This is How Mean Texas Has Become Under Rick Perry
Rick Perry’s constant harping that even infants should pull themselves up by the bootstraps and earn their medical care, food, and housing, has left Texas mean.
When a 12-year-old Texas boy went to eat breakfast this week at his middle school a cafeteria worker took away the meal and tossed it in the trash — all because his meal account was 30 cents short.
Jennifer Castilleja of Dickinson County said she received a call from her son’s school Wednesday morning and was told the cafeteria refused to let the boy eat unless she came in and paid the 30 cents owed.
When Castilleja told school officials she was on her way to the school to pay and asked that they let her son eat until she arrived, the school refused.
So, the cafeteria lady threw the boy’s breakfast in the garbage. In front of his friends. You know, because 12 year old boys aren’t self-conscious and awkward enough as it is.
I hope she gets a wart on her nose.
Thanks to everybody for the heads up.
In the schools where I’ve taught, there would have been several teachers to step up and pay for the boy’s food. The amount of money I contributed to my school program through the years would fund a pretty good trip to Europe. I always considered that part of the job, with no regrets. My daughter, an elementary teacher for these past sixteen years, is cut from the same cloth, I’m proud to say. I do not know of a school where this would happen. More to the story, perhaps?
1Last year, my daughter’s middle school lunchroom refused to let her have lunch because her meal account was short. I had forgotten to add funds, and she was down to 40 cents. They took her tray from her and refused to allow to even have a carton of milk. Unfortunately, no teacher happened to be nearby because I know one of them would have either taken care of it or let me know. My daughter didn’t know she could call me, so the first I knew of it was when I got home from work. It turns out that not only was this mean, it was a violation of school district policy. Our district has a plan in place where any student who doesn’t have food with them and who doesn’t have a way to pay will be given a sandwich and carton of milk. This seems like a good plan to me, but it only works if the cafeteria workers follow it. I know pack my daughter’s lunch every day because she is too embarrassed to face the cafeteria worker who denied her food.
2Ack! I should proofread before I hit the “submit” button. Sorry about those typos.
3I certainly hope there is more to the story. Like a review of policies with school employees. Like lots of apologies to the child and parent. Like chocolate chip pancakes for the school breakfast every Friday for a month.
4I hope there is more to this story….. Like the $.30 would make or break the darned cafeteria.
That this is allowed to go on, is unconscionable.
$.30 darned cents. And a child goes without breakfast.
I don’t know about Ya’ll, but I’m going to put a quarter and a nickel taped to a piece of paper, in an envelope, and mail it to these hard hearted (turn away Momma) B’s….. and tell them when a kid is short on their account. Use this.
5Silly woman, she should have done what Republican parents do, lie about her income and use that to get her son signed up for free meals. Problem solved.
6This is how to contact these people”
Rosalva Romero (Barber Middle School)
rromero@dickinsonisd.org
281.229.6910
Dickinson ISD: 2218 FM 517 East, Dickinson, Tx. 77539.
$.30 darned cents….. and a kid goes hungry.
And, we wonder why our kids aren’t learning.
7I taught elementary school. No child ever went hungry at our school, even if it meant breaking the rules. But my wife teaches high school. At one time, kids who didn’t have the money for lunch simply sat and watched the others eat. That always broke my heart. That policy has changed now. Many times I would have children come to school late who had not had breakfast. I could always tell and I always marched them to the cafeteria and saw that they got fed. Every elementary teacher I ever knew would have done that. Any staff member in a school who could bear to see a kid go unfed does not need to be there. You just can’t imagine what hardships school children face. You can’t imagine how difficult it is for a teacher to deal with that and yet teach all he needs to teach. Brings back some bittersweet memories.
8Thanks Meimaw, I’ve been contemplating a letter to that school district, but have been waiting to calm down first. It ain’t easy. I am still outraged thinking about this. I just want to hug that child.
And slap that cafeteria worker upside the head.
$0.30 freaking cents.
9How is it better to throw food away, than to let someone eat it? The cafeteria lady must have read a different version of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John than I did.
10She probably already has a wart on her nose and her broom is parked out back.
11The cafeteria lady presumably has limited power in her life so she bullied a student because she could. And demeaned and tried to make hi
12Sorry cat on the keyboard …. tried to make him ashamed of who he was and his family. Sheesh. Truly, truly pathetic.
13I think that it is despicable that anyone would be so cruel as to humilate a child and to force them to go hungry for any reason, especially for 30 cents.
