Hot entrees scraped off trays if kids couldn’t pay

STEWARTVILLE, Minn. — A school cafeteria worker quit her job last week after saying the district glossed over its handling of unpaid student-lunch debts by not disclosing who told cashiers to scrape food off the trays of students who couldn’t pay.

Billie Dexter, who worked three days a week at the cafeteria that serves middle- and high-school students, said cafeteria employees threw out dozens of entrees after taking them back if students couldn’t pay — a violation of state law.

“They need to stick up for what they did,” said Dexter, speaking of Stewartville school district leaders. “They shamed the cashiers, and they shamed the kids.”

Dexter’s lingering anger over what happened was echoed by parent Jill Haggerty, who said the district didn’t fully address the bullying that went on in the cafeteria when students were turned down for a hot lunch.

Addressing criticism over the practice, the Stewartville school board voted unanimously to stop taking food off students’ trays and instead provide hot meals to all students regardless of their ability to pay.

Board Chairman Rob Mathias said the policy change and the board’s apology at the meeting should have put the matter to rest. He said it’s possible that the problem arose from a miscommunication between the board and Taher Inc., the school’s foodservice vendor.

“To me, it’s not that important,” he said. “We took responsibility for it. We’re moving forward.”

Superintendent Belinda Selfors said in a statement Friday that no students had meals taken away, and no meals were thrown out.