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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > June > 18 > Entry
Badge of shame: The cheese sandwich
(The dreaded cheese sandwhich of Chula Vista, Calif.)
There is a lot of talk among education reporters around the country today about an entertaining story in the L.A. Times looking at the cheese sandwich school lunch stigma in one California school district.
Like districts elsewhere, parents in Chula Vista set up debit-style accounts to pay for school lunches for thier kids. And, as in other places, parents fall behind in replenishing those accounts. Districts have tried collection agencies, threatening letters and all sorts of strategies to get parents to pay up.
But in Chula Vista, they used the cheese sandwich to drop a $300,000 school lunch debt to $67,000.
The thing is, kids don’t like cheese sandwiches. They want pizza or a hot dog or Mac-N-Cheese for lunch. So when a Chula Vista kids have no money in their lunch accounts, they are handed simple bread-and-cheese sandwiches for lunch. It isn’t even cooked.
And here’s the other thing — kids know what it means when you get a cheese sandwich. And therefore they get teased. So apparently this effectively motivates the kids to motivate their parents to pay up.
Some parents think shaming the kids isn’t a very nice approach. But the district said it was either collect this money from delinquent parents or make cuts. School leaders are just glad to have an effective collection strategy.
I know they do something like this in Kettering, where my kids go to schools. When they run out of lunch money they get a plain peanut butter sandwich and we certainly do hear about it from my oldest daughter. Still, I don’t know if the peanut butter sandwich is quite as objectionable as the cheese sandwhich.
Give the story a read because it is interesting and well written. Then post a comment here — do you think the shame of a cheese sandwich is worth the gain for school district coffers?
(Image credit: LA Times)
Permalink | Comments (17) | Categories: My Favorite Posts, Student Health and Safety
Comments
By Peter
June 25, 2007 8:07 PM | Link to this
Perhaps adults should worry more about teaching the children who tease and mock to be more thoughtful and compassionate rather than focus on eliminating all possible circumstances that might make a child unhappy.By Interested Reader
June 25, 2007 8:04 PM | Link to this
The cheese sandwich story provides an excellent springboard to think seriously about the relative responsibilities of schools and parents. In an effort to support and protect children who live in homes led by irresponsible adults, schools have taken on far too many of the responsibilities that belong squarely in the lap of the parent. This has enabled lazy parents to abdicate their responsibilities and encourages them to ask the schools to do even more. I think it is time for the public to look for new ways to “fix” irresponsible parenting so that the schools can once again focus on their main job, EDUCATING children.By Franklin
June 20, 2007 11:22 PM | Link to this
What’s so bad about a cheese sandwich? Seriously, I ate them pretty much every day for lunch at school through high school (sometimes switched to peanut butter, but more times than not, cheese. With mustard, please!).By laura
June 19, 2007 4:16 PM | Link to this
Rick: Why would you care if anyone called you “dumb or dumber”? If you have something to say, say it. I’m sure you have thought some comments by most people on here are “dumb”. I don’t agree with a lot of comments on here but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to read them. It gives me an idea of how other people think- even if they do sound “dumb”. Smile!By Leslie
June 19, 2007 3:53 PM | Link to this
Well. I shared the LA Times column with my 9 year old last night. He was amazed that anyone was teased because they ate a cheese sandwich! His one complaint for having to eat the peanut butter sandwich one day at school in Kettering was that he wanted another one. Trust me - I was more upset about it happening than he was. Will I be more cognizant of his debit card balance because of it? You bet. It is indeed my responsibility, and not the school’s, to make sure that my son is fed. I heard that Kettering now has an online system, which I’m looking forward to using for both the convenience of paying online and for the ability to limit my son’s spending on items that aren’t the healthiest things for him. Why don’t I send money with him every day? Two reasons: I don’t carry a lot of cash, and there is a chance that he would lose the money before the cafeteria - then we’d be back to peanut butter. I should mention that I do pack lunch for him one or two days a week as well.By RoadRager
June 19, 2007 3:27 PM | Link to this
The online lunch money replenishment system is AWESOME… We have used it to see what type of purchases our kid has made, to make sure she is not just filling up on snacks and they have the different types of funds on the account as well, 1 for meals and 1 for the others like snacks and bottled waters and whatnot. It rocks! What I HAVE seen is it is not always the case of the parents can’t get the money or bag the lunch. I live in Beavercreek and it is AMAZING the mentality of some of these people that have more than enough money thinking that they just dont have time to be bothered with such a trivial thing like replenishing the kids lunch account and that the school should just suck it up and take care of it and they will catch up when they find time in their little self-important lives. The priviledged are just as bad, if not worse, than the ones that just dont have the money at the time.By Rick
June 19, 2007 12:34 PM | Link to this
At no time did I imply anything about anyone’s comments. I merely explained how our system works (and it indeed does work). No student is ever denied lunch and if the cafeteria is aware of health or medical issues, adjustments are made in what they are “given”. The PBJ is never meant to shame anyone, but serves as a reminder to the kids that they need to talk to their parents about replenishing their lunch account. It would be wonderful if the schools could keep providing full meals for “free” to everyone, but at some point they have to quit “giving” them to those who, for whatever reason have not qualified for the free/reduced program. Now, since some readers willingly let me know that my comments are “dumber”, I will quit “wasting” my time sharing them.By Mary
June 19, 2007 7:45 AM | Link to this
Dave and Rick, some of your comments are dumb and dumber. I did not say parents and students should not be held responsible for lunch money. My point is schools should be responsible for the teasing about the situation on school property when a child lacks the cash on hand. Rick, I would like to follow you around for the day and see who is your “mother” and picking up after you and covering your oversights. Maybe you can go without lunch, but there are many for health and medical reasons who should not. Also, schools really do have people on the payroll and funding to care about what children eat and to educate on proper nutrition.By Hillary
