroom bills and neglected to pay them. When the families exhausted their credit, the kids were handed a cheese sandwich, a piece of fruit and a carton of milk. The simple lunch, which staved off hunger and provided good nutrition, cost taxpayers just 64 cents - if the parents failed to repay even that small amount.
During the 2007-08 school year - before the cheese sandwich solution was introduced - unpaid cafeteria bills totaled about $68,000. Last year, that tab was just about $1,600.
Yet there are some administrators and School Board members who wring their hands over the real or imagined "embarrassment" Portsmouth pupils experience when they are handed a sack lunch.
Call me hard-hearted (and some did), but if eating a cold cheese sandwich at lunch is the biggest humiliation these kids ever face they'll be very lucky.
Since I objected to this boneheaded backsliding by school officials last Friday, I've been inundated with messages. A shocking number of readers actually agreed with me. A few others called me "ungodly" and "heartless." Several even invoked Catholic theology to shame me into changing my position.
Nice try.
Last time I looked, my paycheck came from The Virginian-Pilot, not The Catholic Virginian. If religious folks want to spend their money buying food for people who don't need it, fine. Using tax dollars to do that is wrong.
Some of the most vocal supporters of the cheese sandwich option were those on the front lines: cafeteria workers. They told me the sack lunch - which is used in all local cities - is humane and effective. Cafeteria workers from other cities worried that their school officials would "cave" to parents who don't want to make their kids' lunches - or pay for them.
"I work in an elementary school cafeteria... and I know what it is like trying to get those students who owe to bring in the cash," wrote one cafeteria line worker. "... the manager sends home notices weekly that either your child's account is low or has a balance. Ample opportunity to get caught up.
"The children don't like the fact that they've gotten the alternate lunch (the cheese sandwich) but I have never seen one embarrassed by it... It seems the alternate lunch works... because as soon as the child is given the first cheese sandwich we have the charge paid up within the next day or two."
Another school employee said that without the sandwich solution, some parents will endlessly game the system:
"In many families the school cafeteria is by default a finance company that doesn't get to charge interest," she pointed out.
Excellent point.
If over-weaning worry is what you want, Portsmouth school officials will provide it. But if you're seeking common sense, look no further than the smart folks who work the cafeteria lines.
Kerry Dougherty, 757-446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net, PilotOnline.com/dougherty
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Programming the next generations to fail
As an Portsmouth resident and a Catholic I have to say these whining kids and dead beat parents should be happy to get anything. Schools should foster good morals, work ethic, self dependency and pride in addition to scholarship. These give away programs do the opposite. They are just programming the next generations to fail and become a burden on the rest of us. I go to the same stores as some of these parents and see the wasteful spending habits of both the parents and the kids. I experience the attitude of the "yours is mines" and say we all (hard working, taxpaying and honorable) folks have to draw a firm line and fight back! Yes, civilization is worth fighting for.
PS: Kerry Dougherty, keep up the good work!
Parents make lunches?
As the fifth out of six children, my mom made my lunch for the first few weeks of first grade. After that, I made my own lunch. Maybe this is a possible suggestions to lazy parents. You can't tell me a seven year old can't make a baloney or peanut butter sandwich.
My 9 year old...
started making her own lunch last year. She knows what she is permitted to take for lunch, and must make it prior to being allowed to have her breakfast. This is to ensure that it gets done in time. She would occasionally "forget" to make her lunch but would find herself eating the cheese sandwich. Then she was made to repay the fee with HER OWN money. She stopped forgetting very quickly. The fact of the matter is that I pay taxes and those taxes are being used by people who abuse the system. They expect others to pay for their children, expect teachers to raise their children, and then wonder why their children have no respect for anything they have. It's because they have never seen anyone actually WORK for anything.
Old guy speaks
I'm an old guy, and in my day when fees weren't paid, report card were held back,and before the child was allowed into any school function those fees had to be paid. Get the government out of the schools....
Government is the solution???
This is another example of a government entity attempting to create dependance at the tax payers' expense. I live in Portsmouth and have 2 kids going to public school here. In addition to the lunch program, Portsmouth public schools offer free breakfasts across the board to every kid in preschool,elementary and middle school. This is another excuse to create a dependency program that asks tax payers and the federal government to help pay for it. The sad thing is, when these kids become adults, they will see such handout programs as a "Constitutional Right" and will expect all of their needs and wants to be given to them at someone else's expense.
Cheesy Mess
This is getting pretty stale like the rest of some of her columns. Does the paper pay people to write this stuff? See why the paper is failing.
nerve
The column must have struck a nerve.
May I point out
You read it, didn't you? QED!
Racism and Cheese Sandwiches? You're Kidding Right?
Only Paul Riddick or Roger Chesley could tie those two things together.
What problem?
I used to carry bag lunch to school, as did most of us who didn't live close enough to go home. Cold cheese was the norm. Of course, that was a small town school, 70 years ago, so there might be a little different mindset now.