FALLSINGTON, PA —The Pennsbury School District has a school lunch debt that a Pennsbury School District parent said totals $38,000 for its students. And she wants it canceled.
Appearing before the Pennsbury School Board at its recent meeting, Elizabeth Lester cited the Bristol Borough School District’s actions in early September when its school board waived nearly $22,000 of accumulated debt from students and their families who couldn’t foot the lunch bill.
“They are a poorer district, but they recognized that it was unjust and immoral,” she said. “I hope you will do the same.”
Lester stated that there are 241 children in the school district from kindergarten to seniors who are on the books for owing the school district money to the tune of what she said was $38,000.
She criticized the board for sending that overdue tab to a collections agency when a student has tallied up $200 in lunch debt.
“We have a $230 million school budget,” she said. “These kids can’t afford to go get jobs to pay off the debt.”
She added that studies show that students perform better when they eat lunch and have lower grades and other behavioral issues when they do not.
“No kid in Pennsbury should go hungry,” she concluded during the public portion of the meeting to a round of applause.
For the most part, school districts across the country have provided free lunches to students throughout the pandemic. And Pennsbury is no different, having done the same for the past few years.
School Board President TR Kannan questioned board members about the status of free lunches and lunch debt at the end of the meeting.
“We don’t stop feeding anybody in schools?” he asked during the school board’s Nov. 17 meeting.
Superintendent Thomas A. Smith stated that children are not turned away hungry and that four elementary schools provide free lunch through a grant.
He also said that the school district has not used a collection agency over the past few years.
But the superintendent and the school board did not say whether they would eliminate the student lunch debt. When collections might resume again was also not addressed.
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