Forget your lunch money?
BV resolves lunch issue
MANLIUS — Students at Bureau Valley North and South will no longer be treated differently when they forget their lunch tickets.
“The policy is nothing you created,” board member Don DeWaele told Bureau Valley North Principal Gina Hall and Bureau Valley South Principal Denise Bolin at Monday’s board meeting. “We’re just saying, it’s been brought to our attention, and we want it changed.”
In October, board members asked about how students without lunch tickets were handled, saying all of the board members had received calls from concerned parents. The principals explained the policy, which allows all students to borrow a ticket from the school, but in most cases requires the students to go through the lunch line last and not sit with their classmates.
Monday’s meeting began with comments from parent Trisha Johnson, who said she had spoken with a number of other parents, teachers, employees and other people about the policy.
“We all agreed this is an unfair punishment and puts a stigma on our children,” Johnson said.
Johnson said she had contacted other districts, and none of them still had the ticket system used at Bureau Valley, and none of them penalized the students if they forgot.
“There was no punishment for the students,” she said. “No one was ostracized.”
With the system at Bureau Valley, Johnson said her son told her he would rather not eat lunch than to have to sit at a table by himself.
“These students are children,” Johnson said. “This responsibility should not fall on them. They should be able to have lunch time at school with no fear or discouragement.”
Nothing more was said about the issue until the agenda moved on to the principals’ reports, which included a report on the lunch policy. According to the report, on the average, 296 students eat hot lunch each day at BVN, and 267 students eat at BVS. The existing policy has been in place for five to 10 years.
The principals reported contacting 10 other districts about their lunch policies and found nine of the 10 districts had gone to an electronic or finger scan program.
Even with those systems, borrowing was still an issue. Two of the districts allowed no borrowing and gave those students a peanut butter sandwich and milk, while the rest of the districts allowed students to borrow twice before giving them the sandwich and milk.
Bolin told the board the numbers were based on October figures, and the number of students affected by the policy ran from three to five per day.
“Is there anything you want to change?” board member Rick Cernovich asked.
“Well, no,” Bolin said.
Hall then pointed out the finger scan system seemed to work well. She also said there was one thing Bureau Valley did that none of the other districts did.
“We don’t ever give students just a peanut butter sandwich and milk,” she said. “When our students borrow, they receive the full lunch.”
Other board members had questions about the policy. Jim Lilley questioned making the students sit at a different table, but Bolin said that wasn’t always necessary, but one way of making the system work smoothly.
Board member Keith Bolin said he could understand why some parents felt their children were being set apart with the system, and Denise Bolin said the system worked partially as a deterrent.
“The numbers would be higher if you didn’t have any consequences,” she said. “The consequences are not meant to be harsh.”
But the board had had enough.
“We tried last month to subtly tell you we didn’t like it, now we’re saying we don’t like it,” Cernovich said.
Cernovich said tickets should be available for sale every day, and students without tickets should not be treated any differently.
The board did not vote on the issue.
“I hope the principals can hear our intent and deal with it,” Cernovich said.
Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.
