what happens when you outsource school lunches to private contractors..

[ekg]

well, if your kid is $.05 short on his lunch money they are told to throw away their tray and go hungry..

Students at an Attleboro, Massachusetts, middle school went hungry this week, if they had a negative balance on their pre-paid lunch cards.

Five cents of debt was enough for cafeteria employees at the Coehlo Middle School to instruct kids at least one day this week to dump out the food they would have normally eaten, CNN affiliate WJAR in Rhode Island reported.

About 25 children left the lunchroom with empty stomachs, said Whitson's Culinary Group in a statement. The company runs the school's cafeteria.

Parents were appalled. So was the principal. So was Whitson's.

"I told them this is bullying; that's neglect, child abuse," said parent Jo-An Blanchard.

Principal Andrew Boles apologized and blamed the culinary company. "My expectation is that every child, every adult, every parent, every student, every teacher is respected in this building, and that didn't happen yesterday because of Whitson's," he told WJAR.

Whitson's apologized in a statement and said it was not company policy to deny meals to children. It added that the school district had no official policy on what to do in such situations.

"Employees had taken it upon themselves to institute this change; it was not condoned or approved," said Whitson spokeswoman Holly Von Seggern. "We had absolutely no idea."

Workers in the school's cafeteria work on a contract basis, Boles said. He thinks the decision came from Whitson's.

Whitson's supplies 80 schools in New England with lunch meals, Von Seggern said. CNN could find no previous reports on similar incidents involving the company.

Kids with a negative balance usually receive "a cheese sandwich, a fruit and vegetable, and milk." Then the company contacts the parents about payment.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/05/us/massachusetts-lunch-denied/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

wtf are we doing outsourcing school lunches to the private sector? How much do they get paid for those contracts vs how much do they spend on the lunches? and a cheese sandwich is what you get if you're short that day? fuck, even prisoners get bologna..


what kinda of asshole looked at that kid who was a nickel short and said "Sorry loser, no food for you!" and made them throw the perfectly good plate of food away?

wow.

[reverend_darth]

Come on, you know the private sector does everything better than government AND they get to make a fuckin profit.  Which is exactly why our healthcare is so fucked up!  Some rich fuck's got to make a buck on everyfuckinthing no matter what the human cost.

[uselesslegs]

This notion that EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of existence is a profit potential is just foul beyond words. As long as the word Entrepreneurship is put before selling literal piss...you're an innovator, you're enterprising!...not just some person who sells piss.  If we keep along this vein, give it 50 years and selling blowjobs from your daughter won't be illegal. You'll probably be looked down on still, but hey, we all gotta survive...right?!  And that's the way this country is headed if we keep using Trickle Down as our economic system.  As the cost of living keeps going up, with little if any onus on those who drive up the cost of living, to prove they really need to increase those costs to survive, the pool of the fucked keeps getting bigger.  

"Employees had taken it upon themselves to institute this change; it was not condoned or approved," said Whitson spokeswoman Holly Von Seggern. "We had absolutely no idea."

I don't buy that line for a friggin second.

[reverend_darth]

"Employees had taken it upon themselves to institute this change; it was not condoned or approved," said Whitson spokeswoman Holly Von Seggern. "We had absolutely no idea."

I don't buy that line for a friggin second.

There's an old business truth.  Don't expect employees to think or act like an owner because they're not.  They have no stake in the business.  For the most part they're there to do their job and get a pay check.  This kind of shit is top down, not bottom up.  You don't get multiple people to change policy on their own because they'd be in fear of losing their jobs if they did.  No upside, all down side.  Even low domes are not that tarded.  You think that some fuck working at McDonalds gives a flying shit if s/he gives you one pack of catsup or five?

[dougola]

Always amazed me that when my kids were in school they'd not get lunch if they didn't have enough money in their account. Didn't seem to be a problem that the free-lunch kids would get whatever they wanted, for FREE,  and then give it away to their friends.  School lunches were taken care of by "Food Services", an independent, for profit company that had the free food underwritten by the Feds, and still wouldn't let a kid get even one fucking lunch if they didn't have the money.

[Howey]

nFrom a real Lunchlady, Franni:

When I was still a Lunchlady twice I went to Tallahassee to talk to officials to stop the state from outsourcing school lunches. At the time a few counties had tried it and were really regretting it. A big-wig like Marriott promises the county a buttload of money for other county projects if they sign over the school lunch program. The thing is that Marriott has the buying power not to need government funding or commodities. So if you don't take those resources from Uncle Sam then you don't have to follow his rules. Marriott can serve your kid whatever they want. Would you expect McDonalds to give your kid a Happy Meal if he didn't have the money to fully pay for it? Of course not! Well that's what happens when your kid is short lunch money. Anyone reading this needs to tell your officials you don't want privatasation on your school cafeteria.