US school offers $100 for ‘cafeteria classism’

Florida school seeks to raise funds by offering students to jump queue at lunch

Houston, Aug. 13: US school sent out a fundraising form that offered students a $100 ‘pass’ that would entitle them to jump to the front of the lunch queue, sparking outrage among parents who accused the institution of ‘cafeteria classism’.

A Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) sponsorship form for the Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, Florida, was sent out to the students’ parents to raise money for the school but one offer stuck out.

The form stated that a $100 donation would grant the donor a “last name or company logo feature on the website, as well as PTSA events and front of the lunch line pass,” ABC Action News reported.

Later, the PTSA said that the form was circulated by mistake due to a “clerical error” and the fundraiser was not being implemented. The letter, however, evoked a sharp response from parents who slammed it.

“Hey my dad has more money than you, I get to eat first you have to wait you have to wait’,” Christ Stephenson, a father of a pupil, speculated what the form would incite from young students.

“Polk County has a very high rate of food insecurity when it comes to kids. With middle school already being a very contentious age, with hormones and everything else, the last thing you really want to do is add a food hierarchy on top of that,” Stephenson told News Channel 8.

The PTSA, in a statement, said the fundraising programme was explored but was not to be implemented and the letter went out due to a mistake.— PTI