Employees put on leave after (Utah) school lunches taken

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

A Utah school cafeteria manager and a district supervisor have been placed on paid leave while officials investigate why lunches were taken from students who owed money on food accounts, a district spokesman said Friday.

Salt Lake City School District spokesman Jason Olsen said he could not identify or offer further details on the workers because of personnel privacy issues.

... Olsen said school employees were upset by the situation and the district was getting angry messages from around the country.

He said the school principal has set up an account to cover lunch for students without money in their accounts, and other principals are taking steps to ensure that no more lunches are seized.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Employees-put-on-leave-after-school-lunches-taken-5191874.php

---

Parents fear district is setting up scapegoats in lunch fiasco
Salt Lake Tribune

... Kevin Conway, whose daughter, a third-grader, was among those denied lunch Tuesday, ... defended Uintah’s lunch manager, an hourly worker who some say was ordered to take the lunches.

"She was crying. She didn’t want to do this. Someone was standing at the cash register ordering it," he said, sharing his daughter’s account.

Uintah mother Jennifer Pia also defended the cafeteria manager, saying it seems like she’s "just been a scapegoat." Pia’s kids brought their lunches Tuesday, but Pia later discovered their accounts were in the negative, and they could have easily have been among those whose lunches were taken.

"I don’t think she should be put on leave," Pia said, "but I think whoever ordered that to happen should be fired."

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57477909-78/district-lunches-kids-daughter.html.csp

[Cha]

1. Wow.. Hopes this works out ..

in that the ones who are responsible will be held accountable!

thanks Newsjock

[warrant46]

32. WOW "Paid Leave"

That is a punishment-- They need to go after the higher ups but alas like Abu Ghraib the Officers and Supervisors will get a pass and the Prison Guards will be punished

[Cha]

2. Just thought I'd add this graphic to your thread..

[freshwest]

6. +1

[yuiyoshida]

24. +2

[Judi Lynn]

30. You're so right. This should not be allowed to fade away before the election, either. n/t

[eggplant]

3. Maybe if they had their paid leave taken from them and thrown in the trash, they'd learn something.

Sauce for the goose.

[elleng]

4. as I predicted.

'cafeteria workers,

who were ? under orders ? and maybe afraid about losing their jobs if they didn't do this awful thing???'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4415450

[Igel]

5. It's the system that's wrong.

It was pointed out that this one district's policy was to have all the kids go through the food line. Then, at checkout, they checked to see if the student had money in the account. If yes, they paid. If no, they took the food tray away and gave them a snack and drink.

The other districts had a slightly different policy. They checked to see if the students have money to pay in their accounts. If they do, they go through the line and pay at checkout. If they don't, they're given a snack and drink.

The policy is ultimately the same: No money, you get a free snack and a drink instead of the lunch other kids would get. If you just hand out food for free to some kids, fairly quickly you'll be handing out food for free to lots of kids. While that sounds good, somebody still has to pay for it--and if the school spends money for food then it won't have money for something else. (This is on top of federally subsidized meal prices or for kids who don't qualify or whose parents never applied.)

The implementation is what sucks: One district dishes out the food, which is then taken away. Since it can't be reused, it's disposed of. Then you get the free snack and drink.

It's much more traumatic to be given something and have it taken away seconds later than never to have received it in the first place, even if the conclusion is the same. It's why a lot of things that people don't actually have are framed as things they do have in political discourse.

[freshwest]

7. Victimize the poor hourly worker while victimizing poor kids. Ayn Rand would be proud. n/t

[tanyev]

15. That's what the one percenters call a win win!

[Aerows]

27. But let the people that ordered this mess

off the hook! They are far too important to penalize. I mean, they make three and four times what she does, but that doesn't mean they have to be held accountable. That might cause an interruption in their self-congratulations for taking food away from children who "don't deserve it".

[1000words]

8. Who made the policy?

Relieve them of their employment positions.

[joanbarnes]

9. Chris Christie is behind this.

[TBF]

20. In Utah? I think you need

to read a little more closely.

[RC]

28. He's trying to be funny.

[TBF]

33. Ah, ok -

I get a little worked up about issues like not feeding kids.

But I can see now that it's sarcasm - like the "thanks Obama" replies which have really gotten funny in some contexts.

