N.J. district's controversial lunch policy draws flak

WILLINGBORO, N.J. -- The Willingboro School District has received attention recently for a controversial policy that requires cafeteria workers to throw away a child's lunch if he or she does not have enough money in the account that pays for it.

School officials say the free meals, also known as humanitarian meals, cost the district about $46,000 during the 2012-13 school year, up from about $32,000 in 2011-12.

The Willingboro Board of Education made reference to a 2012 poll, conducted by the New Jersey School Boards Association, in which 54 percent of school districts polled said unpaid school lunch debt was a growing problem or had been a problem for several years.

But critics of the plan, including Willingboro parents, say the district should come up with a different way to handle delinquent accounts that does not punish children.

"You can't single a child out because they do not have money," said Marie Gagliardi, a longtime Willingboro resident and mother of two. "If you want to punish the parents, publish their names in the paper like they do with people who are past due on their taxes."

Willingboro Schools Superintendent Dr. Ronald Taylor did not return repeated calls for comment.

In a statement, the Willingboro Board of Education noted the program is aimed at "reducing the financial burden on the taxpayers, increasing enrollment in the free and reduced lunch programs, increasing parental accountability, and increasing communication between parents and the district."

However, the $46,000 spent on humanitarian meals is less than 0.001 percent of the district's $73 million budget for the 2013-14 school year.

Statistics from the New Jersey Department of Education show the number of students in the free and reduced lunch program at Willingboro has been on the rise. Over a three-year period from the 2009-10 school year to the 2011-12 school year, the number of students enrolled increased by an average of 20 percent.

"We need to do more to help those in need, not hurt them," Gagliardi said.

The new policy does not apply to children enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program. The district also will notify parents when their child's account has only $5 remaining.

"This advance notice is intended to avoid the need for humanitarian meals altogether," the board of education said in its statement.

Two other New Jersey districts, Passaic and East Orange, have similar policies in place.

'Dark Ages' policy

Two North Jersey assemblymen, Joseph Cryan, D-Union, and Jason O'Donnell, D-Hudson, described the new policy as "something from the Dark Ages."

"This is just outrageous," Cryan said. "With poverty on the rise and families struggling to make ends meet, this is cruel and unreasonable."

"This policy is wrong and must be changed," O'Donnell said. "We need to care for our children, not deny them meals."

Gagliardi suggested making lunch free for all students, much like the Boston school system did this fall.

The Boston public schools offer students two free meals every school day, whether or not their families can afford them. The program, known as the Community Eligibility Option, is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Besides easing hunger, school officials said, the program helps erase a stigma that plagued some students from poor families.

Jim Weill, president of the nonprofit Food Research and Action Center, said the program in Boston saves schools money because it's less expensive to feed more students than to do paperwork for children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals.