Central Greene lunch policy comes under fire

WAYNESBURG - Central Greene School District's policy of refusing lunch to high school students who cannot pay led to a suspension for one teen this month.

At the school board meeting earlier this month, the boy's mother, Angela Marling of Waynesburg, protested the policy and the way her 15-year-old son was treated.

The district uses a debit system for school lunches where parents put money into an account, which the child uses to buy food. Before this year, the district allowed students to charge the cost of their lunches even if their accounts dwindled to zero.

That practice led to a deficit of more than $6,000 in the food service program, so the board instituted a much stricter policy this year. In the middle and senior high schools, cafeteria workers will confiscate students' lunches if they do not have enough money in their accounts to cover the cost of the food.

A worker asked Marling's son for his lunch when his account showed a negative balance. He refused, took his lunch to a table and started eating. A teacher and an assistant principal confronted him, but he still would not relinquish the meal and as a result received a one-day suspension from school.

Marling said her son was accused of stealing.

"Stealing is when you're hiding something. He was very open. He said he would pay later," she said.

Board President Pete Rameas said the boy was disciplined because of insubordination.

"He chose to make a scene," Rameas said. "He should have been able to act in a far more mature manner."

Marling said her child charged lunch on several previous occasions without issue. Her son's account was more than $7 in the red at the time of the incident, indicating that he had been charging lunch for a few days. Marling objected to that inconsistency as well as the district's communication to the parents regarding their children's lunch accounts.

Director Sam McCollum said his son's account was also in arrears, but he only learned of it when he checked online, through Nutrition Group's Web site, mylunchmoney.com. His son was never notified.

Dr. Jerome Bartley, district superintendent, said the policy is to not have charges whatsoever at the middle and senior high school. Workers are supposed to remind a student that his or her account is low whenever the balance drops below $5, and they are to refuse service when it dwindles to zero.

Bartley said he will check with the cafeteria workers to make sure they are following the policy.

Parents of middle school students complained about the policy and the district's communication methods a few months ago. Nutrition Group, the district's food service management company, responded by launching mylunchmoney.com earlier this year.