Around New England

Lunch Lady Fired For Allowing Kid To Take Food He Couldn’t Pay For Right Away

May 16, 2019

A high school lunch lady in New Hampshire was fired by the food services company she worked for after she let a student take food even though he couldn’t pay for it.

The company, Café Services, accused her of stealing the $8 lunch fare.

The original incident, which was first reported this week by The Union Leader, took place March 28, when the worker, Bonnie Kimball, quietly told the boy to have his mother put some money in his account but allowed him to take food in the meantime. The next day the boy paid the bill, but later that day the company fired Kimball.

Kimball told The Union Leader that in February a manager had told Kimball to let students take food discreetly even if their accounts were empty, because the company didn’t want any problems arising that might lead the school district not to renew the company’s contract.

Earlier this week the school board of Mascoma Valley Regional High School in Canaan voted to renew the contract for another year, at a cost of more than $560,000, according to The Union Leader. One other company was competing for the contract.

Canaan is a town of about 3,900 in west central New Hampshire next to Mount Cardigan. The regional high school serves five towns in the area.

The chairman of the school board said students whose accounts are exhausted are not supposed to be denied food, but that ordinarily they can only take only the lunch of the day and not any a la carte items, according to The Union Leader.

Kimball had worked at the school for four and a half years and knew the kids there.

Two workers quit the company in protest over how Kimball was treated, but the school board chairman said there have been no problems with the service, according to The Union Leader. He declined to comment on Kimball’s situation.