14What is Humanity descending too. I cannot find words to express how furious I am. This person should be fired on the spot.
Rick–They don’t actually read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John….they listen to priests of Ayn Rand who walk around carrying bibles and pretending to preach from them.
15At my elementary school, there was always at least one teacher assigned to supervise the cafeteria. We were able to see if a child had no food and work it out with the cafeteria ladies. Like the other teachers who have commented, the teachers paid for the food and did so unobtrusively, so the other children didn’t know. I never expected to be paid back, but every once in awhile a child would appear at my classroom with the money. Please think of this when you hear people like Scott Walker calling teachers parasites.
16She deserves her very own level of Hell where there is no one who will speak to her.
17Don’t blame the cafeteria lady, she may be wondering how she is going to feed herself with SNAP cut.
The principal has stated this is the school policy, odds are she would enjoy firing the cafeteria lady for giving the food to the kid instead of throwing it away.
1830 effing cents?!! Damn, reading this made me so mad–Rick Perry, if there is a hell, get ready! Damn, I’m still mad!!!
19This is an important discussion. Our g’son also hates some of the lunches. Used to, they had good food. With the cuts (I imagine, nobody told me) they have sorry sandwiches and hard pears a LOT. He often goes without lunch rather than eat what they are serving. I know, he could carry a lunch. Just saying. I’d go eat lunch there to find out for myself but he would die of humiliation.
20But that mean lady, why was she being mean? Maybe her feet hurt. Maybe she had to go to her second job when she left at 1pm. Lots to find out. Or maybe she’s just mean. I don’t want to get her fired. She probably really needs that job. Do they have Tea Partyers on their school board? I am serious. If you live near there, could you find out who supported the newest school board members? Certain two famous brothers fund campaigns from school boards all the way to the top of the governments.
I think mean isn’t a matter of what’s going on in a person’s life; I’ve rung the bell at Christmas time enough to conclude that those who have it toughest are generally the ones who find something to put in the bucket for others in need. Mean is just mean and it need to be called out and shamed. And if mean is the school policy, then some folks need to start raising hell.
No kid should go hungry. Period. And no kid should learn mean from some one who is supposed to be giving them their breakfast.
Parents–get yourselves to the next school board meeting and make some noise.
21Rules are what some “Christians” use to justify being mean and petty.
22Is it possible that this cafeteria lady was an employee of a private contractor like Aramark or Sodexho, who might have been in fear of her job? Not that it is any excuse, but the private subcontractor arrangement is a prescription for disaster.
23I’m reading this in the context of the preceding Wendy Davis pro-life article also posted today:
https://juanitajean.com/2013/11/09/just-in-case-you-havent-seen-it/
Isn’t it ironic that so many of same people who are passionate about bringing pregnancies to term and children into the world are hell-bent on starving them once they get here?
24I don’t know the book nor verse about the lady who had only what might be called a penny today, but it was the last coin she had and she gave it and Jesus knew she gave more then the richest of the rich, because she gave all she had.
Umpty-Dump … not ironic at all, because that’s how the Repukes operate today!!
25Hey, JJ: Sorry it took me so long to check it, but there is no Dickinson County in Texas. Dickinson is in Galveston County, and that’s where this idiotic incident happened. The Statesman had it wrong, and I’m letting them know, too.
26How can a cafeteria worker, who probably doesn’t make a whole heck of a lot, justify her taking the kid’s food away? I’d have quit my job first..My mother used to say that some people were as mean as cat sh*t. This lady has litter stuck all over her.
27Did some far reaching reading on cafeteria incidents. The cafeteria worker in this story has a helluva lot of company. It aint the measly 30 cents or whatever. Its the color of the child, the ethnicity, sometimes the religion and definitely the impoverished background. I can only conclude that such slop dealers (that is pretty much what the hot food looks like) spend their free time tending to the flying monkeys they keep at home. Message to these people follows: Karma is a bitch.
28When I read the story I looked up the Dickinson, Texas School Board and emailed the Board president. They set the policy, and this policy needs changing. Here in Dallas, every child eats free now. I hope Dickinson ISD has gotten enough bad publicity that they consider changing the mean, petty attitudes of those who set the policy for the schools.
29I’m a little late getting to this, but the last year I had a kid in school, the school board looked at the 70% free and reduced lunch rate, took advantage of some federal money (don’t know the specifics) and discovered it would cost very little to give everyone free lunch and get rid of all of the bookkeeping headaches. Might be a good idea for a lot of places.
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