CANTON, N.Y. — Potsdam Central School in upstate New York is figuring out what to do about $5,000 in unpaid school lunch fees owed by parents. The school is grappling with how to collect the debt.
Children in the lunch line at Potsdam Central School can charge their meals. The bill goes to their parents, but sometimes the parents don’t pay.
"And then the school is put in a position where they don’t want to deny the meal so they allow charging, and at some point it starts to become an issue as the accounts start ratcheting up," said Potsdam Superintendent Pat Brady.
Every year, Brady said, some families don’t pay their lunch bills. Bu there are more outstanding bills than usual this year. "We have a deficit of $5,000 here early in the year with the lunch program and most lunch programs struggle to break even anyway."
Brady said some families who haven’t paid their lunch bills could qualify for free and reduced lunch, but the district can’t figure out who they are without paperwork the parents are supposed to file at the beginning of the year.