I’m seeing an opportunity for some rich schmuck to do some reputation-repair.

Short of paying for the entire meal program, it may not be possible. Some districts do not allow people to pay for meals/debt that OSS not their own.

When my youngest two kids were in elementary school I used to go eat lunch with them. One of the boys in my son’s class had too much debt and they would not give him food. I tried to pay his debt ($20ish) and they would not let me, so I tried to pay for his meal, not allowed. So we went and sat down at the table and I gave him a twenty. The lunch lady accepted it, but gave me a hassle about it. I told her he found it in his pocket while we were eating.

That’s really weird. Also are you allowed to just go eat with your children at school or you need some kind of special forms and access? They can’t just let a bunch of adults into the school randomly.