Students Who Owe Money May Be Denied Lunch In Cherry Hill Schools

CHERRY HILL, NJ — Since 2017, the Cherry Hill Public School District has had a policy in place that states it won’t feed a student lunch if that student owes more than $20 in unpaid meals to the district. The policy has not been enforced.

However, with the school year set to begin in a few weeks, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Lynn Shugars told the Board of Education on Tuesday night that it must begin enforcing the policy before what is currently a $14,000 debt in unpaid meals gets even deeper.

Her statement was met with backlash from parents at the meeting and a public official in the community.

“I recommend we adhere to the policy at least until we hear back from the parents,” Shugars said. “If we don’t adhere to the policy, we’ll just be chasing after this problem.”

The genesis of the discussion was over $18,000 in debt for the school as a result of unpaid lunch tabs. Over $14,000 of that was from 343 delinquent families who owed more than $10. This is two years after the district wiped out all previous debts in advance of introducing the new policy.

That policy states that if a student owes more than $10 in unpaid school lunches, the student is provided with a tuna fish sandwich, along with a vegetable and drink option. Once that student exceeds $20, they will no longer be served lunch. Most of the current debt comes from students at Cherry Hill High School West and John A. Carusi Middle School.

“I recommend we adhere to the policy at least until we hear back from the parents,” Assistant Superintendent Lynn Shugars said. “If we don’t adhere to the policy, we’ll just be chasing after this problem.”

The policy was referred to as inhumane by some, and “food shaming” by one parent.

“If it comes from 3 percent of the population, it’s not a crisis,” parent Richard Short said. “You should erase the $14,000 and start from zero.”

One parent also said she has never received a letter from the district about her child’s lunch bill in five years.

According to Assistant Superintendent Lynn Shugars, parents are sent a letter by mail every 10 days they have a lunch debt. Phone calls are also made, but no emails are sent to parents. The letters inform parents how to apply for payment plans and free/reduced lunches. Parents can apply for free/reduced lunches at any point during the year, Shugars said.

She called it “frustrating” to not hear back from parents. Some parents refuse to pay the bill, and tell the district it’s the district’s fault for not keeping track of how much their child is spending.

“I get an alert from the My School Bucks Account, and I’ll pay it, but I have never gotten a letter from the district,” she said. “My child is going into fifth grade, and I have never received a letter in five years. I don’t know how parents who don’t have an account are being alerted.”

Cherry Hill Council President David Fleischer weighed in on Facebook, calling the policy, “ridiculous and unacceptable.”

“We will get to the bottom of this to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Fleischer said. “We are a community that’s better and smarter than this.”

Shugars said the students are served tuna fish instead of peanut butter because many students have peanut allergies. The lunches students are served meet the nutritional requirements of the USDA, she said. She also said, “our little ones would be very happy to eat peanut butter and jelly until the end of time.”

Board Member Laurie Neary expressed concern about the threshold. She said the cost of a school lunch is $3, so students can get reach the first threshold after not paying for just three meals. She was also concerned that the penalty is too severe. Shugars said the threshold could be adjusted if the board wishes.

“If we adjust the threshold to $20 and $40, the problem still exists,” Board Member Ruth Schultz said. “If we don’t collect from parents who aren’t paying, why should anyone pay?”

Despite its debts, the program still made $200,000 in profit last year, according to officials. Shugars is afraid the debt will continue to grow if the district continues to ignore the problem.

The board didn’t take any action at its meeting on Aug. 13. It will continue to discuss the topic at its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 7 pm in the Malberg Administration Building, according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Meloche.

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