School lunch shaming: Inside America’s hidden debt crisis
“Matt Antignolo has worked in public school cafeterias for 24 years. He’s learned two key truths: Just about every kid loves pizza, and an alarming number of American youngsters still can’t afford a $2.35 lunch, despite the dramatic expansion of free and reduced lunch programs. When a student doesn’t have enough money for lunch, cafeteria staff in many districts, including Antignolo’s, take away the child’s tray of hot food and hand the student a brown paper bag containing a cold cheese sandwich and a small milk. Some schools take away their lunch entirely. ‘It’s the worst part of the job. Nobody likes it,’ says Antignolo, who’s now director of food services at the Lamar Consolidated District outside Houston. All the other kids in the lunch line know what’s going on. Getting that brown bag is the lunch line equivalent of being branded with a Scarlet Letter. It’s been dubbed ‘school lunch shaming.’”