New Jersey school-lunch debt plan limiting access to school dances, field trips faces backlash

CHERRY HILL, N.J. – A New Jersey school district may have thought they moved past a controversy when they approved a new policy last week for handling unpaid lunch charges.

The Cherry Hill Public Schools district's plan, approved Oct. 15, could bar students with unpaid charges from extracurricular activities, such as field trips or school dances, until the debt is paid. District officials have noted the penalty would be imposed on a case-by-case basis at a principal's discretion.

Another change allows students to order any cafeteria meal, regardless of their debt level. The district previously restricted those students to one choice – a tuna-fish sandwich meal that led to charges of food-shaming.

In recent days, the district has faced a barrage of online criticism from high-profile tweeters, including at least three presidential hopefuls.

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"This is cruel and punitive," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Monday in a tweet that linked to an article about Cherry Hill's new policy.

" 'School lunch debt' is not a phrase that should exist," Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a fellow Democratic contender, said above a similar link.

"No child should go hungry at school – period," a third candidate, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, tweeted Tuesday. "As president, I will fight for universal free school lunch and relieve all school lunch debt."

Closer to home, the district's congressman, Rep. Donald Norcross, a Democrat from Camden, New Jersey, declared the policy to be "unacceptable."

"Free school lunches should be available to every student who needs one. No exceptions."

School officials have expressed exasperation, with Superintendent Joseph Meloche observing no student has been denied a meal due to unpaid cafeteria charges.

"Unfortunately, there is a discussion going on outside of our community that is dramatically different and not representative of what is going on within our community," Meloche said in a statement Monday.

The new policy also includes outreach provisions intended to identify and help families in need. Officials say that process would not occur if the district used donated funds to erase the debts for all students.

Board members have said that by being able to identify families and reach out to them, they could connect qualifying families to the free and reduced lunch program.

Another reason for avoiding donations is that they might inadvertently cover bills for families who are able to pay for school lunches, officials have said.

"There are children on the arrears list whose families are struggling, and there are children on the list who come from families and homes with means," Meloche said.

School board members have said families that can afford to pay their children's lunch charges should be required to do so.

But angry tweets showed the issue in a harsher light.

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"Cherry Hill schools aren't interested in fiscal solvency, They WANT to punish poor kids for being poor," Ames Grawert, senior counsel for the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy institute, told his 5,000-plus followers.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy also tweeted a link to a story on the district, noting, "No child should be shamed, punished or banned from extracurricular activities over lunch money."

But district officials have noted a state law directs districts to stop serving meals to students if lunch-debts remain unpaid. Cherry Hill's former policy included the mandated language, but did not enforce it.

The district said the public is welcome to contribute to its Friday Food Backpack Program, launched last year with a $25,000 grant that has since run out. The program sent food home over the weekend for children in five schools.

Cherry Hill cleared $25,000 in school lunch debt two years ago to start with a clean slate. The back payments currently stand at $16,500.

The protracted and highly public debate began over the summer as the Cherry Hill school district began discussions over how to address the debt.

The state rule states that districts that have not collected full payment for a lunch debt within 10 days of notification will then send another notice saying lunch "shall not be served to the student beginning one week from the date of the second notice unless payment is made in full."

However, once the school board began considering enforcement of other existing policies – including one that allowed for an alternate lunch such as tuna-fish sandwiches for students with delinquent lunch accounts – the issue exploded into a national controversy.

Follow Jim Walsh and Sheri Berkery on Twitter: @jimwalsh_cp and @SheriBerkery

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: School-lunch debt: NJ district plan could block access to dances