Dive Brief:
- Though a lot of attention has been given to the question of nutrition and healthiness in U.S. school lunches, less attention has been paid to the question of what to do when children can't afford or have fallen behind on payments for meals.
- A 2014 survey of of 1,100 public school nutrition directors by the School Nutrition Association, an advocacy group, found that 71% of districts reported having unpaid student meal debt at the end of the 2012-13 academic year.
- Some schools have thrown away or confiscated lunches when students can't afford them, but the serious effects of hunger on education have been proven: It interferes with physical and cognitive skills, negatively impacting learning.
Dive Insight:
The struggles show that the problem is not simple to solve. A number of schools have received negative press in recent years for throwing out meals when students were unable to pay. Communication with parents when a pre-paid account is running out of funds is key, as is ensuring that those eligible are enrolled in free and reduced lunch programs.
New technology might be able to help. In some districts, like Washington state's Kent School District, interactive kiosks have been set up in various communities in order to help engage and inform parents. If those kiosks contained individualized information, accessible via a PIN, the problem of students and their guardians being caught by surprise when accounts run dry could be mitigated. And for those who simply can't afford lunches and might not be covered by the free-and-reduced lunch program, partnerships with community organizations are another possibility.