Woman fired for giving free lunches at school

[Jazzy]

What do you do when a child doesn’t qualify for free or reduced lunch, but doesn’t have enough money to pay for a meal at school?

Della Curry, an elementary school kitchen manager at Dakota Valley Elementary School in Aurora, Colo., opted to give such children free lunches. Her decision was a violation of school policy and she was fired.

“I had a first grader in front of me, crying, because she doesn’t have enough money for lunch. Yes, I gave her lunch,” Curry said.

Curry told KCNC-TV in Denver, Colo. that she hopes her dismissal will bring about much-needed change in her school district. “If me getting fired for it is one way that we can try to change this, I’ll take it in a heartbeat.”

Students at Dakota Valley are allowed to charge up to $8 on their meal account if they forget to bring money, according to the district’s website. Once they have used up their $8 allowance, however, they may no longer charge lunch.

The Cherry Creek School District has issued a statement explaining that: "The law does not require the school district to provide the meal to children who have forgotten their lunch money, that is a district decision. According to our practice, we provide hot meals to students the first three times they forget their lunch money and charge their parents' accounts. The fourth time, we provide a cheese sandwich and milk."

The District notes that the school lunches are already subsidized, and any additional losses have to be covered by the district's general fund, which is also used to cover the cost of security, instruction, and building maintenance, among other things.

What bothers some, however – Curry included – is that the cheese sandwich provided is just a slice of cheese on a hamburger bun.

Source

Do you think she should have been fired? Why/Why not?

 

[Smiley]

The old 'no good deed goes unpunished' saying proves itself correct once again.

 

[DrLeftover]

And people object to the Homeschooling movement... ... why?

 

[Jazzy]

Della Curry, an elementary school kitchen manager at Dakota Valley Elementary School in Aurora, Colo., opted to give such children free lunches. Her decision was a violation of school policy and she was fired.

No child should go hungry BUT there's more to this. Was she doing this constantly or simply occasionally? Was it the same kids she was giving lunches to? That might be a interesting factor for if so, why couldn't she have maybe paid with her own money and then went to the school board asked the parents be contacted to find what the problem was sending their child to school with no lunch money. She knew it was a violation of school policy, so therefore, I think firing her was the right thing to do.

 

[seasidemike]

as hard as it may be, she must have known what the policies were and I doubt she was fired on the first offence. There is always more to a story.
through a process kids are either have subsidized or reduced costs on lunches, she took upon herself to give free ones, she did not have the authority to do that.

 

[Nebulous]

Should she have been written up first or something? Maybe she has a few write-up's already? Perhaps shes a crappy employee and they were looking for any reason to dismiss her? Seems like there's more to the story here....

Also, if a parent isn't making sure their kids can have a lunch to eat at school, then they're not really doing their job as a parent. Either pack them a lunch or keep putting money on the account.

 

[MrDawn]

That is sad. I would have done the same. Its a little kid. They shouldn't have to suffer because their parents can't afford something.