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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 07:47 AM Apr 2013

Four Employees Fired After Coelho Middle School Students Denied Lunch

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/employees-fired-coelho-middle-school_n_3024697.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

Four Employees Fired After Coelho Middle School Students Denied Lunch
AP | Posted: 04/05/2013 7:52 pm EDT | Updated: 04/08/2013 9:14 am EDT

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — A food service company spokesman said Friday it has fired four employees after about two dozen students at a Massachusetts middle school were denied lunches this week because their prepaid meal accounts ran low.

"There is a zero tolerance for any individual who leaves a child hungry," said Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for Islandia, N.Y.-based Whitsons Culinary Group.

The lunch decision outraged parents, who said some students at Coelho Middle School in Attleboro cried Tuesday after being told they couldn't eat. Parents and school officials said some students were told to throw their lunches away when they reached the checkout.

Whitsons officials apologized Friday and said it was a violation of its policy that only occurred at Coelho, which has students in fifth through eighth grades.
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Four Employees Fired After Coelho Middle School Students Denied Lunch (Original Post) unhappycamper Apr 2013 OP
Somebody held accountable? Good. AnotherMcIntosh Apr 2013 #1
When I said in one of the original threads on this a few days ago that LeftofObama Apr 2013 #2
My kids use Whitsons Blue_Adept Apr 2013 #3
The humiliation these kids suffered is another reason they were crying. juajen Apr 2013 #4
Not buying the company's story zentrum Apr 2013 #5
+1 adamuu Apr 2013 #7
+2 Flying Squirrel Apr 2013 #8
Who could have foreseen that low-wage private contractors would screw up? Orrex Apr 2013 #6

LeftofObama

(4,243 posts)
2. When I said in one of the original threads on this a few days ago that
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 08:37 AM
Apr 2013

the worker or workers who denied food to these kids should be fired I was told that it wasn't the worker's fault because the worker was probably only making minimum wage and was doing what they had to do to keep their job.

You can read the entire exchange in this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014444191

I stand by my statement in that thread: "WTF is this world coming to when we are so afraid of our jobs that we start denying food to children?"

Blue_Adept

(6,384 posts)
3. My kids use Whitsons
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 09:06 AM
Apr 2013

In three different schools in a different district. whitsons policy is the same throughout; if the child does not have money, the child will get food and a note sent home that they need to bring the money in tomorrow.

That's happened to my kids a few times over this year, which is our first in using Whitsons. The district switched to them as they offered more varied and healthier choices overall. Took the kids a few weeks to accept the changes at the start of the school year, but they're eating much healthier and more varied meals every week and it's making it easier to introduce new things at home as well.

I can understand so many people freaking out thinking its a corporate policy, but the majority of schools would not use Whitson's if it was. The contracts with the schools coincides with whitson's policy that students will not go hungry. The workers at this school, for whatever reason, just were plain wrong and it's good to see that Whitson's disciplined them as they did, though I hate to see anyone lose their job.

juajen

(8,515 posts)
4. The humiliation these kids suffered is another reason they were crying.
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 09:19 AM
Apr 2013

I know, as I have been there. My parents were, at times, unable to provide lunches for us. It was a very bad experience, as children can be very cruel.

zentrum

(9,865 posts)
5. Not buying the company's story
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 10:01 AM
Apr 2013

I'll bet this denial of food if you don't have the cash is part of the tacit company culture. In this case, because it was exposed, they fired the lowest status workers. But I'll bet the employees were afraid to feed kids that hadn't paid--afraid they'd be fired for that. This is a private for-profit company---does anyone believe they have a "policy" of feeding kids who can't pay? No way.

It's the top boss that needs t be looked at---how do they train employees, what do they teach them? I have doubts that the 4 took it on themselves to suddenly not feed kids they had seen every day.

Orrex

(63,084 posts)
6. Who could have foreseen that low-wage private contractors would screw up?
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 10:28 AM
Apr 2013

It's difficult to imagine that free market private enterprise could yield anything but boundless prosperity for all.

This is obviously much better than those quaint and antiquated systems in which schools actually employed staff to prepare and serve food on site.

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