Principal fired for refusing to humiliate children who had no lunch money.

[Sheldon Cooper]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-colo-principal-claims-fired-for-fighting-student-humiliation/

LAFAYETTE, Colo. – An elementary school principal says she was fired for protecting children from humiliation.

Noelle Roni says she fought against a policy requiring kids to get their hands stamped if they don’t have enough money in their lunch account. She was fired from Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette in the fall.

“The kids are humiliated. They’re branded. It’s disrespectful. Where’s the human compassion? And these are little children,” she said.

Roni was principal for nine years before being fired. She calls it a wrongful termination, and wants her job back.

There is a special place in hell for people who would deny food to a hungry kid.

[TheBlackAdder]

1. If they were Truly Christians, they'd believe that too. Their more like fraud Christians. nt

[DefenseLawyer]

2. Charter School

Imagine that.

[lpbk2713]

3. I don't see any real practical need to identify these kids.

Does the cafeteria have a "day old" tray intended for them? Do they give them the fattier unwholesome pieces of meat? Do these kids get the burned food? A major part of Principal Roni's job is to protect the children in her school. They were being subjected to administrative bullying and humiliation and she did something about it and it cost her her job. I hope she gets her job back, her kids need her.

[Fumesucker]

4. I suspect they probably don't eat

That's been the case in a few other stories of this nature that have come out.

[gollygee]

6. My guess is that the school's excuse

is that the parent will see the hand stamp and know they need to put more money in their kid's account.

That doesn't make it OK. They have the parents' email addresses, phone numbers, etc. There are ways to alert parents without humiliating the kid. But I would guess that they would claim that as the "practical reason.'

[lpbk2713]

7. You make a point I didn't consider.

In some cases I suppose it could be possible that a student was given lunch money by the parents but the student decided to use that money to buy candy or something else on the next visit to the store. This could be the school's way of advising the parents they didn't receive any lunch money. But as you suggest, there could be a more discrete way of handling it.

[gollygee]

9. These days

parents usually put the money into their kids' account online, or at least pay by the month or something by sending a check or cash in an envelope to the teacher who takes it to the office. I don't know if any school has kids handle the money and bring money through the lunch line. It's the parents who aren't keeping up, not the kids who are spending it on something else.

[groundloop]

13. Actually a lot of kids do spend their lunch money on junk food etc.

My wife works in a school cafeteria, there are always parents calling the school in disbelief that their kids lunch account is zeroed out. The lunchroom manager pulls up a printout of all the extra colas, candy bars, fruit pies etc. that the kids spend their lunch money on and that's that.

[gollygee]

18. Oh that's true

I meant they didn't handle physical money but in higher grades they have more options as to what to spend the money in their account on. But the article said this if about really young kids and most schools (at least the schools I know of) don't have options other then lunch and milk for kids that young.

[Art_from_Ark]

21. At my elementary school, there were no vending machines

We got a half pint of milk for a nickel in the morning, and lunch was a quarter, which was paid in the morning before class started (1960s). The only time I saw a vending machine at school in my 12 years in the Northwest Arkansas school system was in the band room in high school, which had a soft drink machine.

[azurnoir]

16. okay my kid goes to a public school but there is an online outfit

called paypams that handles school fees it's a subsidiary of paypal and works either through them or a bank account/credit card when the kids account is low they call you and let you know

[Shandris]

5. My lifelong best friend had to go to the principal's office every Monday morning...

...and get a stack of 'vouchers' (very boldly colored and worded in huge block letters) to hand the cashier for school lunch. This was 30 years ago! No voucher, no food...even though the cashiers were all on a first-name basis!

A horrible idea and concept that has only gotten more and more cruel and vicious over time.

[mythology]

8. Why would she want her job back?

Obviously these asshats are pretty lousy people. I wouldn't want to work for somebody who would do this.

[PeoViejo]

15. She doesn't want to abandon the children

and is willing to put up with the asshattery in order to do what's best for the kids.

I'm surprised this wasn't obvious to some.

[Turbineguy]

10. That's one of those

"This proves you are employable anywhere else" events.

[Lifelong Protester]

11. Stamping a kid's hand? Why not make them

wear a scarlet letter while they are at it?


Hope she sues the britches off them. A principal with principles is needed there, her kids need her, but she does not need to be working under such untenable conditions.

[Spirochete]

12. When I went to school

almost all the kids carried lunch tickets, good for a number of lunches. You get your lunch, and get a punch in your ticket. it was cheaper than paying actual cash, so almost everybody did it. If those were charged on a sliding scale, it would not be known how much any kid was paying for his/her lunch ticket. But I guess that made too much sense, so they're not doing it any more.

[VPStoltz]

14. This is a tempest in a tea-pot.

I am a teacher and our lunch clerk does that too.
There are kids whose parents are doctors, lawyers, pilots, dentists and when their balance gets low they get stamped too.
Before I knew what the stamp was for, I asked kids and without a speck of "humiliation" they told me.
They are o.k. with it.
The kids in Lafyette must be a lot more sensitive than the kids in my school.

[Fumesucker]

17. Kids, just like adults, vary a lot in what bothers them

Some kids will not care that their hand is stamped, others will feel singled out. It's one thing to have your hand stamped if your family is wealthy and happens to forget to pay for your lunch one day or week, it's entirely another if your hand gets stamped every single week because your parents don't have the money.

Evidently you know more about the kids in that school and their feeling than their now-former principal does.

[VPStoltz]

23. I was just expressing what I've seen - you don't have to be a dick about it.

Kids who have parents who don't have the money - DON'T PAY at all.
And this all sounds a little fishy to me since the decisions in pretty much every room of a school are made by the principal.
This principal's school must be VERY top down from the super.

[Not Sure]

19. My kids have to deal with the stamped hand thing, too

We pay their lunch money on the MealPay website. You can deposit funds into two separate accounts: one for a plated meal and one for a general fund, which allows them to get bottled water, ice cream, etc.

Because of my job, my hours are always jacked up and I can't always be very responsive to low funds. If the girls' hands weren't stamped, I wouldn't know about their lunch balance without checking on my own. When they get too low on funds to get a meal, not only do they get a hand stamp, they get a cheese sandwich and water for lunch, so they don't go hungry. They are fifth graders, so everything is embarrassing now, but they forget about these things pretty quickly.

I certainly understand this principal's position, but the hand stamp is a pretty effective way to communicate low funds to parents. Kids lose notes but the stamp stays until bath time. Perhaps they could put the stamp in a less conspicuous place than the back of the hand. Sometimes the girls get the stamp on the underside of the wrist or forearm. I suspect that just may be what the kids present to the cashier to stamp, though.

[JBoy]

20. But how will the others know they're superior

if they can't identify someone to look down on?



Liberals worry someone might not be getting what they need.
Conservatives worry someone might be getting something they don't deserve.

[iamthebandfanman]

22. thats why i like ID badges/cards...

simple ones with name and picture along with a barcode...
we had one back in the 90s... everyone got the same card, went through the same line, and did the same action (slid their card through a slider).. waited on the worker to say 'okay!' and off ya went

I know these days my state (KY) is trying free lunch for ALL the kids ...

[Meandyou]

24. In my school growing up,

If you didn't have money for lunch, they made you a peanut butter sandwich and 1 white milk.

[DAMANgoldberg]

25. A question...

Why as a country do we even want to charge for lunches? We spend enough money on students, surely we can find money to do this. Really, what is the point in this policy? Someone smarter than me, please explain.

[JI7]

26. schools should provide meals for all students regardless of financial situation

kids can still bring something from home if they prefer. but meals should be provided for anyone who wants it.