Cafeteria worker quits primary school over ‘lunch shaming’ policy for students whose parents fall behind on payments

Stacy Koltiska stepped down after she was forced to take a hot meal away from a pupil whose family owed the school at least $25

Ms Koltiska said she mistakenly gave a pupil a hot chicken dish, then had to take it away (CBS )

A school cafeteria worker has quit her job after she claimed she was forced to take lunch away from a pupil whose family had fallen behind on school lunch payments.

Stacy Koltiska, who resigned last week after two years at the Wylandville Elementary School in Canonberg, Pennsylvania, said the family had failed to pay more than $25 for school lunches.

According to a new school policy, designed to tackle the issue of 300 families owing thousands of dollars, Ms Koltiska said she had to take the lunch away from a young boy and his eyes “welled up with tears”.

“I’ll never forget his name, the look on his face,” she told the Associated Press.

For any younger student whose family owes more than $25, they will not be allowed a hot lunch but can instead eat a cold sandwich, a serving of fruit or vegetables and a glass of milk.

Older students get no lunch if their family owes more than $25.

Ms Koltiska wrote on Facebook: “What You don't know is that they are being given One Piece of Cheese on Bread. This isn't even being toasted. Yet they are still being charged the FULL PRICE of a HOT LUNCH that is being DEINIED to them.“

Another cafeteria worker had noticed that Ms Koltiska had mistakenly given the boy a hot chicken meal and she then had to swap the dishes.

Her post on Facebook was shared more than 3,000 times.

One user, Chrissie Siebonick, responded that the school's policy was "horrible".

"What ever happened to no kid goes hungry?" she wrote.

Another user, Tara Dellovade-O'Donnell, said the school policy was "sickening".

Canon-McMillan school district superintendent Matthew Daniels told the AP that the policy does not target families who qualify for financial assistance with school lunches,.

He added that the new rule has been successful in cutting down the number of families who can afford to pay but still owe money.

“There has never been the intent with the adoption of this polity to shame or embarrass a child,” he said.

In a post on Facebook, the school said that staff were given training on how to implement the policy and parents were informed before the start of the school year.

Mr Daniels added that the more than 300 families who were behind in payments owed the school district as much as $100,000 per year, and since the policy was put in place in 2016, about 70 families owe less than $20,000.

Ms Koltiska said she believed there was a better way to implement the policy without involving the children, who felt “embarrassed” and “punished” as a result.