The Kauai County Council is urging the state Department of Education to take a hard look at a policy through which students with negative account balances can be denied meals at their schools.
The Council last month unanimously passed a resolution that asks the DOE to "research possible solutions that would eliminate the situation of school personnel having to deny a school meal to any student."
Councilman Mel Rapozo, who introduced the resolution, said it’s "targeted to the state so they can wake up and change the policy."
Rapozo, who said parent complaints prompted him to bring the matter before the Council, asserted that even if in cases in which parents fail to put money in their child’s meal account, the child should not go hungry.
Dara Young, spokeswoman of the Department of Education, said communication with parents about a student’s meal account starts when the balance drops to $5. Students are issued prepaid meal cards for their accounts.
"Our policy makes accommodations for accounts in negative balances, and attempts are made to communicate to parents who have zero or negative balances." Young added, "The fact that there are negative balances supports the DOE position that we do feed students who have no money in their account."
An elementary or middle school student will be served at least three lunches when his or her account is low or negative, Young said. After that, she said, each school sets its own policy regarding when meals are denied.
"The school handles it in a way they feel appropriate," Young said.
Kauai schools inform parents and guardians when a student’s account has a low balance. When an account has a negative balance, officials tell parents and guardians that payment must be made the next day or the student must bring lunch from home.
Kauai Complex Superintendent William Arakaki told the Council during a Sept. 24 meeting that elementary school students on the Garden Isle are never denied a meal, noting that schools may cover costs with petty cash funds.
Older students have not received the same treatment. In some cases, meals have been taken away from students with negative balances.
Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said, "It’s horrifying to me to actually think there’s a child who thinks they get a lunch, then it’s taken away and then thrown away."
Arakaki said in instances in which a student has touched the meal, it is thrown away to comply with safety regulations.
Addressing the Council, Arakaki agreed that the standing policy should be reviewed. He added, "Please know that our principals, teachers and staff at schools truly care and want our students to be fed."
Parent Corrine Murata said she strongly supports the Council’s resolution and hopes it generates statewide attention. "Something needs to happen. Kids can’t go hungry," she said.
Murata said her daughter, who is now in high school, was once unexpectedly denied lunch while attending a Kauai middle school. She said when her daughter’s account card signaled a negative balance, the girl was told to leave her cafeteria tray.
Murata acknowledged it was her responsibility to ensure funds were available on the meal card, but maintained that the school had not contacted her.
"I would have definitely gone down and delivered lunch for her," she said. "It was my bad" for letting the account slip into the red. "It was the first and last time it happened."
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service’s website concerning denial of meals for students who pay the full meal price, "all full price pricing policies for school meals are a matter of local discretion."
In cases in which a family needs financial assistance, DOE schools help parents apply for the free or reduced-price lunch program. According to the USDA, schools are required to serve meals at no charge to children whose household income is at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level.
A child from a family of four whose household income is $35,659, for example, is eligible for free lunches. The same size family with a household income of $50,746 is eligible for reduced-price meals.
At Hawaii’s public schools, lunch costs $2.25 for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and $2.50 for high school students. Reduced lunch costs $0.40 for all grade levels.
On Kauai, of the 9,430 students enrolled in the lunch program for the 2013-2014 school year, 1,115 students paid the reduced lunch cost, and 1,451 students received free lunches.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
