No such thing as a free lunch

arknor said:
don't worry guys it's only the working class parents that get effected everyone else gets free school meals.
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?

Its usually the working class kids who get free school meals... others, such as this one, are reliant on their parents paying... its not that hard surely if they've reminded him three times and the kid still ate something he just didn't get the meal, which costs money and which he hasn't paid for - hardly the end of the world really... the Dad should sort his own admin out instead of blaming others.
 
arknor said:
don't worry guys it's only the working class parents that get effected everyone else gets free school meals.

we're all in this together! :rolleyes:

his father has a job! lets punish him by not giving him a meal.... I'm surprised the EU haven't made school meals a human right tbh

Punishing a child because his parents have not send the correct money is the dumbest **** I ever heard for all the school know that kid didn't have any breakfast either and went a full school day hungry and probably picked on by the kids who get free school meals :rolleyes:
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Assuming the school meals were up to a nutritional standard, they can be the only decent meal a kid will get that day. This doesn't soley reflect on the poor, anyone can have bad parents. I dare say free school meals for every kid would be a resonable platform to run on.
 
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Parents should have acted, the but the school should have given the child a meal.

I personally think that no child should go hungry, regardless of their parent's financial incompetence or situation, but I guess some people are happy to see children go hungry.
 
Gackt said:
I personally think that no child should go hungry, regardless of their parent's financial incompetence or situation, but I guess some people are happy to see children go hungry.
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+1.

That makes us massive tree-hugging lefty socialist communist liberal success haters. :p
 
Accepted that it shouldnt happen but to move the kids from school is a whole other over reaction. WHich is likely to cause the child most distress - missing a meal or being sent to a strange school away from their friends and familiar surroundings
 
Gackt said:
Parents should have acted, the but the school should have given the child a meal.

I personally think that no child should go hungry, regardless of their parent's financial incompetence or situation, but I guess some people are happy to see children go hungry.
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+2

It's just a meal. Have a heart, dinner ladies.
 
elmarko said:
+1.

That makes us massive tree-hugging lefty socialist communist liberal success haters. :p
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Mostly the right whine about throwing money towards scrounging parents, as it'll likely be stolen and spent on fags and booze. In reality free school stuff is pretty much perfect left policy because it doesn't fall into the hands of the parents, cannot be stolen, and the expenditure is attributed to children's welfare that, assuming all goes well, will form your future tax base, essentially paying their own debt to society back.

Other things you need to pay for in schools include uniforms and "outings". I remember sitting uncomfortable because my clothes didn't fit (funnily enough I didn't have that problem before uniforms were mandated, as that pretty much required me to have twice the amount of clothes, but there you go) and not getting to go on the outings because my family couldn't afford it at the time.

It would seem if we were really trying to give kids an equal start in life, the schools shouldn't be asking the parents for money at all. I dare say such a thing would be a significantly better left policy than throwing money at fat people because "it's not their fault". ;)
 
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Gackt said:
Parents should have acted, the but the school should have given the child a meal.

I personally think that no child should go hungry, regardless of their parent's financial incompetence or situation, but I guess some people are happy to see children go hungry.
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elmarko said:
+1.

That makes us massive tree-hugging lefty socialist communist liberal success haters. :p
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I appreciate what you are saying, and the way this would be achieved is if all school meals were centrally funded by the Government by tax.

Since this is not the case and the schools have to run their meal services on a self funding basis, then it's not quite as simple as that is it. They had already suffered bad debt from unpaid meal fees, which is why this policy was introduced.

The bit I don't understand from the article is how the Parent said his 'credit' had run out and he hadn't been informed but the school say

Mr and Mrs Lynn were notified on three occasions prior to the mealtime of interest that their debt was due and that their son would not receive a meal if the debt remained unpaid
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Seems some contradictory evidence between the parent and school
 
aln said:
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Hehe, well it was said in jest in part.

But I would support that kind of policy also, as at least it doesn't have the potential to be abused & is therefore easier to get support from many on both sides of the fence (except for the die hard right wingers on all issues).

I also agree that schools shouldn't charge anything - it should all be covered by the school - children shouldn't be denied trips/clothes or food just because the parents are either poor, stupid or simple irresponsible.

The worst is the children of parents with disabilities (who don't get to go on school trips either due to the cost) - missing out as a result of a parents disability is pretty low on the grand scheme of things.

Freakbro said:
the way this would be achieved is if all school meals were centrally funded by the Government by tax.
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That would be my solution.
 
Why is everyone so annoyed at the school? The parents were notified numerous times about the debt yet did nothing. Missing one meal isn't going to do any harm. I'm way more annoyed at the Dad, who takes their children out of school over something as small as this. He should be ashamed. Moving school and losing most of their friends will be much harder for them than missing a meal.
 
What's that? A parent not taking any responsibility for their child and instead blaming the system? Surely not!

My argument is that if the parent wanted his son to have a meal that badly he would have made sure that his son had money after being notified THREE times that his son would be refused a meal if he didn't top up the account.

I feel bad for the school - they have been put in a very difficult position. They have to "make a stand" at some point dont they? Either that or they allow parents not just simply not pay for their child's school meals with no repercussions. But unfortunately it is the same as always - the school is fully blamed and the poor innocent parents go to the papers.
 
I am a teacher and my school would NEVER do this. We have parents who owe considerably more than these parents for lunches and we have had to pass debts on to the council for debt collection agencies to deal with in the past. But we would NEVER let a child go hungry; it is not the child's fault that his parents have not paid for one school dinner.

I think it is disgraceful and they should be ashamed of themselves.

EDIT: The part about them being contacted three times about the debt - I wonder how this was done? Was it a note sent in a Year 6 child's school bag (In which case, may never have arrived home - stupid way to contact them if it was going to be so important)? A phonecall? A letter sent to the house? Just would be interested to know.
 
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