Vent - Utter Brainlessness

Mylo_The_Moggy

"When he was expecting to get served he was told he wouldn't be allowed a meal. He burst into tears."

I bet the young boy is cringing with embarrassment now his dad has gone to the media over a meesly £1.75 that HE owed the school.
If they've been reminded 3 times surely they'd have done something about it, i mean, its not a massive 'debt', pocket change that could've been paid long ago.

Its easy to blame the school & call them all the names under the sun for refusing him food. And its awful he didn't get any dinner. But rules are rules. Others could work it to their advantage & do the same.

I blame the parents in this case I'm afraid.

And going to the media about it is just daft.

ThumbRemote

bod1467 wrote: »

As WD notes ... it's not clear when or how the school tried to inform the child's parents of the money owing. All the article states is "Mr and Mrs Lynn were notified on three occasions prior to the mealtime of interest that their debt was due and that their son would not receive a meal if the debt remained unpaid" ... this doesn't mean the parents received any messages.

Personally I'd assume any attempt by the school to contact the parents to be above and beyond what they needed to do anyway. Really it's down to the parents to keep track of this.

elisebutt65

It doesn't quite add up to me. How could they have notified him 3 time but the parents only owe £1.75? Surely if it was over a few days then it would have been more than that?

If they notified him 3 times in one day: ie the day that they owed it, then were the parents supposed to drop everything & run in with the money?

The fact that they added that statement later also speaks of the school trying to CYA!!

fozmcfc

I can't believe no one has said think of the children yet.

I agree with most, the parents are at fault for not paying, for their child not getting a dinner and for now making a fool of themselves and embarrassing themselves by taking it to the press.

Azari

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Personally I'd assume any attempt by the school to contact the parents to be above and beyond what they needed to do anyway. Really it's down to the parents to keep track of this.

Yes, but as the school is in loco parentis for the time he is on their premises the responsibility to make sure a pupil is fed reverts straight back to them.

It's not by any means cut and dried.

If they have taken reasonable and timely steps to ensure that the parents are aware there is a problem they may well have done their duty.

If they texted them three time on the day in question then they have not.

The wording they used: "three occasions prior to the mealtime of interest" is odd, to say the least. You'd normally say: "we contacted them three times before the day in question".

However, unless someone does a more comprehensive job of reporting we are just speculating.

ellersb

It's very sad that the child was humiliated like this, but hopefully he'll blame his parents for not having some sort of DD in place to top it up.
I work in a school and a little Year 7 boy in front of me was 30p short to pay for his biscuit so the till lady snatched it off him, looked at it, said 'and you've nibbled it now so it can't go back on the shelf can it?' and sent him on his way. Never seen a kid go so red so quickly. I wish I'd piped up quick enough and paid for it for him.

PILES

Azari wrote: »

Yes, but as the school is in loco parentis for the time he is on their premises the responsibility to make sure a pupil is fed reverts straight back to them.

It's not by any means cut and dried.

If they have taken reasonable and timely steps to ensure that the parents are aware there is a problem they may well have done their duty.

If they texted them three time on the day in question then they have not.

The wording they used: "three occasions prior to the mealtime of interest" is odd, to say the least. You'd normally say: "we contacted them three times before the day in question".

However, unless someone does a more comprehensive job of reporting we are just speculating.

Can you point me to where I could find this written down, I would be very interested.

Idiophreak

I don't get this at all...Even as OP originally read it, it seems like a total non-story. In the bad old days when kids actually had to carry money around with them, I forgot my dinner money once...so I didn't get lunch...Judging by public reaction to this story, it's some kind of miracle that I survived the harrowing ordeal.

PILES

WestonDave wrote: »

I feel the school are in the wrong here for a number of reasons and am glad my kids school don't operate in this way.

Firstly its not clear what these warnings were and when they were sent - sending for example 3 text messages during the morning in question when the parent is unable to add money to the account due to being in work doesn't create a situation where the child gets a meal.

Secondly whoever's fault it is, its not the childs, and frankly I don't want my kids anywhere near a school that would allow a kid to sit through afternoon school having had nothing to eat at lunchtime. That is a basic failure of a duty of care. Parents will occasionally forget something in the blizzard of notes we get sent home, and I'm sure there are plenty like me who sit down to do the online credit (don't get me started on these stupid online systems and their crashes at the start of term when people need to use it!), get distracted by something else and then have to remember at another point.

By all means if it becomes a recurrent issue then exclude the child from school or something so the parent has to take the child home next morning unless they've credited up the account or for persistent offenders inform social services that the childs needs are being neglected but as a one day issue where its clear its just a blip then some common sense and some basic humanity needs to be shown and that should override everything else.

Clearly the parents need to think about whether they should be leaving a float in the account etc and managing things better, but speaking personally, I'd be taking my kids away from a school that showed so little basic human kindness to my kids (that and getting the dinner lady a gift as a thank you!)

Which one is it then, i'm confused?

PILES

Idiophreak wrote: »

I don't get this at all...Even as OP originally read it, it seems like a total non-story. In the bad old days when kids actually had to carry money around with them, I forgot my dinner money once...so I didn't get lunch...Judging by public reaction to this story, it's some kind of miracle that I survived the harrowing ordeal.

Well said.