A third-grade student at Gardendale Elementary School in Alabama was recently sent home with a stamp on his arm that read: “I Need Lunch Money.”
The message was intended for the 8-year-old’s parents, to inform them that their son’s lunch money account was running low.
Nez Calhoun, director of public information for Jefferson County Schools told ThinkProgress that stamps like that are “pretty standard across the district.” “They get a stamp to notify the parents,” Calhoun said. “We’ll call, write letters — whichever way — but all children get stamps when [their accounts] are at zero dollars to get awareness up.”
The boy’s father, Jon Bivens was shocked when his son came home with the stamp on his arm. To make matters worse, the boy still had $1.38 left in his account, so it wasn’t like it was empty or overdrawn.
“I can’t think of one logical reason why anyone would stamp on a note on a child’s arm,” he said. “We have so much technology and multiple ways to communicate.”
Father says his son was ‘branded’ with ‘I need lunch money’ stamphttps://t.co/FElaAtpkcw pic.twitter.com/tK7F0c9Ajy
— FOX25 News Boston (@fox25news) June 15, 2016
Bivens admitted he initially thought the stamp said something like “good job,” but once he realized, he was stunned!
Calhoun says it’s, “It is extremely unfortunate that this happened to that student. I feel for the parent, but we didn’t know anything about it until we saw the story in the paper.” According to the district, students with insufficient funds in their account to cover lunch are given a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple to eat.
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School Sends Child Home With Stamp: ‘I Need Lunch Money’ is an article from: LifeDaily