Woburn Students with Overdue Lunch Debt May be Held out of Extracurricular Activities

WOBURN, MA — Woburn students with lunch debts may be held out of extracurricular activities if debts remain unpaid.

At the Sept. 13 meeting of the Woburn School Committee, Dr. John Wells indicated that school lunch debt (and other outstanding debts) has increased to $11,000 district-wide. Letters were sent to students who have outstanding lunch debt, and students will have three weeks from the date of the letter to pay the outstanding balance, Wells explained.

Wells added that the students who will be receiving letters are not students who have filed paperwork for free and reduced lunches.

"According to the school-committee approved policy, students with debt can be prohibited from participating in extracurriculars i.e. sports," Wells said."I wanted to let the committee know that this action is being taken."

Joseph Elia, the district's assistant superintendent for finance and operations, indicated that the district had made numerous communications to parents who have children with outstanding balances.

Elia also added that approximately 104 Woburn Memorial High School students could be affected by the policy. Wells added that students who owe debt were predominantly high school students.

However, committee member Joseph Demers questioned whether students who owe debt were not paying because they are in need of financial assistance.

"I think the odds being that 104 student's families haven't paid their bills but none of them have is eligible for free and reduced lunch [are low]," Demers added."I don't know if there is an approach we might have to look at that's maybe outside the box."

However, Elia quickly responded by saying families who are on government assistance programs are automatically included in the free and reduced lunch programs.

"Other than going home and cooking them breakfast, I don't know what we can do," Elia said.

School committee member Michael Mulrenan also added that students were informed of the policies regarding the issue.

"It's not for a lack of anyone communicating these to the students," said Mulrenan at the meeting."Everyone is doing the best they can. It's not a lack of effort on our end."

Patch file photo