Just 15 cents was what stood between a girl and her lunch on the first day back at school.
On Aug. 14, a sophomore at University High School, in Orange City of Volusia County, Florida was told she could not have her lunch because she owed 15 cents.
Her mother, Kimberly Aiken, said she had signed up for the free and reduced-cost lunch program, but it hadn’t taken effect yet. The 15 cents negative balance in the account was carried over from the previous year, Aiken told WKMG. Aiken also said her daughter’s tray of food was thrown away.
“She puts her food on the tray, gets to the front, gives her number to the cashier, and she says, ‘Well, you owe 15 cents.’ My daughter said she didn’t have any money, so the cashier took her food,” Aiken told WKMG.
The spokesman for Volusia County Public Schools, Roger Edgcomb, said that the school “will be contacting the family directly to help resolve this issue.”
“The one thing you don’t want them to worry about is are they going to be able to eat when they go to lunch,” Aiken said. “To think that this could happen to anybody’s child kind of infuriates me.”
Aiken said that on the following day, her daughter brought a quarter to school to make up for the deficit, but was told it had been resolved, KCRA reported.
