collecting lunch money... a pilot program
The subject of collecting lunch money has been on the SC's radar for some time now. Last night they adopted a pilot plan to collect lunch money from those in the rears. It's a touchy subject for the administration to find a solution since the issue is getting bigger this year. I'll ask SC Freudberg what grade level that most have unpaid lunch bills. If it's mostly high schoolers, I would like to see more verification of need. I only say that because of the amount of older kids who drive BMW's and everyone seems to have cell phones. Parents must be paying the phone bills and insurances. I've written about this a few times since the amount of money the school has to cough up was over 100,000. As of Jan 31, the school was in the red by 68,947 and could rise to 140,637 by the end of the year, not earth shattering money, but similiar to the added recycling costs, that should be reduced. A great deal of somebodies time will have to be dedicated to making this pilot program work. Maybe the SC would ask if a bunch of seniors would like to help collect money from those who can afford it.
From the MWDN:
From March 1 to the end of the school year, households in the red by $15 or more will receive weekly automatic emails asking for payment and offering payment resources for which they may be eligible. If they do not pay the bill after that email, parents and guardians will then receive weekly text messages with a direct link to pay the bill.
After 14 calendar days, if the balance remains at or above $15, the district will call by phone. After 21 days, households with delinquent accounts will receive a letter in the mail with an invoice and a due date.
“We want to get ahead of this and support the families and let them know what’s going on, so it doesn’t just get so big that they can’t afford it,” said School Committee Vice Chairwoman Gloria Pascual, of District 8, at Wednesday’s board meeting.
Written by Chairman Adam Freudberg, the new plan also calls for Superintendent Robert Tremblay to form a working group with members from the Food Service, Business and Operations, Media and Communications, Parent Information Center, and Health and Wellness to periodically review bills in the red. The district work with principals and counselors to offer support to those who have a hard time paying.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 10:05 AM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
While there are kids in financial need, there are those who abuse the system. For these system moochers, why pay for your kids lunch if you can get the suckers to pay for them.
Agree with you Jim, too many kids with too many expensive toys but can't seem to get the adults to cough up the cash for them to eat. We need to take a tougher stance against the abusers, political correctness be damned.
We can not and should not punish or embarrass kids for their parents irresponsibility. The kids are not the ones responsible for this bill, their parents are. So as long as we can collect without it impacting the kids in school I am all for it. But this should not be something the kids are even aware of if you ask me.
Again I ask, is this the same situation that exists in other communities or are we the outlier? If we are the outlier, what can we learn from other communities about how to do a better job at collecting these lunch fees.
Good question.. I'll ask Mr. Freudberg. We'd have to compare similiar poverty levels and population.
Does everyone here know to find school committee meetings on the Gov TV channel instead of the school channel?
A working group to deal with this problem? What exactly are they going to do that has not already been done? I think we spend far too much time making groups and attending meetings. At my office, we discourage long meetings and when there is a need for a meeting we stand to prevent people from thinking the meeting is an excuse to not do the work we are paid to do and just kill some time sitting around a table swapping stories. I would be curious to hear what they want this working group to do that has not already been done. Seems like just a way to kick the can down the road if you ask me, not that anyone did ask me.
Jim why are school committee meetings not shown on the school channel? Doesn't it make sense to look for them there instead of the Government channel?
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