Vent - Utter Brainlessness

Azari

unholyangel wrote: »

Has there actually been an attempt over specific debts though? The way they have worded it, along with other specifics (as someone else said....£1.75 is an usual amount if they have sent out 3 separate notifications that the account is owing) makes me think that these notifications have been nothing more than a newsletter/memo to parents at the beginning of each term.

What would make sense imo is having a £10-£15 line of credit (about enough for one weeks meals). Thus giving school plenty time to notify while not being too harsh if parents have forgotten or even perhaps money is tight one week.

This is what I meant in the OP by having a proper system in place.

If you ask for an extra week in advance and payment in advance a week at a time then there is plenty of time to sort out any problems before they need to affect the child.

The father said: "I usually put £10 on at a time". Allowing parents to make arbitrary payments at irregular intervals is just asking for trouble.

I can see both sides. Most children wouldnt suffer any ill health going a few hours longer without food. However on the other side of that argument is medical conditions and that lack of food will effect their concentration in the classroom.

By medical conditions I mean something like diabetes. Although I suspect (or rather hope) that if there were exceptional circumstances, the school would bend the rules.

I assumed that the father's main concern was over the humiliation the child would have felt at being turned away in front of the rest of the school.

This is what really struck me as cretinous behaviour. If they had to deny him a meal they should have taken him aside privately and told him not to go to the canteen, not waited until he turned up and humiliated him.

ThumbRemote

unholyangel wrote: »

What would make sense imo is having a £10-£15 line of credit (about enough for one weeks meals). Thus giving school plenty time to notify while not being too harsh if parents have forgotten or even perhaps money is tight one week.

At £15 credit, assuming the school has 50 children per year and 7 years, that's over £5,000 that school could end up owed. On top of which you then have the staffing costs trying to reclaim that.

Allowing credit simply makes the situation worse; parents know the school is an interest free loan, so it becomes the lowest priority to pay when money is tight. They then end up persistently behind, as new money simply pays for the next set of meals - or they still end up missing payments, and the child still ends up missing meals.

ThumbRemote

Azari wrote: »

I assumed that the father's main concern was over the humiliation the child would have felt at being turned away in front of the rest of the school.

I can't see the father is the slightest bit concerned about his child being humiliated. If he was, the last thing he'd have done is posed for press photos.

vikingaero

If you really really can't pay the £1.75 then:

(1) Borrow from a friend or relative.
(2) Call the school and explain that your wages were late but you promise to pay up when the wages have gone in. I reckon 99% of schools would accommodate this if their is two way communication.
(3) Rustle up a pack lunch from the cupboard for the child.

!!!!!! the parents are muppets. The guy is too stupid to be a parent and too stupid to be a governor.

ThumbRemote

Even better - the father concerned was chair of the school finance committee!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dad-takes-two-kids-out-1948277

It appears his son had already had a free lunch.

Azari

ThumbRemote wrote: »

I can't see the father is the slightest bit concerned about his child being humiliated. If he was, the last thing he'd have done is posed for press photos.

Very good point.

Retrogamer

So to summarise...

Father head of the finance committee for school.
Family was reminded 3 times there was no money for childs lunch.
Son already had a free meal.

Why are the School in the wrong again?
Parent/s seem like idiots to me.

dizzie

...Anyone ever come across Parentpay? It's the system that our secondary school uses. At one time, we used to get rather informative letters explaining what activity they wanted a child to participate in, and the cost.

Now those polite and informative letters are a thing of the past. You have to actively log in to Parentpay to add credit for mealtimes...and lo and behold, you may be surprised to find that school have generated other random amounts on your account that they are demanding payment for (which are often heavily abbreviated... so you have no idea what payment amounts are for!) So far we've received demands for a Gold Duke of Edinburgh award...hmmm...when neither of my sons ever signed up to the D of E....and a rather substantial sum for for 15 year old to attend an adult computer education nightclass! Interesting...

Emails to school via Parentpay are largely ignored and the incorrectly invoiced amounts remain present on the account and awaiting payment.

Credit for lunches can be a bit hit and miss with this system....one minute it looks like there is plenty of credit and the next day, once they've done a till reconciliation and have decided that Junior has not been charged for a few fish finger sandwiches...the balance can drop by £10 or more...so we really need to keep it topped up to a minimum £15 balance.

I wonder too what the means of notifying this boy's parents was, and whether it was a reliable method (i.e. not a general "Round Robin" reminder via a newsletter).

vikingaero

I think I've found the real reason for Mr Lynns brainlessness:

From LinkedIn:

General Manager, PC World

Auntie-Dolly

The items showing in ParentPay are items that CAN be paid for online, not necessarily things you are being charged for.