By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Lunch shaming is not on the menu at Bowling Green City Schools.
Across the nation, some schools will not serve standard lunches to students who have overdue cafeteria charges. Those students are allowed only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and milk – opening the children up for “lunch shaming.”
But at Bowling Green schools, students are not punished for their parents’ forgetfulness or inability to pay, according to Abby Forschner, food service director.
“I tell my staff, ‘You give them whatever they want so they don’t feel separated from their peers,’” Forschner said.
“We try and settle with the parents later,” contacting them through email or phone calls, she said.
The district also has received help from some individuals and businesses in the community who want to pick up the tab for unpaid lunches. So far this year, $4,500 has been donated.
Learning can be hard enough – let alone on an empty stomach.
“Students never get turned away – ever. Not under my watch,” Forschner said. “The student shouldn’t pay for something that’s not their fault.”
Of the approximately 3,900 students in the district, about half buy their lunches. Elementary lunches cost $2.25, and middle and high school lunches range from $2.35 to $2.55. Breakfast is $1.10 at the elementaries, and $1.75 at the secondary schools.
“We’re still fairly inexpensive,” Forschner said. “We aren’t here to turn a profit. We’re here to feed kids.”
As a parent herself, who has occasionally forgotten to send lunch money, Forschner also sympathizes with busy parents.
“Parents forget. So we do let students run in the negative,” she said.
But sometimes the issue isn’t forgetfulness.
More than one-third of the district’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch rates.
“I think people don’t realize that need is there,” she said.
Forschner still remembers a student telling her that lunch on Friday was the last meal he ate until breakfast the next Monday when he returned to school.
One Bowling Green couple noticed that need and has come to the rescue with lunch money. For the last two years, Nick and Bridget Snyder have collected donations at their annual Christmas party for friends and family. That money – $2,500 last year – is then given to the district to pay for unpaid lunch bills.
Nick Snyder said he noticed the need when he would join his children for lunch at Kenwood Elementary.
“You just can see there’s a need,” he said. “I feel for that kid who doesn’t have lunch money.”
“We’re in the position to help,” Snyder said. And the couple found that their friends and family were more than willing to pitch in as well.
“The support has been overwhelming,” he said. “There are people who want to help.”
Nutrition is part of the learning process, Forschner said, which is why the district also started providing breakfasts for students.
“So many studies have linked nutrition to improving alertness. It makes the day go better for kids if they have breakfast,” she said. “I don’t think people realize the significance of the need.”
The breakfasts and lunches provide needed enrichment to get kids through the school day. The district follows USDA requirements that each meal have grains, proteins and vegetables.
“We try and gear the menus to things that are healthy – and things they will eat,” Forschner said. “That’s my ultimate goal, that the kids eat so they can have the best day they can have.”
At the middle and high school, there are efforts to make the selections more palatable to picky eaters.
“They can grab what they want” from the salad bar, Forscher said. “We try to make sure there’s something for everyone.”
Each school has also set up a “share table” in the cafeteria. If kids don’t want certain items on their lunch trays, they can place them on the “share table.” Other students who are still hungry can pick up those items for themselves.
