I worked for five years as a lunchroom lady in my kids’ elementary school.
The abuse of the free and reduced lunch program is rampant.
The kids whose parents were honest and didn’t try to game the system did sometimes have debt or came without money.
We were allowed to let them have lunch up to 5 times without payment. After that we were not allowed to give them a lunch.
When they came through the line, we would have to remind them that they owed money and then take the food from them and send them on their way.
This was embarrassing for these kids and they became almost afraid to come through the line in case they owed and couldn’t get food.
The school had no problem with this humiliation of these poor kids.
But, one could be reprimanded or even fired if one was caught revealing which kids had free or reduced lunches!
We must not humiliate the little darlings by telling their peers that they were too poor to buy their own food.
when i was in grammar school, back in the 70s, every now and then a kid would not have a lunch, or would not have his lunch money or ticket... that kid would be given a bun/roll and a milk... it did not happen often... once i had my little purse stolen--so i had no lunch money... my teacher took me to the teachers' lounge and gave me some lunch from her stash--cheese, crackers and veggies... i will never forget that!