Lunch debts to go to collections
New policy could prohibit students who owe money from dances, graduation ceremonies
After a lengthy discussion, the Quakertown Community School Board approved a new policy, that could prohibit students who have lunch debt, overdue books or lost textbooks from participating in dances, graduation ceremonies or class trips.
And if the debt is $1,000 or more, it will be forwarded to a collection agency under the parents or guardians’ name, according to a policy that the school board approved Thursday night.
The school board voted 7-2 on the new policy that will go into effect immediately. Directors David Ochmanowicz and Kaylyn Mitchell voted against it. Directors Steaven Klein, Dwight Anderson, Robert Diliberto, Ron Jackson, Jonathan Kern, Keith Micucci and Jennifer Weed voted for it.
Zach Schoch, Quakertown’s chief operating officer, said the policy was prompted because of the ballooning lunch debt that has essentially become a line item in the district’s budget. Last year, taxpayers paid off $27,000 in unpaid debt.
But school directors were split on the policy. Ochmanowicz said he was not comfortable with taking away privileges from students. He also said the district does not know what
families are going through financially.
“The child should not pay for the irresponsible parent who is not paying the debt,” he said.
But Weed said the policy was not about punishment. She called some of the parents “deadbeats” for not paying the delinquent accounts.
“This is a family responsibility,” she said. “I do not view this as punishing the kids. It instills responsibility.”
A motion was made to strike the parts of the policy that would prohibit students from extracurricular activities and graduation ceremony but it was shot down 7-2. Only directors Ochmanowicz and Mitchell voted for it.
Kern said high school students should at least be held accountable.
“When you get a McDonald’s burger, you have to pay for it,” he said.
Quakertown Superintendent Bill Harner stressed that the policy holds the parents accountable, and not the child. Quakertown currently sends out letters every two weeks to families who owe money. About 35% of Quakertown’s 5,000 students receive free and reduced-price lunch.
Quakertown is not the first district to enact a policy like this to deal with rising lunch debt since the state banned “lunch shaming” in 2017. Last year, the Bethlehem Area School District partnered with a collection agency to recoup some of its staggering debt. At the end of last year, Bethlehem Area’s debt was close to $250,000 across its 22 schools. The collection agency is used only for Bethlehem Area students with debts higher than $50 and who are not enrolled in the reducedprice federal meal program.
This year, the Salisbury School District with $7,450 in meal debt, has a new policy that says if a student has a meal account balance of more than $50 in May, the district will send a letter to the parents warning a collection agency will be used if the debt is not paid by the last day of school in June. If the balance remains unpaid in August, Salisbury will forward the debt to a magistrate.
Lunch debt isn’t an issue in the Allentown School District, where all students receive free and reduced-price lunches because of the district’s high poverty rate.
Earlier this year the state Legislature loosened some of the 2017 rules by allowing schools to substitute an “alternative” meal if a high school student owes at least $50. But it’s unclear how exactly the new rules work, and it doesn’t erase the debt that districts currently have.
Under Quakertown’s new policy, parents will be given written notice when a student has accrued debt and the school principal will meet with parents. Quakertown will allow 30 days for the debt to be paid.
If full payment is not received within 30 days, the student could be prohibited from attending events such as class trips, school dances and graduation ceremonies. Debt of $1,000 or more will be sent to a collection agency.
Under state law, districts can take away student privileges for unpaid meals as long as it is the same policy for other debts, such as overdue books.
Free and reduced-price meals, funded by the Agriculture Department’s National School Lunch Program, are provided to children whose families meet certain income thresholds. A family of four would have to earn less than $33,475 a year to qualify for free lunch, or less than $47,638 to get discounted meals.
Households with slightly higher incomes are more likely to struggle, experts on poverty and nutrition say, although it’s hard to determine why families aren’t paying the bills. Some may be financially struggling and don’t qualify for lunch discounts, others may qualify but haven’t applied for the free lunch program, and some may be ignoring the debt.