Cheese Sandwiches For Punishment

If you have children out there and don't homeschool them, perhaps you may change your mind after reading this story.

CHULA VISTA, CALIF. — When too many parents fell behind on paying for school lunches, the Chula Vista Elementary School District decided to get tough — on the children.

They told students with deadbeat parents that they had only one lunch choice: a cheese sandwich.

The sandwich, served on whole wheat bread, came with a clear message: Tell your parents to pay up — or no more pizza and burgers for you.

Cheese sandwiches and other "alternate meals" have been added to menus in school districts across the country as they try to take a bite out of parents' lunch debts.

The strategy worked in Chula Vista: Lunch debts in the district fell from about $300,000 in 2004 to $67,000 in 2006. Some angry parents say success came at too high a cost, however.

The cheese sandwich, they say, has become a badge of shame for the children, who get teased about it by their classmates. One student cried when her macaroni and cheese was replaced with a sandwich. A little girl hid in a restroom to avoid getting one. Many of the sandwiches end up untouched or tossed whole in the garbage. Sometimes kids pound them to pieces.

"I think it's an infamous cheese sandwich," said Frank Luna, whose son, Christopher, just finished the sixth grade.

A year ago, he said, a cafeteria worker took away Christopher's pizza and forced him in front of his friends to pick up a sandwich instead. A similar incident occurred when Christopher was in the third grade. "The kid was humiliated," said his father, who added that he did not realize he owed money, $7.50.

In Chula Vista, the largest elementary school district in the state, administrators said they had to control the ballooning debt before it forced them to make cuts in such areas as classroom equipment and books.

"When we did nothing, there was no incentive to pay," said Dennis Doyle, assistant superintendent of the district, which serves about 18,000 meals daily, including at most 400 alternate meals.

Most schools across the country have introduced alternate meals, said Erik Peterson, a spokesman for the School Nutrition Assn., an Alexandria, Va.-based organization for school nutrition professionals.

Orange County's Capistrano Unified School District serves crackers with peanut butter or cheese. The Los Angeles Unified School District gives children half a sandwich and a piece of fruit. Peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches are a common alternate meal, but not a very effective one.

"It seemed to be one of the children's very favorite meals, so that wasn't productive," said Beth Taylor, nutrition director for the Johnston County School District in North Carolina, where such sandwiches were tried. Taylor said switching to vegetable and fruit trays changed everything. Among last week's menu items for students with lunch balances: crunchy cole slaw, fried squash and steamed cabbage. "The outstanding debt has been reduced to nothing," she said.

School districts have long struggled with parents' failure to keep up with lunch payments. The problem is worse in wealthier areas, where most children do not receive free or reduced-price lunches. In Chula Vista, 61% of children pay full price for their lunches.

Districts stress that the alternate meals are a last resort.

They send letters to parents. They hire collection agencies. Some place stickers on children's hands or put rubber bands on their wrists as reminders, said Peterson.

But alternate meals get the best results.

An effective alternate meal has to do two things: meet federal nutritional standards and flunk child taste tests. The cheese sandwich, typically served on untoasted whole wheat bread, apparently qualifies as one perfectly healthy stinker of a meal.

At lunch on a recent day at Chula Vista's Hilltop Elementary School, one boy who'd been handed a cheese sandwich pulled out the slice of American cheese and ate only the bread. A fourth-grade boy didn't even unwrap his sandwich. "I don't like it," he said. "I want pizza."

The sandwiches' low appeal is one thing. The stigma attached to them is worse, parents say.

One Chula Vista third-grader, whose mother requested that the girl not be identified, said students sometimes ostracize the cheese sandwich kids, switching tables and talking behind their backs. "Some kids say they're not the kind of kids you want to hang out with," she said.

Another girl said the cheese sandwich is "for people who don't have money."

Rosemarie Gonzalez said her daughter, a first-grader, was so troubled when she got the cheese sandwich that for three weeks she had to be reassured that her lunch account was current. Another panicky child broke into her piggy bank just in case her parents needed money.

Raegan Edwards, the mother of the third-grade girl, said parents don't always realize they've fallen behind, and the district doesn't let them know until it's too late. The alternate meal kicks in quickly, when a child's tab exceeds $5.

Edwards said she doesn't believe children should be in the middle of a dispute between adults. "I don't think an 8-year-old should be tasked with reminding their parents to pay," she said.

But Chula Vista administrators say that many parents agree with their approach and that they wouldn't need it if parents lived up to their responsibilities. Parents can pre-pay for the meals by sending checks with their children or dropping off money at the school. They can also let their children pay daily. The price for a meal in the district is $1.50 — and about 6% of parents currently owe lunch money.

Joan Pernicano, a former school counseling assistant from San Diego, recently wrote to her local paper to say that schools shouldn't be burdened with parental debt.

"Let's put the blame where the blame should be, with the parents. If you care about your children and don't want them stigmatized, go pay your bill," said Pernicano, a San Diego resident.

Doyle, the Chula Vista assistant superintendent, said the district is caught in a "darned if you do, darned if you don't" situation and has gone to great lengths to avoid stigmatizing children.

This year it introduced a turkey-ham sandwich alternate meal. Next year, Doyle said, the alternate meal might sometimes be tacos.

All students are encouraged to avail themselves of the unlimited salad bar, where they can spice up the plain sandwiches with garbanzo beans, pickles, mayonnaise and lettuce.

"We think we have one of the most compassionate practices with respect to all of this," Doyle said.

Deadbeat parents? So, if you are behind on paying for school lunches, you're a deadbeat parent? Punish the children? Nice tactic you sick sons of bitches!!

Alternate meals? Why don't you just give the kids a slice of bread and some water? After all, you're treating them like criminals so they might as well eat like criminals!! They claim that they're trying not to humiliate the children. But that's exactly what they're doing. Quite frankly, they don't give a damn that they're humiliating the children. It's all about the buck!! If they don't get the money, they don't care who they have to go through to get it. If a child is treated like trash because their parents owe as little as $5.00, it's totally acceptable to these people.

It's sickening, and if I had a child my child wouldn't be going to school. My child would be taught at home!! This is just the latest example of why I would never send my child to any school. They treat your children like shit on the bottom of their shoes, and I would never subject a child to that.

My suggestion to these "people" is simple. You eat a fucking cheese sandwich every single day for weeks or months on end, and see how you fucking like it. Schools have an obligation to treat every child with respect, and this certainly isn't a show of respect. If you have a problem with the parent, leave the child out of it.