Idaho woman fired for giving free lunch to hungry child

[weaker slayer]

A cafeteria worker at an Idaho middle school was fired for giving lunch to a 12-year-old student who said she was hungry and had no money for food. The worker said she tried to pay for the lunch, but the school rejected her attempt.


Dalene Bowden, a former employee of Irving Middle School in Pocatello, Idaho, said she was first placed on leave last week, then summarily fired, by the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District for the theft of school district property and inaccurate transactions in her duties as a food service worker, according to the Idaho State Journal.

Bowden, a three year worker with the school district, said that the student had told her she had no money for the $1.70 lunch. Bowden then asked her supervisor if she could purchase the meal for the girl. When the offer was denied, Bowden gave out the lunch for free. After being placed on termination leave on December 15, Bowden received a brief letter, signed by District 25 Director of Human Resources Susan Petit, informing her of her firing.

What type of society do we want when we let a 12 year old girl go hungry. And what type of a society are we when someone gets fired from her job on the charge of theft just to feed such child. When, she was willing out of her only $1.70 to pay the meal for such a child.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

It wasn't just the theft. It was she lied about it and falsified the sales receipts in an attempt to cover it up. It was only after they caught her and placed her on leave that she offered to pay for it.

If she would have taken the money out of her pocket and placed it in the register at the time, there would have been no issue. But she had been warned before about giving away free food in the past, so she purposefully tried to deceive everyone this time. And she was fired for it.

 

[weaker slayer]

You are not looking at the big picture. In fact, it cost school systems more in administrative cost to charge students with a school meal then budgeting a free student meal for all the students. If you give everyone a free lunch, it removes the cost to find out who gets a reduce meal, or, a free meal. Plus, it removes the social class within the school of students that pay full price, reduced price or in some schools a free lunch. Because, if you are a teacher, and you cannot give everyone the grades to get into college. Are you more likely to give a student the highest grade in the class if and only if that student gets a reduced lunch plan, or, only to the students that pay full price. As a student that gets a reduced student lunch is less likely to be saving for their college expense then a student with a full price lunch. It is a factor.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

You are not looking at the big picture. In fact, it cost school systems more in administrative cost to charge students with a school meal then budgeting a free student meal for all the students.

You are not looking at the big picture either. The kid qualified for free lunch. The kid still HAD free lunch credits. But the kid didn't know if they had free lunch credits or not. Rather than finding it out the lunch lady just gave them free lunch and tried to cover it up.

And even if the kid had no free lunch credits left, they- the school- provides free peanut and jelly sandwiches and milk to any student that wants it.

 

[weaker slayer]

Really, peanut and jelly sandwiches. You really want to pull someone out of the process of serving vast amount of students to make peanut and jelly sandwiches? And have the child stand there for 10 minutes to get a poppers lunch. Interesting theory, spend a dollar to save a dime.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Really, peanut and jelly sandwiches. You really want to pull someone out of the process of serving vast amount of students to make peanut and jelly sandwiches? And have the child stand there for 10 minutes to get a poppers lunch. Interesting theory, spend a dollar to save a dime.

They are allowed $11 a week in lunch credits. The average lunch costs $1.75 in lunch credits. If the student spends more than their $11 a week in 4 days then, yeah, peanut butter and jelly is fine for the fifth day. You do the math.

 

[weaker slayer]

They are allowed $11 a week in lunch credits. The average lunch costs $1.75 in lunch credits. If the student spends more than their $11 a week in 4 days then, yeah, peanut butter and jelly is fine for the fifth day. You do the math.

Ok, I pay you $15 an hour. I want you to get up and make a peanut and jelly sandwiches. Every 4 minutes, it cost me to pay you a single dollar. Now add the food cost. Sounds cost-prohibitive. Oh, I pulled you away from what I was really paying you to perform. Now you are slowing down the system, and that cost money.

Like I said, if you give everyone the same identical lunch system, and it is free to everyone: it cost less in the long run. Plus, it removes a class system so everyone gets a better education.

Yes, you can say you already have peanut and jelly sandwiches pre-made for children without any money. True, if everyone pays ... that time and energy to produce the food ends in the trash.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Ok, I pay you $15 an hour.

I have an education; I do not work for $15 an hour.

if you give everyone the same identical lunch system, and it is free to everyone

It is impossible to give everyone the 'same identical lunch' but they do offer everyone what free lunch they would like to have. But it's not a buffet. A kid can't eat as much as they want. Elementary school obesity is a major problem in America and that is more cost-prohibitive 'in the long run' than forcing someone to eat a PB&J sandwich when they've spent more than they are allowed to spend on food.

You said in another post that people need to plan for the future and stop living for today by abusing their bodies. Overeating and allowing grade school kids to fall into the habit of overeating sure sounds like living for today. You are allowed the equivalent of 6 free lunches per week. The school week is 5 days. If you eat more than six days worth of food in four days then you are learning traits that will cost more money and time later in life.

 

[brinkster130]

Most schools have a system I place so that students won't go hungry if they forget their lunch or have no money for a lunch. I'd be shocked if this school didn't have such a system in place.

 

[weaker slayer]

It is impossible to give everyone the 'same identical lunch' but they do offer everyone what free lunch they would like to have. But it's not a buffet. A kid can't eat as much as they want. Elementary school obesity is a major problem in America and that is more cost-prohibitive 'in the long run' than forcing someone to eat a PB&J sandwich when they've spent more than they are allowed to spend on food.

You said in another post that people need to plan for the future and stop living for today by abusing their bodies. Overeating and allowing grade school kids to fall into the habit of overeating sure sounds like living for today. You are allowed the equivalent of 6 free lunches per week. The school week is 5 days. If you eat more than six days worth of food in four days then you are learning traits that will cost more money and time later in life.

Not saying that students get a free buffet, nor, will I say that America overeating should be enjoyed with a free lunch. Why I want to try to say, that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is not health free lunch. Not all parts of America have healthy eating habits, as in large urban cities they live in urban deserts. A school district should not try to mirror what bad food habits happens within a community, it should be the role model of what ideal food habits should be conducted. In fact, I would support a free breakfast and lunch. True, I have never been on food stamps or had a family on food stamps. Still, being on food stamps does push families into more cheaper processed foods that have a higher rate of salt, sugar, and other man made compounds that does increase the weight.

The goal of anyone that is a homeowner, even if they do not have children themselves is to make sure their school district is much better then the communities outside of their local community. If a school has poor eating habits, and are more overweight, a chance of having a poorer educated community becomes a factor. And a poorer community will start to drive a brain drain from the community and start to be replaced with a population that are more willing to accept the lower standard of living. Then it starts to compound the value of the housing market. I'm more willing to accept children in my community getting a free meal, when the payoff to myself comes down to a long term investment of my home property.