The Daily BuzzCafeteria workers punish kids who owed lunch money by dumping meals
Like taking lunch from a fifth-grader.
The line doesn't quite have the same ring as taking candy from a baby but the staff of a food service company at a middle school Attleboro, Massachusetts learned last week that it will still get you fired.
About two dozen students at Coelho Middle School lined up for lunch last Tuesday and carried their food trays to the checkout. But they weren't allowed to eat that food, according to the Associated Press.
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Staff told at least some of the students to throw their meal into the garbage, school staff told the news wire. The private lunch company chose the strange punishment because these students' parents owed money on their prepaid lunch accounts, according to wcvb.com.
Whitsons Culinary Group fired four employees for denying the kids lunch, according to the Associated Press. The school's principal, Andy Boles, told Fox 25 the lunch workers weren't trying to "upset" or "humiliate" students, but they did.
The local newspaper, the Sun-Chronicle, reported that students whose accounts are running low usually receive at least a cheese sandwich to eat for lunch.
Whitsons issued a statement apologizing for the incident but saying its staff was breaking the company's rules when it denied children food. The statement says lunch staff will not refuse to give any child a meal in the future.
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Meanwhile, the students are hoping teachers start handing out homework and then taking it away again.
