SALT LAKE CITY – Two employees at a Salt Lake City elementary school have been placed on paid administrative leave as officials investigate an incident during which several students with school lunch account deficits were given lunches only to have them taken away.
According to information from Jason Olsen, who is the communication director for the Salt Lake City School District, The cafeteria manager and her supervisor are on paid administrative leave.
Parents were upset after dozens of students at Uintah Elementary School were served lunch Tuesday only to have the meals later taken from them and thrown in the trash due to negative or zero balances in the students’ school lunch accounts. The students were provided with milk and fruit, and school district officials told FOX 13 News it was school policy for food to be put in the trash in such incidents.
School district officials apologized in a statement Wednesday. They said school officials had begun calling parents Monday and Tuesday to make them aware of the status of their accounts, but they said this came as a surprise to some parents.
Officials said they are working to see if procedures for notifying parents about accounts were followed, and they said they will work with parents, employees and students to find better ways to deal with the issue of late or unpaid lunch fees.
Click here for more details about the incident and the response from parents and school officials.
