Oct 21, 2016 2 min read

Canon-McMillan School Board on Thursday voted unanimously to approve changes to the school lunch policy.

The school district decided to revisit its cafeteria policy after a cafeteria worker at Wylandville Elementary School quit her job last month after alleging she was not permitted to serve a hot lunch to a first-grader whose lunch account was overcharged by more than $25.

The story gained national attention after former cafeteria employee Stacy Koltiska stated on Facebook that a supervisor told her to dump the boy’s hot chicken nuggets lunch and replace it with a cold cheese sandwich.

The school district maintained the incident did not occur as it was described by Koltiska.

Superintendent Michael Daniels said many of the policy revisions and additions were included for “clarification purposes, to clearly explain and capture what was implied but not spelled out.”

The revised policy emphasizes no student enrolled in the free- or reduced-cost lunch program will be denied a hot meal.

Other revisions include offering more alternative lunch options and permitting all students to purchase those alternative lunches.

In addition, the policy clarifies students whose families establish repayment plans for accounts in arrears, and remain in good standing, will continue to receive a main lunch option.

The new policy changes the grades in which students are able to charge an alternate lunch. After overdrawing the cafeteria account by $25, students in kindergarten through eighth grade will be able to charge an alternate lunch. Students in grades nine through 12 will not be allowed to charge any additional lunches. The current policy permits students in kindergarten through sixth grade to charge an alternate lunch, while students in grades seven through 12 cannot.

During the last week of school, the food service department will send final obligation notices to parents or guardians.

School officials said before the policy – which was recommended by the Pennsylvania School Board Association – was adopted, more than 300 families had lunch account deficits totalling nearly $100,000. As a result of the policy, that number had fallen to fewer than 70 families.

Daniels said the school district took into consideration feedback from several sources while tweaking the policy.

Koltiska was among a handful of people who attended the meeting.