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Don't Have Lunch Money? A Pennsylvania School District Threatens Foster Care

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  larry-hampton  •  5 years ago  •  43 comments

Don't Have Lunch Money? A Pennsylvania School District Threatens Foster Care
The courthouse in Luzerne County, Pa., where officials this month sent letters to parents who had unpaid cafeteria debt, threatening to take parents to court if the obligations were not settled.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



Dozens of families in Pennsylvania received an alarming letter from their public school district this month informing parents that if their kid's lunch debt was not settled, their child could be removed from their home and placed in foster care.

Wyoming Valley West School District, one of the poorest districts in the state as measured by per-pupil spending, is located in a former coal mining community in Northeastern Pennsylvania, known affectionately by locals as "The Valley."

When officials there noticed that families owed the district around $22,000 in breakfast and lunch debt, they tried to get their money back.

"By mail, email, robo calls, personal calls and letters," said Joseph Mazur, the president of the district's board of education.

But, Mazur said, nothing worked.

That's when district officials sent out the now-infamous letter to about 40 families deemed to be the worst offenders in having overdue cafeteria bills — those were children with meal debt of $10 or more.

"Your child has been sent to school every day without money and without a breakfast and/or lunch," said the letter 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."


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Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
1  seeder  Larry Hampton    5 years ago

Wow!

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2  Trout Giggles    5 years ago
Your child has been sent to school every day without money and without a breakfast and/or lunch," said the letter 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."

He has a point there because failing to feed your children is neglect but I'm not sure taking the kids away and putting them in foster care is the answer

 
 
 
1stwarrior
Professor Participates
2.1  1stwarrior  replied to  Trout Giggles @2    5 years ago

I'm kinda reading this the wrong way, but, the parents aren't denying the child's right to food - the school district is by refusing to provide what is legally available.

Also, they "probably" don't have a legal leg to stand on as the lunch programs are a Fed program.

 
 
 
1stwarrior
Professor Participates
5  1stwarrior    5 years ago

Feeding the Future with Healthy School Lunches

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day . The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946.

Program Fact Sheet
 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6  Split Personality    5 years ago
The president of a Pennsylvania school board whose district had warned parents behind on lunch bills that their children could end up in foster care has rejected a CEO's offer to cover the cost, the businessman said Tuesday. Todd Carmichael, chief executive and co-founder of Philadelphia-based La Colombe Coffee, said he offered to give Wyoming Valley West School District $22,000 to wipe out bills that generated the recent warning letter to parents.

 
 
 
Ronin2
Professor Quiet
6.1  Ronin2  replied to  Split Personality @6    5 years ago

Which makes no sense. Why would they care who pays the bill, so long as it gets paid?

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.1.1  Split Personality  replied to  Ronin2 @6.1    5 years ago

Apparently Mr. Mazur wants to teach someone a lesson.

"By mail, email, robo calls, personal calls and letters," said Joseph Mazur, the president of the district's board of education.

But, Mazur said, nothing worked.

That's when district officials sent out the now-infamous letter to about 40 families deemed to be the worst offenders in having overdue cafeteria bills — those were children with meal debt of $10 or more.

one has to wonder how much they have spent on these collection efforts...

Mazur was the one who refused Carmichael's offer.

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
6.1.2  Tessylo  replied to  Split Personality @6.1.1    5 years ago

Thanks for clearing that confusion up.

What a monstrous asshole Mazur is.  

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
6.1.3  Trout Giggles  replied to  Split Personality @6.1.1    5 years ago

What a dick!

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.1.4  Split Personality  replied to  Trout Giggles @6.1.3    5 years ago

There is still some hope.

Wyoming Valley West School Board officials tell Newswatch 16 they've received about 100 offers from donors all over the country. School board vice president David Usavage says he would be in favor of taking the offered donation and wiping the debts clean.

"If we can get it in one lump sum, why do we want to have to go out and go after people? You know, call them, write them letters, do whatever we were going to do," Usavage said.

Other taxpayers we spoke to in the district agreed.

"They should take it only due to the fact that it's a good Samaritan who's doing something good for children. Children don't have a voice, so they might as well just take it," said Marilyn Keegan of Kingston.

School board officials tell Newswatch 16 they'll be speaking to a lawyer Wednesday morning to consider how and if they would take this money.

Carmichael tells Newswatch 16 his offer is still on the table.

