On Wednesday morning a 12-year-old student at Barber Middle School in Dickinson, Texas lined up to get breakfast like he usually does, but he didn't get to eat it. The child qualifies for reduced meals and pays for them from an account that his mother deposits money into, but the account was empty. A school cafeteria employee promptly relieved the child of his breakfast and threw it in the trash. In case you are wondering, the boy's breakfast cost 30 cents. It makes me kind of sick that instead of feeding the child, the meal was thrown into the garbage. It also makes me sick that the child was publicly humiliated. His mother, Jennifer Castilleja, was none too happy about it either.
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Castilleja's son called her and told her what happened and that he needed money for food and that he was hungry. She made a trip to the school to give him food and lunch money, but was upset at how the situation was handled. She admits that her child probably forgot to remind her to refill the account and obviously she hadn't done it, but can't believe that even after speaking to school staff and telling them that she was on her way, they wouldn't feed her child.
The school stands by their actions and policy. When questioned by reporters the following answer given was, "Dickinson ISD's procedure is that we do not allow student charges for breakfast. Many school districts follow this same procedure. Students get verbal warnings to let parents know once the account starts getting low. Written warnings are sent home to parents before money runs out."
Honestly, I don't give a crap about the policy. I get it that they can't just be givin' out food for free, but I can't stand the thought of a child going hungry especially when you are taking a meal that he was about to eat and throwing it in the trash. If the policy says it's better to throw food away than give it to a child who hasn't eaten breakfast, then the policy is LAME!
Image via Thinkstock
