Students at Culver Community Schools who have fallen behind in their lunch payments will now continue to get regular hot lunches. Previously, students who had accumulated a negative balance in their lunch accounts beyond a certain amount had been given an alternative box lunch. The issue, according to Superintendent Karen Shuman, is that students were still being charged, even though they weren’t getting a regular lunch.
As part of the change, Shuman says school officials will be more aggressively informing parents of any negative account balances. They had already been calling or emailing parents when their children fall behind in their payments, according to information shared with the school board during a study session last week. Shuman told board members that the school corporation has a policy in place when it comes to collecting lunch account debt, but it tries to work with families who are struggling to pay.
During last week’s regular meeting, board members said they wanted to update the corporation’s official policy to reflect the change in operations. The updated language will be presented for the board’s approval next month. Meanwhile, Shuman also plans to encourage more water consumption during the school day as part of the corporation’s wellness program, in part, to reduce the need for students to purchase drinks in the cafeteria.
The discussion came a few days after a GoFundMe account was created, to help cover negative lunch account balances at Culver Schools and ensure students get a hot lunch.