[TwilightGardener]

10. Fucking idiots. "Just following orders"--uh, no. Taking away a hungry child's lunch

is indecent, no matter how shitty your wages are. If someone ordered that worker to slap a child across the face to teach her a lesson, would she have done that too?

[complain jane]

12. +1

It's not rocket science to understand that "the orders" were shitty and no one should have followed them.

[QuestForSense]

11. One person made this decision, and he/she ought to be named and fired.

Whoever it is cannot be trusted to make decisions involving children.

[Lasher]

13. All states should furnish free breakfast and lunch for all students K-12

Free school lunch, breakfast bill passes

April 12, 2013

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A heated debate broke out in the House of Delegates Friday night over a bill to combat childhood hunger in West Virginia.

<snip>

After an hour-long debate, House members passed the bill (SB633) by an 89-9 vote. The House made minor changes to the Senate bill, which senators unanimously approved March 30. The Senate is expected to agree to the changes, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has said he will sign the legislation.

The bill would make free breakfasts and lunches available to every student in public schools, pre-kindergarten through the 12th-grade. West Virginia would become the first state in the nation to enact such a program.

"It's looking at how to feed the children in a healthy way, as well as increasing their activity," said House Education Committee Chairwoman Mary Poling, D-Barbour.

The bill would establish nonprofit foundations that would raise money to help pay for the free meals. Now, only low-income children get free and discounted lunches and breakfasts at school.

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201304120207

[TBF]

21. I'd be ok if that were a federal law

and paid for w/tax money. I'm willing to have defense cut a bit to pay for it. Kids could choose to eat the school lunch or take their own. It would help out kids if they simply lost their lunch or had a day where they were hungrier and wanted to get something extra.

I pay in quite a little bit in taxes and would love to see that money used to feed people (as opposed to buying more drones, building more bases in the middle east, etc).

[rationalcalgarian]

14. Would love to be put on paid leave

Hmmmm... what kind of despicable, sub-human, immoral act can I do at my job that would qualify me for paid leave?

[Le Taz Hot]

16. The school cafateria manager

should have refused to confiscate the lunches. Yes, she may have lost her job (temporarily) but some things you just don't go along with. You just don't.

[Aerows]

26. Easy to say that

when you aren't in that position. They put her in place where she was damned if she did, and damned if she didn't.

[go west young man]

17. Another Brick In The Wall

Kids don't get free school lunches anymore but the US military gets piece of shit weapons that could feed all our children. Ridiculous country we live in.

[Beacool]

18. In previous articles it was made clear that who ordered the lunches to be taken away

from the children was the district's nutrition manager. The cafeteria manager had nothing to do with it.

"Jason Olsen, a Salt Lake City District spokesman, said the district’s child-nutrition department became aware that Uintah had a large number of students who owed money for lunches. As a result, the child-nutrition manager visited the school and decided to withhold lunches to deal with the issue, he said."

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57468293-78/lunches-olsen-lunch-district.html.csp

[TBF]

22. Looks like Jason Olsen is the one who should be fired. nt

[Beacool]

23. You may have something there......

[Stainless]

19. Yup, Urine Utah!

Motto of Utah Tea party Conservatives who dictate policy in the State.

[Aerows]

25. I don't think it was her fault at all

It was the school board official that forced her to do it. She was a bystander, and is being given the short shift to protect the higher ups. The higher ups that ordered this bs are the ones that need to be held accountable. Isn't that what they get paid the big bucks for?

[TwilightGardener]

29. No rational, responsible adult would snatch food away from a child who is about to eat.

No one could ever order me to do this. What adult is this fucking weak-minded that they'd say, "Duhhh, OK boss!"? I fail to see how anyone could be "made" to do it under credible threat of losing one's employment--if anything I'd fear losing my job BECAUSE of the sheer cruelty of it, and of having to face justifiably angry parents. All persons involved deserve firing. This is a clear breakdown in the school district's responsibility to protect children's wellbeing while in their care.

[indepat]

31. Not a let 'em eat cake scenario, but rather a let the poor go hungry mandate. What a fuc*ed up

right-wing-soused society has evolved whenever school officials opt for inhumane solutions created by a government-sponsored burgeoning income disparity.