by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Last Sunday I wrote about the awful letter that Wyoming Valley West School District in Pennsylvania sent home to the parents of students who were in arrears on their school lunches. In that letter, penned by a school official, the district threatened to report those parents to the state's "Dependency Court" system, and then advised that such a report could culminate in a child being placed in foster care.
Not only was the abusive letter a flagrant attempt at bullying, it also appeared to be intended to shame the families and students who were behind on their lunch bills. The district, which has a limited tax base, was trying to collect $22,000 in lunch debt that was owed by approximately 1,000 students.
News articles about the situation brought offers of help from more than a hundred donors across the country, and the debt was finally settled by Todd Carmichael, a co-founder and CEO of La Colombe Coffee in Philadelphia. The school board of Wyoming Valley West initially turned down Carmichael's offer the pay the entire debt (perhaps they didn't want to feel shamed), but then had a change of hart and accepted the payment.
But now it looks like there is more good news for the beleaguered school. Apparently someone in the district (perhaps the Director of Federal Programs who sent out the obnoxious letter to begin with) has discovered that the school system qualifies for the Community Eligibility Provision, a USDA Food and Nutrition Service Program. As a result, every student in the Wyoming Valley West School District will receive FREE breakfast and lunch in all of the district's schools for the next five years - regardless of income!
See what can happen when school administrators do their homework!
Citizen Journalist
Last Sunday I wrote about the awful letter that Wyoming Valley West School District in Pennsylvania sent home to the parents of students who were in arrears on their school lunches. In that letter, penned by a school official, the district threatened to report those parents to the state's "Dependency Court" system, and then advised that such a report could culminate in a child being placed in foster care.
Not only was the abusive letter a flagrant attempt at bullying, it also appeared to be intended to shame the families and students who were behind on their lunch bills. The district, which has a limited tax base, was trying to collect $22,000 in lunch debt that was owed by approximately 1,000 students.
News articles about the situation brought offers of help from more than a hundred donors across the country, and the debt was finally settled by Todd Carmichael, a co-founder and CEO of La Colombe Coffee in Philadelphia. The school board of Wyoming Valley West initially turned down Carmichael's offer the pay the entire debt (perhaps they didn't want to feel shamed), but then had a change of hart and accepted the payment.
But now it looks like there is more good news for the beleaguered school. Apparently someone in the district (perhaps the Director of Federal Programs who sent out the obnoxious letter to begin with) has discovered that the school system qualifies for the Community Eligibility Provision, a USDA Food and Nutrition Service Program. As a result, every student in the Wyoming Valley West School District will receive FREE breakfast and lunch in all of the district's schools for the next five years - regardless of income!
See what can happen when school administrators do their homework!
No comments:
Post a Comment