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    ScelestusJay Connor
    5/08/19 10:17am

    In many cases, that lunch is the only damn meal of the day where the kid’s guaranteed to get decent food. School lunches should be 100% free to 100% of public school attendees. And if they want to get there a little early, the school should offer breakfast as well. 

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      NOLANopeScelestus
      5/08/19 10:38am

      When I was a kid this was actually the policy where I grew up. Then Reagan happened.

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      ScelestusNOLANope
      5/08/19 10:43am

      Well, sure. Because we had to max out our military budget and (literally) take food out of the mouths of our own kids to defeat the godless commies. 

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    FreeRonJay Connor
    5/08/19 9:56am

    Too angry to even type a real comment, just feed the damn kids.

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      HuskyBroFreeRon
      5/08/19 10:06am

      Straight disgusting.

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    Old white guyJay Connor
    5/08/19 11:20am

    Maybe the schools can contract out as a collection agency for other departments. Kids get a different lunch based on their parents debts. Overdue parking tickets? Kids get bologna and cheese sandwich. Late with taxes? Tuna fish and yogurt sandwiches.

    Shame those kids into getting parents to pay! It’s the American way! Just look at our president! 

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      Quantum Jimmies of Pangaean Are Both Russled And Not RussledOld white guy
      5/08/19 11:32am

      This way, the poorer kids get to about capitalism and learn their place in society early on.

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      HuskyBroOld white guy
      5/08/19 11:51am

      Thanks Old White Guy.

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    Old white guyJay Connor
    5/08/19 11:13am

    I’m surprised they didn’t offer them the option of either cold sandwiches or where a bright orange jumper so every one knows your parents are debtors!

    But this is ok, because we all know school kids are not one to see ainother kid as different for one reason or another and mock/bully them about it relentlessly.  

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      HuskyBroOld white guy
      5/08/19 11:52am

      Thanks Old White Guy.

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    HuskyBroJay Connor
    5/08/19 10:05am

    I thought nothing could top the raw baloney, cheese and butter (!) on Wonder Bread sandwiches that us kids (who had paid for this, mind you) had to endure in the Suburban Chicago School System.

    Thanks for proving me wrong, Rhode Island...sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwich?

    Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF

     

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      Makes Me Wonder Why I Even Bring The ThunderHuskyBro
      5/08/19 10:32am

      Hold up. Sunflower seed butter is delicious and a solid substitute for peanut butter (which is a common enough deadly allergy to be a serious issue in public schools).

      As food, I liked the graham crackers and milk lunch of shame better than most of the hot lunch offerings when I was a child.

      None of the above makes this policy any less disgusting, but don’t go around being incorrect about food.

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      HuskyBroMakes Me Wonder Why I Even Bring The Thunder
      5/08/19 12:04pm

      You funny. You more upset, regardless of your bold line, about me saying that Sunflower Seed Butter and Jelly sandwiches is bleh (to me) than the poor kids having to either eat something forced upon them because they don’t have money for lunch and someone in RI think that will appease the huddled masses? (WE DID FEED THEIR POOR ASSES SOMETHING!) That’s hilarious.

      Sorry, Charlie, I think that some things are an acquired taste and shouldn’t be forced on anyone, especially the kids just to say that you didn’t flat out kick them to the curb, starving.

      I’ve tried Sunflower Seed Butter, voluntarily and wasn’t feeling it, that’s just my opinion. It’s one of the few things that I leave on the shelf over at Trader Joe’s and wouldn’t suggest it for anyone. I get that it’s an alternative to peanut butter due to allergies but, can the kids have, at least more than one option?

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    David E. Davis rides again!Jay Connor
    5/08/19 11:37am

    A local restaurant, Gel’s Kitchen, offered a $4,000 donation to the district to erase a sizable chunk of its outstanding lunch debt, but officials declined the offer on the grounds that students must be treated equally.

    What a dumb stance. Graciously accept the money and divide it equally across the entire number of debts. Some will be cleared, some will not but it’s still applied equally.

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    Quantum Jimmies of Pangaean Are Both Russled And Not RussledJay Connor
    5/08/19 10:12am

    Marx called it again - class warfare in the public schools.

    Next stop: arming all the teachers (don’t get uppity, black kids).

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    cakes_and-piesJay Connor
    5/08/19 11:59am

    but officials declined the offer on the grounds that students must be treated equally.

    Yes, treat the children equally by giving them a sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwiches instead of their usual hot meal.

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    OctantisJay Connor
    5/08/19 10:44am

    My wife works in a cafeteria in a suburban school so I have an insiders look at this issue.

    The less affluent kids get discounted or free meals courtesy of the government. Free meal includes hot lunch, fruits, vegetables, and milk. All it takes to qualify is a tax return and fill out a form. These are not the kids affected by this story.

    There’s also another section of students this school district is having to deal with, parents who don’t give a damn. Parents that make enough to not qualify for free / reduced lunch yet never put any money into their kids cafeteria accounts. Parents drop their kids off driving in a BMW yet their cafeteria account is hundreds of dollars in the red. They just don’t care because they know they don’t have to pay.

    Cafeteria’s have a budget and if a few kids per school owe hundreds multiplied but the number of schools in a district you are talking some serious coin. After calls to the parents and notes home there’s still no action what is a school to do? Eat the cost? Ok, what else gets cut to balance the budget? Music, Football, School Supplies? 

    The story on its face seems heartless but the money has to come from somewhere. They’re trying something and maybe it isn’t passing the smell test but check your outrage against reality.

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    PostOMatic2000Jay Connor
    5/08/19 10:58am

    It sounds terrible, denying children a hot lunch, but food costs money and it has to come from somewhere. School budgets are cut to the bone in most areas of the US, and tax revenues are not nearly enough in low-income areas. While I agree that we need to feed the kids and not subject them to shame, there is no good solution available to the schools. If they don’t pay their bills, there will be no food at all. The solution has to come from higher up, remember that on election day! 

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