June 19, 2007 3:55 AM | Link to this
Dave, That’s not a “bad” system per say but it’s not like families have never had to dole out money or bagged lunches in previous years. It is possible and not too many years ago, families tended to be much larger than they are now. I know that not all parents have time to pack their child’s lunch every day but those moments planning their lunch (what should I pack you today/buy at the store? kind of conversations) or at least the “how much do you need for lunch?” talks can be vital. Kids don’t always want to talk to their parents… but if it’s vital to their daily survival they will. It can :gasp: lead to actual communication between kids and parents. But if mom and dad can just add money online after Susie goes to bed that tiny bit of communication is lost. Not to mention I’m not in agreement with this idea because if the parent does fall behind in payment (or putting money on the card, however it works) and the child goes hungry, has to eat the “lesser” option or is made fun of, their communication with parents (who the school in this case wants to be harassed by their kids to pay up) is hostile. It’s not nurturing and I imagine leads to anger and resentment from both parties. Parents don’t want their kids telling them what to do and that is exactly what this school is essentially asking the students to do.By Rick
June 18, 2007 10:35 PM | Link to this
Our school uses a system similar to this. Students get a PBJ sandwich and milk (unless the system shows up that they have an allergy) if they are more than 2 meals “in the hole”. PBJ and milk are also available for purchase, so it does necessarily indicate that they are behind when they walk to the table with PBJ. Students are given a low balance notice when they get to within 2 lunches of a zero balance and parents can also check balances (secure) on the school website. They can also get e-mail low balance notifications at any balance they choose. The system also notifies the cafeteria staff at checkout if the child has a reported food allergy so they can watch for problems. Parents can also set messages such as “Type A only”, “$2.00 per day limit”, etc. Another feature lets the parents go online and get a report of exactly what their child got for lunch, Type A, Burger & Fries, Salad, 7 Cookies…. It gives the parents a chance to open a dialogue with their child about good nutrition and responsible spending. Overall comments from the community have been extremely positive. How do I know all this? I am the assistant IT Coordinator for our school district.By Dave
June 18, 2007 9:29 PM | Link to this
Hillary, if you have several kids, getting the correct change to each kid on lunch ticket day can be a major undertaking. I hate to use Houston, TX area schools as a good example, but the system was set up so parents could check the status of their kids’ lunch accounts on-line and add money as needed. It’s not a good solution for everyone, but it worked well for many.By Caroline
June 18, 2007 7:58 PM | Link to this
I see nothing wrong with this. The children aren’t starved because their parents missed a payment. How would schools ever collect the payments if students continued to get the lunch? Anyway, the poor students will still get lunch because the cards also work for free & reduced lunch.By Hillary
June 18, 2007 7:38 PM | Link to this
What we have here is technology replacing good old fashioned common sense (or cents in this case I guess…). Whatever happened to giving your kid lunch money before school every morning or every week? Instead you get to ignore real moments with your kids and put money on a card for them to use. I remember when I was in school if kids didn’t have lunch money (forgotten or whatever the case was) you could have a peanut butter sandwich or something like that but it didn’t happen often. My other thought would be that shaming kids for parents wrongdoing is, while seemingly effective, it’s also encouraging students to be cruel to each other. Being teased as a kid (especially if it’s happening over something you can’t control) is a horrible experience that has long lasting effects on a person. How is a student supposed to have a good self image, if they are being teased about their lunch every day because their parents can’t or won’t buy them the popular choices?By Dave
June 18, 2007 7:19 PM | Link to this
Now someone posts that it’s not right for parents to be responsible for their own kid’s lunch costs?: “Teasing over economic disparities…” Amazing. There are free lunch programs paid for by the taxpayer already. Bad then that we pick up the bill for those who don’t feel like keeping up on their kid’s lunch charges… Bet they’re the same ones who don’t care about behavior and discipline either, until their kid gets in bad trouble then they’re in there to threaten the principal, teachers, with the statement that they’re going to go to the school board. What’s worse is many of the school board members around the area feel it’s their job to patronize those types!!!By Rick
June 18, 2007 6:08 PM | Link to this
I have a shocking idea, if a child does not have money, they don’t get lunch. Either they or their parents can pack it. The underlying assumption is that the school is responsible for what children eat. They are not; they parents are.By Mary
June 18, 2007 2:45 PM | Link to this
Well, I read it and did a quick google search of Chula Vista schools. I noticed the district could afford to sponsor the football team against Hilo, Hawaii last August. However, the same school district cannot avoid teasing over economic disparities in elementary grades, or a phone call or conference with parents regarding their child’s school lunch, or survive the budget streses for the school lunches . That aside, the cheese sandwich with wheat bread is not a good diet for many according to some diet theories. Of course, some students could be prone to celiac disease (inability to digest wheat gluten) as well as lactose intolerant. Since when is American cheese considered to be healthy? I think most “whole wheat” bread sold in the US does not contain much whole grains.By Leslie
June 18, 2007 2:43 PM | Link to this
My son has also fallen victim to the lunchtime peanut butter sandwich stigma at Kettering. Even worse, he would have been denied breakfast that same morning if he hadn’t gotten upset, which swayed the cafeteria staff. Since that happened, he has become much better at letting me know when he needs money on his card. It does seem harsh, and I wish that they would give more warning (I wasn’t aware that he was out of money when this happened), but it does work.