<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-cheese18jun18,1,5739875.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage>http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-cheese18jun18,1,5739875.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
From the Los Angeles Times
On school menus: cheese sandwiches, parental debt
By Richard Marosi Times Staff Writer
June 18, 2007
CHULA VISTA, CALIF. When too many parents fell behind on paying for school lunches, the Chula Vista Elementary School District decided to get tough on the children.
They told students with deadbeat parents that they had only one lunch choice: a cheese sandwich.
The sandwich, served on whole wheat bread, came with a clear message: Tell your parents to pay up or no more pizza and burgers for you.
Cheese sandwiches and other "alternate meals" have been added to menus in school districts across the country as they try to take a bite out of parents' lunch debts.
The strategy worked in Chula Vista: Lunch debts in the district fell from about $300,000 in 2004 to $67,000 in 2006. Some angry parents say success came at too high a cost, however.
The cheese sandwich, they say, has become a badge of shame for the children, who get teased about it by their classmates. One student cried when her macaroni and cheese was replaced with a sandwich. A little girl hid in a restroom to avoid getting one. Many of the sandwiches end up untouched or tossed whole in the garbage. Sometimes kids pound them to pieces.
"I think it's an infamous cheese sandwich," said Frank Luna, whose son, Christopher, just finished the sixth grade.
A year ago, he said, a cafeteria worker took away Christopher's pizza and forced him in front of his friends to pick up a sandwich instead. A similar incident occurred when Christopher was in the third grade. "The kid was humiliated," said his father, who added that he did not realize he owed money, $7.50.
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