Frank's blog: Lunch lady fired for giving student free food
KTVU's Frank Somerville blogged about a lunch lady who was fired for giving a student free lunch:
“I got fired for having a heart.”
That’s what Dalene Bowden says happened to her after she gave a 12 year-old student a free lunch at the school where she worked in Idaho.
“I know I screwed up, but what are you supposed to do when the kid tells you that they’re hungry and they don’t have any money.”
Bowden worked as a lunch lady at Irving Middle School in Idaho.
Here’s what she says happened:
“I admit I broke the rules.
But I'm not apologizing and I would do exactly the same thing again regardless of the consequences.
I gave a free lunch to a 12-year-old student who didn’t have money to pay for her hot lunch.
I was in the wrong, but what do you do when the kid tells you that they’re hungry, and they don’t have any money?
I handed her the tray.
I love my job, I really do.
This just breaks my heart.”
Bowden said she later offered to pay for the $1.70 lunch, but her supervisor rejected her offer.
The school district then sent her a registered letter (2nd picture) that said:
“The reason for your termination is due to theft-stealing school district property and inaccurate transactions when ordering, receiving and serving food.”
This is one of those cases where it just seems to me that there has to be a different way of handling this.
And I will assume that if you hit “like” that you feel the same way.
I know if a 12 year-old girl comes up to me and says she is hungry, I’m going to give her some food. Who wouldn’t?