Utah elementary school students were upset, confused, and undoubtedly hungry, after one district employee confiscated their lunches on Wednesday. The employee took lunches from several students after a cashier said that they owed money on their lunch accounts, the Associated Press reported.
As it turned out, at least one student’s lunch was taken whose account was not overdue. Moreover, a district spokesman said that food should not have been taken away from students once they had already gone through the line. Parents are understandably outraged that their “children were humiliated in their own school, in front of their classmates.”
Utah school policy mandates that parents be given an opportunity to respond to notifications that their children’s accounts are overdue. In this instance, however, an employee made the decision to confiscate lunches. Cafeteria workers substituted fruit and milk for students who had their lunches taken.
The school’s principal has since established an account to cover lunches for students without money in their accounts and is taking further steps to prevent this from happening again.
