Pa. school district: Meal debts could lead to foster care

A school district in eastern Pennsylvania faced criticism after sending letters this month to more than three dozen parents warning that if their debt for school meals was not paid, their child could be placed in foster care.

“Your child has been sent to school every day without money and without a breakfast and/or lunch,” read the letter, which was signed by Joseph Muth, director of federal programs for the Wyoming Valley West School District. “This is a failure to provide your child with proper nutrition and you can be sent to Dependency Court for neglecting your child’s right to food. If you are taken to Dependency court, the result may be your child being removed from your home and placed in foster care.”

David Usavage, vice president of the school board, said Saturday that when he first read the letter, he had thought it was a “joke.”

“It was not approved by anyone,” Usavage said of the letter. “We have a policy that says everything should go through the superintendent.”

He said the letter was written by Muth and the district’s lawyer, Charles R. Coslett. Usavage said Muth has apologized. Attempts to reach Muth and Coslett on Saturday were unsuccessful.

Usavage said the district, which is in Luzerne County, about 115 miles northwest of Philadelphia, is owed just over $22,000 in breakfast and lunch debt.

He said 960 students owe between 5 cents and $9.99. The parents of the 40 students who owe $10 or more received the letter, which has gotten widespread attention.

Usavage said four students owe more than $440. School meals in the district cost between $1 and $2.70.

“We educate kids as best we can with what we have,” he said. “We have a lot of successful kids, but never, never ever have we ever threatened anyone with this kind of letter.”

It’s common for the district to mail letters urging parents to pay debts, but the language has always been “softer,” he said.

The district is made up of seven schools and serves about 5,000 children, Usavage said.

Usavage said he received about six phone calls complaining about the letter. C. David Pedri, the county manager, wrote the district a letter, noting that foster care should never be viewed as punitive.

“It weaponizes Luzerne County’s foster care system,” Pedri said Saturday. “It’s exactly what we’re not here to do. The foster care system is here to help kids who are abused.”

“Taking a kid out of a house is one of the most extreme things that a foster care system has ever tried to do,” he added. “So you don’t do it lightly. We would never take a kid out of a house for failing to pay a school lunch bill.”

Usavage said he wanted to call a special meeting with all school board members to discuss the matter. He also said in the next school year, starting in August, that all children in the district would receive free breakfast and lunch, regardless of their need.