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School board makes some changes in school lunch debt policy

Andrea Johnson/MDN Lashone Brown, a parent of Minot Public School students and president of the Ice Cold Ryders motorcycle club that has made sizable donations to address unpaid school lunch debt, spoke to the Minot school board on Thursday evening at a special board meeting.

After hearing from people in the audience and a long discussion about its updated policy on unpaid school lunch debt, the Minot Public School Board voted unanimously on Thursday night to make a few changes and to study others.

The board had originally updated its meal charging procedure in January, using language that had been recommended by the state school board association. Under the updated policy, kids who had run up a lunch debt could be served an alternative meal such as a peanut butter and jelly or a cheese sandwich in a paper sack. The policy allowed kids to charge up to $15 on their account before the policy could be triggered. The policy also stated that parents could be given up to 15 days to pay the debt and then the debt could be rolled over or potentially referred to collections. Under the policy, the district also would have had the option of preventing children from participating in fee-based extracurriculars until the lunch debt was paid. The policy also noted that nothing in the procedure would prevent school district personnel from reporting suspected abuse or neglect of a child as required by law.

What was stated in the policy is a far cry from what the district has actually been doing, but some parents were spooked by references to debt collections.

“We’ve never gone the route of collections,” Superintendent Mark Vollmer assured the audience.

Instead, staff try to reach parents by phone or text to discuss an unpaid lunch bill. Parents are encouraged to fill out an application to see if their children qualify for free or reduced price lunches under federal income guidelines. District wide, about 30 percent of kids do qualify for the free and reduced price lunches, food service director Ivy Thorson told the board on Thursday night. If parents make too much for their kids to qualify for free or reduced price lunches but are still struggling to pay the bill, school district practice is to work with them. Some of those bills for struggling families have been paid for using donations made by generous businesses or individuals or organizations.

As of Thursday, the unpaid lunch debt in the district totaled $3,605.23, which includes both regular meals and “a la carte items,” said Thorson.

Thorson told the board that it is relatively rare for kids with unpaid lunch debt to be served one of the “alternative meals.” In January, just 18 of the “alternative meals” were served. Since last August, less than two of the alternative meals per day have been served.

Several people spoke to the board during a public forum period at the meeting.

“The debt collection got people scared,” said Lashone Brown, a parent and president of the Ice Cold Ryders Motorcycle Club. He suggested that the board change that reference in its policy.

The Ice Cold Ryders has raised close to $17,000 in donations through fundraisers over the past couple of years that was intended to address school lunch debt. He suggested that the board come up with a policy that would ensure that the donations are used directly to address the school lunch debt instead of waiting for funding to be distributed from a district-wide fund by building principals that have noticed that certain families are struggling to pay a lunch bill.

Brown also noted that a 15-year-old with unpaid lunch debt who is offered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a paper bag might just choose not to eat at all because he would be too embarrassed for his classmates to notice that he doesn’t have money in his account.

Other people in the audience who spoke also mentioned groups that have offered to donate to pay off school lunch debt or encouraged the board to find a way to serve the same lunch to all the students.

At the meeting, the board voted unanimously to remove language from the policy that said kids could be kept from participating in fee-based extracurriculars if their parents hadn’t paid their school lunch bill.

They also decided to remove language from the policy noting that nothing in the lunch charging procedure prohibits school personnel from reporting abuse or neglect. Board member Miranda Schuler said she didn’t think that language belonged in the policy.

Vollmer said all of the educators in the district are mandated reporters of child abuse or neglect, but they make those reports cautiously. He said removing the language from the lunch charging policy wouldn’t change that obligation to report abuse or neglect, but there was also no reason to have it in the policy.

At the end of the meeting, the board also voted unanimously to adopt an amendment proposed by board member Mark Lymanthat gives parents 30 days instead of 15 days to pay an unpaid lunch debt and to remove the language from the policy referring to an option to turn an unpaid debt over to collections.

Lyman said the comments he was hearing from the audience suggested that the word “collections carries a very heavy connotation.”

The board agreed unanimously to change the language to read: “Parents are expected to pay all charges within 30 days. If they fail to do so, the district may pursue other options to receive payment.”

Board president Jim Rostad also asked Thorson to study the issue and return to the board next month with more suggestions about the updated lunch policy.

All of the board members also encouraged school district patrons to contact them with any concerns.

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