As WEWS-TV reported, Jefferson Sharpennack moved to Ohio to live with his grandmother a few weeks ago. He and his brothers signed up for the school’s “free and discounted” lunch program. Everyone thought everything was fine, so Jefferson didn’t think much about putting the food on his tray. It was believed the lunch would go as planned with the added bonus of having a birthday party.
But then things took a turn for the worse. The cafeteria staff went to Jefferson and took the food from his tray! They gave him a cheese sandwich, but they wouldn’t let him keep the breadsticks and sauce he had put on a tray.
Jefferson was confused and upset by the situation. Adults can experience such an incident at a rapid pace, but a 9-year-old child may be shocked when adults treat him this way.
Jefferson comes home, mourning his grandmother and telling her it was her worst Christmas. Her grandmother, Diane, discovers that it is an unpaid $9 credit on a cafeteria bill.
Green Elementary School received many angry calls from Diane. She was upset that her grandson had faced such humiliation of the situation. Debt collection is a school prerogative, but the way the cafeteria staff did things was outrageous.
Diane’s pressure seems to have worked. According to the Washington Post, the district administrator was quick to announce that under a new policy, “all students enrolled in grades K-12 will receive a standard lunch for the day at their premises, regardless of their account balance.
