Since the Rapid City Area Schools nutrition department announced last week that it would be sending school lunch debt to collections, I have been inundated with emails from concerned community members. I’m so touched and impressed by this community’s willingness to rally around families that are struggling. That said, I stand by my policy vote last month that allowed the district to take this step.
The RCAS district has never denied a child food. No matter how much debt the child’s family has accrued, we understand that hungry children struggle to learn, and we have maintained a compassionate approach to our kids. Guardians, however, have been taking advantage of this policy. Because the district always feeds kids, their parents or guardians have had little incentive to pay off lunch debt as it accrues. And it has definitely accrued: it is at $185,000 so far this school year, and this is after the community rallied two years ago to pay off around $200,000 in lunch debt.
Here are some facts to keep in mind:
- Six of our schools (Knollwood, General Beadle, Horace Mann, Robbinsdale, South Park, and North Middle School) are CEP schools – Community Eligibility Provision. This means that no student at these schools pays for breakfast or lunch. None of these students has contributed to school lunch debt.
- At least 42% of our students overall receive free or reduced lunch. This means that very few of our lowest-income families are accruing any meaningful school lunch debt. We estimate that about 3% of the $185,000 in lunch debt is owed by families who qualify for reduced-price lunch.Â
What this means is that, in most cases, the parents or guardians who hold school lunch debt are not the neediest families in our community.
The district’s intent with this action is to encourage families who can pay for student meals to do so and to encourage families who cannot pay to complete a free and reduced-price lunch application. The nutrition department is more than willing to work out payment plans with families. Nobody in this district wants families to endure the hardship of collections.
And the district’s action has worked. As of midweek, at least 50 families have contacted the district to arrange payment plans; these families will not be sent to collections. About $20,000 of debt has been paid off by the families who accrued it, and another $20,000 has been donated to the lunch fund. I don’t yet know how many families have filled out free and reduced-price lunch applications since the notices went out, but I’m hopeful that they will.
In a perfect world, all students should eat for free at public schools, regardless of income. That is a decision the federal government made during Covid and could make again. Until then, we will continue to serve free meals to students at CEP schools and to students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. To continue providing the best possible food service, we also ask that families who can afford to pay for their students’ lunches do so promptly.
Christine Stephenson is a parent of two students in the Rapid City Area School district and is a member of the RCAS Board of Education. The views expressed here are her own and do not reflect the views of the school district or the Board of Education, the Rapid City Post, it’s affiliates, or advertisers.
