By Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio News

Inconsistent and demeaning policies for students who show up in a Minnesota school cafeteria without lunch money cause too many to go away hungry, advocates for low-income families say.

Students in some districts receive a bread and butter sandwich for a few days. Others receive no meal at all. To prod parents to pay, many districts stamp children’s hands, sometimes with a dollar sign or the words “lunch money.”

The prospect of an “alternative” lunch or a hand stamp can be harmful to a child, say critics, including teachers and child welfare advocates. They say some children may choose to skip meals rather than face those consequences.

To ensure that all children are able to eat lunch and perform in school, some are calling for increased public subsidies for school meals.

School policies that single out students who cannot pay unfairly put children in the middle of a financial transaction between parents and the district, said Jessica Webster, an attorney with Legal Aid.

“Even though we want low-income kids to eat healthy meals, we want them to eat a meal, first of all,” she said.

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