Other States Look To Albuquerque's Cheese Sandwich Policy

[Warpy]

Since starting the alternative lunch program, which serves a cold cheese sandwich to students whose parents fail to pay their lunch bill, APS has collected $91,000.

Now other states are following the Duke City's lead. In fact, school districts in three other states have begun serving cheese sandwiches to lunch debtors.

Critics argue the policy is a form of punishment for children whose parents can't afford to pay.

APS officals hope the program would not only help pay off the $140,000 that had accumulated in lunch debts, but also encourage parents to apply for the free or reduced lunch program.

http://www.koat.com/news/18790892/detail.html

It should be pointed out that parents often would rather be labeled deadbeats than the new poor when they lose jobs. Identifying the kids is a help, not a punishment.

At no time is a child going hungry.

[CreekDog]

1. And those who continue to not pay will be switched to "Cheese Food" sandwiches

:eyes:

[SoCalNative]

2. Hey cold cheese sandwiches

are better than air sandwiches

[tangent90]

4. Add a quick ride on the grill and they're gourmet fare that Chili's gets 5 bucks for.

:shrug:

[Warpy]

6. That's been my point all along

and considering what most school cafeteria food was like when I was growing up, not that big a "punishment."

[DJ13]

3. Wouldnt children with cheese sandwich's soon be ostracized by other kids?

I know back when I went to school just bringing a sack lunch would be embarrassing for anyone not eating the cafeteria food.

I bet the cheese sandwich would soon become a badge of shame for a lot of kids.

[Warpy]

5. They're going to get picked on

for being tall, short, fat, thin, smart, dumb, white, brown, black, and every other damned thing. This is just more of the same, nothing special in the day of a school kid.

At least they're using it as a tool to identify which kids need help and no child goes hungry because of it.

[fed_up_mother]

7. The times have changed. Sack lunches are not a stigma.

Probably half of our suburban school kids bring lunch. My kids would bring also, but they end up eating the same thing every day, so I quit packing after a while. They only want bologna. A cheese sandwich would be an improvement over their choice of sack lunch, imo!

[Rowdyboy]

8. I don't understand how a parent could allow a child to miss a hot lunch due to pride.....

I understand the child isn't going hungry, but people should understand there is no shame in asking for help-especially where children are concerned. My very proud parents accepted government commodities (early food stamps) for their 5 kids back in the early 1960's. My mom laughed about it years later but I remember how it hurt her at the time. You do what you have to do for your kids. Screw false pride.

[Lost in CT]

9. 140,000 pays for a couple of teachers. This isn't small change.

And shame on the wealthy and middle class parents who rang up this debts.

[Warpy]

10. Thank you for getting the other point to all this

They've recouped about $90,000 plus identified a lot of poor kids who should have been on the subsidized lunch program all along.

That money can fix a lot of roofs.