Sartell Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com
Friday, March 7, 2014
Lunch from front page “We don’t have a lot of issues with it,” said Brenda Braulick, food-services director for Sartell schools. “It (the policy) has worked well here, and this policy has been in place even before I started here 14 years ago.” Braulick said so far this year there has been “just a handful of times” when students were given sandwiches instead of hot lunches when their accounts had overdue balances. Mostly, it’s a matter of forgetfulness on the part of parents, she said. “There are so many busy families that some just forget,” Braulick noted. “By and large, parents are very responsible.” Braulick said the staff tries to be very discreet when giving a student the sandwich option. “We don’t want to shame or stigmatize any student,” she said.
Notifications
Parents are notified by the schools when there is only $20 remaining in lunch accounts. Then, they are notified again if that amount gets down to $10. They are also told if money cannot be placed in the accounts, the parents should consider sending bagged lunches with their children. The full cost of a hot lunch is $412.80 per student for the 172day school year. A lunch costs
Runners from front page All members of the club also help keep the trails shipshape in autumn by putting up or repairing signage and by cutting brush or limbs that intrude into the trails. The trails include a stretch between St. Stephen and St. Joseph, from St. Stephen to Opole and the St. Joseph trail that reaches Sartell. Altogether, those trails add up to about 15 miles. Since they are state grant-in-aid trails, the county and groomers receive so much recompense per mile to groom and maintain those trails, Lori Welch noted. Like other members of the River Runners, the Welches
$2.30 in elementary schools and $2.40 for students in grades 5-12. There is also a “Sabre” meal option at $3.05 where entrees are more expensive and upscale, but students on free or reduced-lunch prices, Braulick noted, are allowed to get Sabre meals if they choose. The cost to parents of a reduced-price lunch is 40 cents per meal per student, which means parents are expected to pay about $70 per year for children in grades K-12. A combination of state and federal reimbursements covers the rest of the cost of each meal, Braulick noted. Federal income guidelines determine which families can get free or reduced-cost lunches, based on family income levels.
Survey
A widely publicized incident in a Salt Lake City, Utah grade school caused many school districts to revisit their lunchroom policies regarding children whose parents do not pay up lunch accounts. In the Utah school, on Jan. 31, some students were given bagged lunches after their food-filled hotlunch trays were taken from them in the lunch line and tossed in the garbage in front of them and their fellow students. Rules forbid food on a lunch tray to be re-used for other students. The Utah incident caught the attention of Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, who has proposed spending state money so all students in low-income families receive free hot lunches.
make snowmobiling a family affair. Rodney and Lori, when going for snowmobile rides, are often accompanied by their two children – Tyler, 24, and Hailey, 14. The family rides about 1,500 miles each winter, Rodney estimates. “Sometimes more,” he said. “And those are just the miles our family rides.” Like other members of the club, the Welches emphasize safety at all times and make sure they have the right gear for the sometimes below-zero weather: snowmobile suits, bibs, jackets, goggles, hand-warmers on the sleds. River Runners’ members are trying to interest more younger members in joining their club. The current age of members ranges from early 30s to early 50s.
The news from Utah also outraged many parents and educators and spurred a statewide survey taken by Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. Ninety-four percent of the state’s school districts participated in the survey, which asked questions about school-lunch policies regarding students whose lunch accounts are empty. Forty-six percent of the districts, including Sauk Rapids-Rice, have policies to refuse immediately or eventually hot lunches to children with delinquent accounts. About half of those districts offer, instead, lunches that are less ample and less nutritious. Some district stamp “LUNCH” or “MONEY” on students hands to remind them to tell parents the lunch-accounts need to have money in them. Slightly more than half of the 309 school districts, 165 of them, offer less-nutritious alternatives to hot lunches. They include St. Cloud and Sartell. About a third of districts, 98, will always provide a full-menu hot lunch to low-income children even if they cannot afford the cost. One such district is Little Falls. Those districts have developed strategies to cover the costs, which include Parent-Teacher-Association “angel” accounts, discretion by the principal, schoolboard-approved appropriations and future recovery when parents are able to pay.
Comments
The comments by participants in the survey varied widely in at-
The Welch family also belongs to the St. Joseph-based Sno Joes snowmobile club, as do some other River Runners. The St. Stephen club is comprised of members from St. Joseph, Sartell, St. Cloud and, of course, St. Stephen. The River Runners take an annual multi-day trip to other areas of Minnesota. Such trips have included areas near Bemidji, Virginia, Deer River and Alexandria, to name just four. Another annual event is when members go bowling every spring. “It’s kind of a family day for all the members,” Lori said. Each year, the club also does several fundraisers, such as selling pizzas and a snowmobile raffle event. In addition, club members, twice a year, keep a stretch of CR 2 clean of litter.
titudes and philosophies. Without naming particular districts, the survey listed some of the comments. The following are summaries of those comments as printed in the survey: “Many districts described the critical importance of a healthy lunch and ensuring the best nutrition for all students, particularly for those students who are economically vulnerable.” “A few districts reported serving butter sandwiches.” “One district described other districts’ practices of providing alternative meals and turning away children as ‘unconscionable bullying.’ “ “A few districts reported pulling trays and dumping exposed food into the trash in front of the child.” “One district policy states: ‘Lunch trays will be pulled from a student if there is not enough
5 money in the account. We do not enjoy pulling trays from students and it slows the line for other students trying to get through.’ “ One district justified its traypulling policy as a way of teaching children accountability and responsibility. “Many districts absolve themselves of responsibility for ensuring children do not go hungry, claiming parents are the ultimate decision-makers on whether their child eats.” “Several districts do not view a refusal to serve food as ‘turning children away.’ Many policies are stark. At a certain level of deficit, the language states: ‘students will not be allowed to eat,’ ‘students will be denied to eat lunch,’ ‘we stop the student from taking lunch’ or ‘student will be asked to replace wrapped food; unwrapped food will be discarded.’”