NY Considers Ban on Punishing Kids Without Cafeteria Money

 

By Julie McMahon

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Two New York legislators Wednesday introduced a bill that would ban "lunch shaming," a practice in school cafeterias of punishing kids who have unpaid meal tabs.

Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) and Rep. Jo Anne Simon (D-Brooklyn) introduced the "lunch shaming bill" to make up for the lack of a statewide policy for how districts handle free and reduced-price meal benefits, they said in a statement.

The issue of what to do about kids who aren't signed up for free meals but don't have cash to pay has emerged recently.

Lunch shaming was the subject of a New York Times article in April.

According to the report, nearly half of all districts across the country practice some kind of lunch shaming. About 3 percent deny students food entirely, the report said. 

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Source: syracuse.com (via The Empire Report)