Advocacy
Anti-Lunch Shaming: MEA works to help hungry students
School Hunger
“An incident that is all too often observed is when kids do not have money and they have already made a lunch tray. These students are forced to dump their tray in the trash... what sense does that make? We are an impoverished area. Kids come to school for food, warmth and safety and to be denied food is a travesty,” said one Maine teacher. The stories from MEA members about school lunch practices are both shocking and varied. The policies surrounding school lunch in Maine differ from district to district, but the constant remains the educators’ desire to ensure every hungry child is fed. “We have had some students told, as a policy, no meals until they are caught up to date on fees,” added another MEA member. These are the types of stories the MEA hopes to prevent in the future with help from several lawmakers, including Republican Senator Joyce Maker from Washington County. Senator Maker is sponsoring a new bill that would ensure every child is fed lunch, regardless of late fees or ability to pay. “Studies show that missing meals and experiencing hunger can have a negative effect on academic performance and student behavior. No child should ever have the threat of food denial held over his or her head or given a substitute meal because the family owes money or has no money for the meal. Hopefully, this legislation will help ensure that the nutritional needs of all Maine students are being met,” said Senator Joyce Maker (R-Washington County). The new legislation, An Act Forbidding Food Shaming, Food Denial and the Use of Food as Discipline Involving Any School-aged Child in Maine's Public Schools: 1. Requires a public school provide free and reduced-price meals or other meals to students who request a meal regardless of their ability to pay 2. Prohibits a public school from punishing a student in certain way solely because of the student’s inability to pay for the school meal or failure in the past to pay. 3. Prohibits a public school from openly identifying or stigmatizing a student who cannot pay for a meal or who has payments due for previous meals by requiring the student to wear a wristband, hand stamp or other identifying mark. 4. Requires the public school to communicate about a student’s meal debts directly to the parent or guardian of the student rather than the student. The legislation came to light after members raised concerns about lunch issues at MEA’s Representative Assembly. Upon further discussion with members, the MEA brought the issue to Senator Maker who will present the bill in front the Education Committee during the legislative session. The bill is part of MEA’s ongoing effort to bring attention and solutions to the issue of hunger in our schools. If you have a story you would like to share, (you will remain anonymous) please email editor@maineea.org
On the National Level
by Marit Vike as seen in Education Votes While educators regularly step up to help hungry children, some lawmakers have also taken notice and decided to step in to right a consequence of not being able to afford food at school: lunch shaming. Currently, there are state policies that force school cafeteria staff to throw out a student’s lunch or give them a weak alternative such as a cheese sandwich when a child has meal debt rather than extending credit for meals. “It is completely absurd that students would be shamed at school based on their inability to purchase food,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, of Pennsylvania, a sponsor of a bipartisan bill, the Anti-Lunch Shaming Act, to prevent lunch shaming. “I am confident that this legislation will do its part to stop students suffering from humiliation for circumstances outside of their control. This is bullying and I am 14
Maine Educator • December 2017
3 out of 4
educators see students who regularly come to school hungry because they are not getting enough to eat at home.
57%
of teachers regularly buy food for students who come to school hungry.
$300
is the amount that teachers spend each year buying food for students.
saddened that we have to write legislation to ensure it ends.” The Anti-Lunch Shaming Act prohibits shaming tactics by requiring schools to direct communications regarding meal debt to the parent, not the child. The bill also aims to make the process for applying for free and reduced price lunch applications simpler by expressing that it is the sense of Congress that schools should provide these applications more effectively to the families who need them, coordinate with other programs to ensure that homeless and foster children are enrolled for free meals, and set up online systems to make paying for meals easier for parents when possible. This bill is in the first stage of the legislative process. It was introduced into Congress on May 8, 2017. It will typically be considered by committee next before it is possibly sent on to the House or Senate as a whole.