 
 
 
Ronin2
Professor Quiet
6.1.5  Ronin2  replied to  Tessylo @6.1.2    5 years ago

That is something I think we all can agree on.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.2  Split Personality  replied to  Split Personality @6    5 years ago
Wyoming Valley West School District is a large, suburban public school district in Luzerne County , Pennsylvania . Students from nine boroughs attend Wyoming Valley West: Courtdale , Edwardsville , Forty Fort , Larksville , Luzerne , Plymouth , Pringle , Kingston , and Swoyersville . Wyoming Valley West School District encompasses approximately 14 square miles. According to 2000 federal census data, it serves a resident population of 44,510. In 2009, the residents' per capita income was $17,532 while the median family income was $40,398. The median income of a home owner was $38,252 per year. [2] Per school district officials, in school year 2007-08 the Wyoming Valley West School District provided basic educational services to 5,057 pupils through the employment of 345 teachers, 195 full-time and part-time support personnel, and 21 administrators.

So on average, the average student is $4.35 in arrears on food money,

and per the article, 40 students are the scofflaws with over $10.00 in arrears.

Wow.  Can't put them in foster care?  Can't lock them up?  Put a lien on their parents homes...

smh.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.2.1  Split Personality  replied to  Split Personality @6.2    5 years ago

I find the back story kind of fascinating.

The previous County Manager has been job hopping, and not necessarily for more money until this month.

Former Luzerne County manager Robert Lawton was unanimously hired last week as the new manager in Turlock, a city of more than 70,000 residents in California’s Central Valley, according to the Turlock Journal .

Lawton had resigned from the $110,000-a-year position as Luzerne County’s first non-interim manager under home rule at the end of 2015. He then worked as deputy county administrator in Sonoma County, Calif., and obtained a position as Yates County administrator in the Finger Lakes region of New York in August 2016 at a salary of $100,000.

Lawton’s employment contract with Turlock is for a three-year term starting by July 12 with a base salary of $215,748, the Turlock Journal said. He also will receive a $400 a month automobile allowance and relocation and moving expenses up to $20,000, it said.

Meanwhile he was replaced by the County Solicitor after a bitter fight among the County Board members, many of whom objected to the lawyer's ( C David Pedri ) total lack of experience, and new salary of $120,000.00.  Pedri has since received two 2% raises and was pushing for more under a new contract in September 2018.

Luzerne County Council is set to vote tonight on a four-year employment agreement with county Manager C. David Pedri, although the proposed salary raises have not yet been released, according to a revised meeting agenda posted at www.luzernecounty.org .

Pedri’s current agreement expires the end of this year. A former county chief solicitor, the 39-year-old Butler Township resident was hired as the county’s second non-interim manager under the home rule government structure in May 2016.

He was hired at $120,000 and received 2 percent raises in 2017 and 2018, for a current salary of $124,848.

Tonight’s meeting starts at 6 p.m. and is preceded by an executive session. The meeting will be at the Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke.

According to the proposed resolution, council must set the manager’s salary through a resolution.

The lines were left blank for council to insert the salary that will be paid to Pedri on Jan. 1, 2019, and the raises he will receive on Jan. 1 in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

It says other terms and conditions will be contained in “extension of employment agreement offer letter” that was not posted.

Luzerne County PA was instrumental in tipping PA's electoral votes to the Trump column in 2016.

It's both curious and somewhat admirable that the local papers (almost) never identify the subjects of their stories as

Democrats or Republicans.

Just saying....

 
 
 
1stwarrior
Professor Participates
7  1stwarrior    5 years ago

Feeding the Future with Healthy School Lunches

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day . The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946.

Program Fact Sheet
5. How can children qualify for free or reduced price school breakfast? Children may be determined “categorically eligible” for free meals through participation in certain Federal Assistance Programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or based on their status as a homeless, migrant, runaway, or foster child. Children enrolled in a federally-funded Head Start Program, or a comparable State-funded pre-kindergarten program, are also categorically eligible for free meals. Children can also qualify for free or reduced price school meals based on household income and family size. Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the Federal poverty level are eligible for free meals.
 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
7.1  Tessylo  replied to  1stwarrior @7    5 years ago

Did you have a problem when First Lady Michelle Obama advocated for healthy school lunches?

 
 
 
Freefaller
Professor Quiet
8  Freefaller    5 years ago

While I fully support the schools efforts to recover what they are owed, I don't believe this action would get any traction in the legal world or with CPS

 
 
 
freepress
Freshman Silent
9  freepress    5 years ago

No child in this country should be denied a simple meal at school, they should just allow parental donations and outside donations to cover the cost of food and never ask a child for money like they were outside school in a private setting. The profit motive is so ingrained that we are punishing children who have no control over their own parents or what level of income they were born into. 

 
 
 
Paula Bartholomew
Professor Participates
10  Paula Bartholomew    5 years ago

Take the money that removing a child from a home would cost and purchase food staples for that family instead.

 
 

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