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RANDOLPH SCHOOLS SUE FOR LUNCH BILLS - Students Get Peanut Butter Sandwich |
| (11/11/2002) |
| Randolph County schools are after parents who do not pay for their kid's school meals. They are fed-up with over due lunch bills and have decided not to allow students with bills dating to last year to charge any more hot lunches. They will get a peanut butter sandwich, an apple and a carton of milk, which Food Service Director Lorrayne Corley says meets nutritional requirements. An Elkins Middle School principal David Roth has refused to abide by the systems new policy. He says it is unfair to punish children for the failure of parents to pay the bill. Corley says parents have been given ample notice about the cut-off. The Randolph County Board of Education, a multi-million dollar operation, is turning lunch bills over 45 days old to the magistrate court for collection. They say it is a State Department of Education policy. The cut-offs apparently do not affect nearly half of West Virginia's students with low annual incomes who qualify for free lunch, although collections are likely being made on those who qualify for reduced costs. West Virginia has the lowest or nearly the lowest median and per capita income of any state. Author Ruby Payne is talking with state education professionals regarding studies that show problems relating to attitude can help communities educate poor children. She says school systems often do not understand the culture of poverty. In her book "A Framework for Understanding Poverty," she calls for educators to teach unspoken rules of the middle class that shape work, achievement, goals and appropriate language and dress. Nearly half of the state's kids live with a single parent who often works multiple jobs and can't help with homework, with older children caring for their siblings.
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