During the June 17 Hudson School Board meeting, the Board was presented with a request for the School District to pay the unpaid student meals debts for the school year.
“The School Board has a policy on meal charging – Policy EFAA. Parents/ Guardians are responsible for providing their students with meals for the day or providing funds for the students to purchase meals,” Food Service Director, Karen Atherton, wrote in a memo to the School Board. “They are encouraged to pay into accounts for those students on a monthly basis and pay in advance so that funds can be available on those students’ accounts as they come through the lunch lines.”
Business Administrator, Jen Burk, explained that as part of their policy they allow for students to still be able to get a lunch even if they don’t have any money on their lunch accounts “without any alternatives.”
She explained that before a law was passed in 2019, which made it so the requirement is for students to get the same lunch as everyone else even if they don’t have the funds, there would be an alternate lunch for those students who didn’t have money to pay.
“In accordance with NH RSA 189-11-a, students who do not have funds in their accounts can still access the same qualifying meals, which are those meals that meet the requirements under the National School Lunch program and which meals are served to other students, even if that means the student’s account will go into the negative,” Atherton said. “Students who are in the negative are only allowed to charge for those qualifying meals – a la carte items such as chips, drinks, or ice cream, cannot be charged.”
Atherton in a memo explained that despite multiple attempts “the unpaid meals account is currently at $51,934.56 as of the writing of this memo on June 5th.”
Atherton said she was requesting that they allow the District to buy up to $55,000 in unpaid meals debt.
“Weekly emails have gone out to parents/guardians along with monthly letters mailed to homes for those families with negative account balances of at least $50, which include a statement showing the student’s meal account balance,” Atherton wrote in a memo. “Some families will be responsive to these requests; however it is expected that the District will not receive the full amount due from all families.”
Burk said some families end up paying their meal balances after they get notification, noting that some may not realize they don’t have funds on their student’s meal account.
“Some unfortunately do not,” Burk said about paying meal debts.
Burk noted that during covid, all meals across the country were paid for, and for the past couple of years, school districts across the state have been dealing with similar challenges with students having meal debts, which by law, needs to be paid for, since the food services department isn’t legally allowed to carry a debt.
“This is a very common request in schools,” Burk said.
The School Board ultimately approved buying up to $55,000 worth of student meals debt.
