Canon-McMillan takes steps against ‘lunch shaming’
A year after gaining national attention for its lunch policy, Canon-McMillan School District is leading the charge to ensure students aren’t stigmatized for delinquent accounts.
State Sen. Jay Costa, who has introduced legislation to ban “lunch shaming,” said the district is the first in the state to implement what he has advocated.
The district was scrutinized in September 2016 after a former cafeteria worker said she quit her job because she was not permitted to serve a hot lunch to a first-grade student with a delinquent account.
The district maintains the incident didn’t occur as it was described, but revisited its lunch policy during the last school year to emphasize students enrolled in the free- or reduced-cost lunch program would not be denied a hot meal. It also amended the grades in which students are able to charge an alternate lunch.
The new policy, adopted by the school board recently for the current school year, allows every student to have a hot lunch regardless of their account status.
“In schools throughout the nation, including ours, students have been unintentionally stigmatized in ways that are absolutely not OK,” said Superintendent Michael Daniels. “No matter the ability to pay, every single student entering our cafeterias will be offered a hot lunch with no questions asked. While our previous policy followed state and national standards, those standards focused too much on dollars and cents and not enough on common sense.
“As the leader of this district, I view this situation as a teachable moment not just for myself, but for every employee, parent and community stakeholder,” said Daniels. “We’re not perfect. Our government isn’t perfect. We must question everything, and we must admit when we are wrong. The leaders within our school district and board looked within and decided that we can be and must be a leader on this issue. It is our hope more school districts throughout the state and nation will adopt a similar policy.”
Daniels said Friday that other changes to the policy include the way inquiries about delinquent accounts are communicated.
“It used to be that a student with a delinquent account would go through line, (and) the cashier would indicate to the child, ‘You have a delinquent account. You must have an alternative lunch.’ With the new policy in effect, there will be no communication with the child. All communication regarding delinquent accounts will be directly with the parents,” he said.
Across the country, lunch shaming has become a contentious issue. Some districts have assigned “chores” to students who have debts in the cafeteria, while others signify those with delinquent accounts by having them wear a bracelet.
Daniels said those actions have never occurred in the C-M district, and the new policy emphasizes that.
“It has never happened and will never happen here. It makes sense. It just makes sense,” Daniels said of the new policy. “That’s why our board of school directors was very willing to adopt this.”
Canon-McMillan has received unsolicited donations to help pay for student lunches. Those donations will be given to parents or guardians on payment plans who need assistance.