Kid Gets Thrown In Isolation Because He Couldn’t Pay For School Lunch
The public school lunch system at this London school is pretty savage. It’s not unusual to pay a fee for a semester’s-worth of cafeteria lunch, but when the payment isn’t made, the kids get punished at Michaela Community School, and parents aren’t digging it.
That dilemma came up for Dionne Kelly, who couldn’t pay for her 12-year-old’s lunch fee at Michaela Community. The school can’t really let the kid go hungry, so they still gave him food, but he was put in “Lunch Isolation,” where he received a sandwich and a piece of fruit.
Here’s what students’ parents get in the mail when their lunch payment is late at Michaela Community, courtesy of Richard Adams from The Guardian:
“The deadline for this term’s lunch payments was 1st June 2016. You are now one week over due.
You are currently £75 overdue. If this full amount is not received within this week your child will be placed into Lunch Isolation from Monday, 13th June 2016.
They will receive a sandwich and piece of fruit only. They will spend the entire 60 minutes period in lunch isolation.
Only when the entire outstanding sum is paid in full will they be allowed into family lunch with their classmates.”
It’s nice that the kid can still be fed, but tossing him in solitary confinement like a dangerous prisoner sounds a little excessive for lunch.
At this point, it’s a he said, she said situation.
The mom claims she paid the fee and her son was still punished, while the school said the payment wasn’t received.
Michaela’s principal, Katharine Birbalsingh, defended the isolation, saying that several schools use isolation as discipline, and they only do it so parents feel the urgency to get their shit together, essentially. She also said the isolation was partially due to bad behavior from the kid the previous day.
While the punishment might seem a little harsh, at least the kids are eating, even if it’s alone.
