Don’t Have Lunch Money? A Pennsylvania School District Threatens Foster Care
July 22, 2019
By: Bobby Allyn
Source: NPR
Dozens of families in Pennsylvania received an alarming letter from their public school district this month informing parents that if their kid’s lunch debt was not settled, their child could be removed from their home and placed in foster care.
Wyoming Valley West School District, one of the poorest districts in the state as measured by per-pupil spending, is located in a former coal mining community in Northeastern Pennsylvania, known affectionately by locals as “The Valley.”
When officials there noticed that families owed the district around $22,000 in breakfast and lunch debt, they tried to get their money back.
“By mail, email, robo calls, personal calls and letters,” said Joseph Mazur, the president of the district’s board of education.
But, Mazur said, nothing worked.