Ohio school district hires collection agency to go after unpaid lunch money

[jimmy olsen]

Indentured servitude is the answer!

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/07/10603296-ohio-school-district-hires-collection-agency-to-go-after-unpaid-lunch-money

Ohio school district hires collection agency to go after unpaid lunch money
By Sylvia Wood, msnbc.com

An Ohio school district has hired a collection agency to prove to students and their parents that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

The Columbus City Schools hope to recover an estimated $900,000 in unpaid lunch money from almost 6,000 students. The district loses roughly $2,622 every school day in unpaid lunches, according to a report on NBC4i.com. Most of the delinquent accounts average between $150 and $170, according to Meade and Associates, the collection agency in Westerville hired by the district to collect the money.
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"Our goal is to recover the balance in full," Sean Meade, client relations manager, told msnbc.com. But he added, "we're here to help," so if "payment arrangements are needed, we'll work with the family."

Columbus City Schools did not return a call from msnbc.com. Unpaid-for lunches are not unique to Columbus. Across the country, districts are struggling as the ailing economy brings more students to school without lunch money.

"It's one of those issues that we're seeing more of," Diane Pratt-Heavner of the Maryland-based School Nutrition Association told msnbc.com. The group recently surveyed 964 of its members. Fifty-three percent said they had seen increases in the number of students unable to pay for lunch.

Schools have been trying to balance budget cuts with new federal nutrition standards that are expected to increase the cost of meal preparation.  In response, Pratt-Heavner said her group would like Congress to require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to spell out how schools should respond to requests for unpaid lunches and how to manage the debt.

"The people working in our school cafeterias are not in this line of work for the money – they want to serve all their kids – but at the end of the day, the new nutrition standards for school meals are raising the cost of serving school meals, and school nutrition programs simply cannot afford to allow unpaid meal charges go unchecked," Pratt-Heavner told msnbc.com.

Until then, school districts continue to make accommodations for students who can't pay. Some offer alternative meals of cheese or peanut butter sandwiches. Districts also try various methods of collecting debts, such as phone calls and letters to parents.

Pratt-Heavner said more districts are turning to collection agencies.

Meade told msnbc.com his agency will start contacting parents by early April, using phone calls and letters. Of every dollar collected, the company will earn 26 cents in commission.

[Eddie Teach]

I don't remember ever getting any lunches on credit. Course, I brown bagged most days.

[Ideologue]

LOL have they considered not fucking serving the kids who don't have the money for it any food?  Jesus.

[Jaron]

Not serving lunch to children is not really an option for the schools.

That is both cruel and harmful.

[jimmy olsen]

Not serving lunch to children is not really an option for the schools.

That is both cruel and harmful.

Is this why you moved to Utah? Fleeing creditors due to your thousands of dollars in unpaid lunch debt!?

[Ideologue]

They'll eat when they get home.  Or not.  Who cares?  Obviously not America.

The point is, either feed them for free (preferred option) or tell them there's no more gruel (a less good option).  But don't indebt them, and their families, for God's sake.  That's horrible.

[Sheilbh]

The point is, either feed them for free (preferred option) or tell them there's no more gruel (a less good option).  But don't indebt them, and their families, for God's sake.  That's horrible.

I don't see how it's possible for children to be allowed to rack up debts that can then be enforced by debt collection agencies

[Martinus]

Kids call paid numbers or order stuff from the internet all the time so it is not that unheard of Sheilbh, but I agree this gets fucked up when you deal with hungry children.

[Admiral Yi]

I don't see how it's possible for children to be allowed to rack up debts that can then be enforced by debt collection agencies

They can't.  The debts are owed by their parents.

[Sheilbh]

They can't.  The debts are owed by their parents.

How does the debt build up though?

Kids call paid numbers or order stuff from the internet all the time so it is not that unheard of Sheilbh, but I agree this gets fucked up when you deal with hungry children.

It depends how this works though.  Those examples are in the home so you can assume some degree of parental responsibility and oversight.

[Admiral Yi]

How does the debt build up though?

I would guess the families get billed for lunch and they don't pay.

[HVC]

Start breaking their tiny little kneecaps. The they'll pay.

[CountDeMoney]

I remember growing up, kids whose parents qualified below a certain income level--you know, like fucking poverty--got morning milk and to eat lunch for free.  Of course, that was during the Carter Administration, when free school lunches for poor kids was destroying America.
Sure glad we got that straightened out.

[Sheilbh]

How does the debt build up though?

I would guess the families get billed for lunch and they don't pay.

Ok.  Here it's more normal for the kid to bring money in for their lunch, or to bring in an amount, from the parents, for a week - at least that's what I had.

If the parents are getting billed and not paying then that's a bit different.

I remember growing up, kids whose parents qualified below a certain income level--you know, like fucking poverty--got morning milk and to eat lunch for free.  Of course, that was during the Carter Administration, when free school lunches for poor kids was destroying America.

Maggie got rid of free school milk when she was Education Secretary.  We still have free school meals which has become a standard, shorthand measure of poverty for all sorts of statistics - for example how many kids on free school meals get into Oxbridge.

[CountDeMoney]

for example how many kids on free school meals get into Oxbridge.

How many?  Curious.