I came into the thread prepared to be angry, then they said, “neglecting your child’s right to food”, and honestly, that’s exactly what the parents are doing. If they don’t want to pay for school lunch, pack one. If you want to do neither, choosing not to feed your child at all does sound like neglect, and the school is picking up the slack.

School lunch is so important for learning outcomes, lunch should be covered by tax revenue anyways. I hope we get there one day. But these parents sent their child to school knowing full well how the system works today.

Did you know over 70% of all homeless people were in foster care. Did you know the cost to raise a kid outpaced the median income 30 years ago. Did you know punishing the children because of some misguided understanding of morality is the reason kids go hungry in the first place. Also just because a kid has a home lunch doesn’t mean it’s quality food. What needs to happen is a national free food for everyone program. Not like we’re the “wealthiest” country on earth.

Just because a school provides lunch doesn’t mean its quality food either.