Keller ISD to offer 'alternative' school meals for students more than $25 in debt
KELLER, Texas - Keller ISD will soon offer students "alternative school meals" if their lunch debt gets too high.
Efforts to change school meals over negative balances have been met by backlash in other parts of the country.
The new regulation was presented to the Keller ISD school board last month. During that presentation, it was shared that students racked up $66,000 in lunch debt one year that the district had to pay.
The new regulation has sparked some controversy online and concern for the implications it might have on students.
Under the new meal policy, Keller ISD students will only be allowed to have a negative account balance of $25.
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Once the balance exceeds that amount, students will receive an alternative meal until the negative balance is resolved.
"It sets the cap. And once they reach that, they get this alternative meal for no charge until they get their balance rectified," explained Keller ISD Asst. Superintendent Dustin Blank.
The alternative meal includes a SunButter and jelly sandwich for breakfast, a turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch, fresh fruit and an option for white or chocolate milk.
The current policy doesn’t limit how much students can exceed a negative balance, leaving the district to foot the bill like last year.
"We didn’t have this process in place, and students were allowed to charge beyond that," said Blank. "One issue with that is it ran up a bill of about $66,000 that we had to pay."
In the presentation, the district said the goal is to make sure all students have a nutritious meal.
There are some community members who believe this could do more harm than good and highlight socioeconomic differences between kids.
FOX 4 found an online fundraiser for students at Keller ISD to pay off lunch debts. It’s raised more than $5,000.
The district says it’s going to work on multiple ways of communicating with parents regarding a negative balance.
"We will send out notifications weekly in the form of campus negative balance letters," Blank explained.
The campus cashiers will notify students if their account is becoming negative or if they have to get an alternative meal.
One board member asked what this would look like in a lunchroom setting.
"The first time it comes through, they’re gonna have a conversation with the student that the next time they come through their meal will be an alternated to a different meal," said Blank. "We don’t want students to be caught off guard. And so it’s not gonna be that they pull meals out of their hands or pull them out of the line. It’s gonna be discreet."
The negative balance is calculated per student not by household or family.
There are programs that allow families to receive free or reduced lunches at school and Keller ISD encourages families to apply if they need to.
The district plans to communicate with parents through the school website, newsletters and emails about the new policy to make sure any negative balances can be restored before the policy goes into effect on October 21.