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In case you just woke up…

this isn’t about the money, as Mazur has proclaimed. It’s about wielding power over the parents of these kids. And about making them ashamed….

You can’t get much lower than the Wyoming Valley West (Government) School District

https://www.theorganicprepper.com/pennsylvania-school-overdue-lunch-bills/

by Daisy Luther

You’ve probably heard about the school board in Pennsylvania who sent a letter to parents with overdue lunch money tabs threatening to take their children away because of the debt. But did you hear that a local CEO offered to pay off every dime of the bills and the school board refused to take it?

They’d actually prefer to tear children away from their families.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is about the money. It’s not. It’s about power. It’s about humiliating and terrorizing poor families.

UPDATE: After a massive public outcry and the power of the internet, the school board has opted to accept Todd Carmichael’s kind offer to pay the overdue lunch bills.

How this whole thing got started

Dozens of families opened the most shocking letter of their lives last week when the Wyoming Valley West School District, one of the poorest districts in the state, attempted to collect overdue lunch money tabs by threatening to have their children removed from the home if they didn’t pony up immediately.

The letter was only sent to the “worst” offenders – meaning those whose children had a meal debt of $10 or more.

“Your child has been sent to school every day without money and without a breakfast and/or lunch,” the 200-word letter read. “This is a failure to provide your child with proper nutrition and you can be sent to Dependency Court for neglecting your child’s right to food. If you are taken to Dependency court, the result may be your child being removed from your home and placed in foster care.” (source)

The letter was signed by Joseph Muth, director of federal programs for the Wyoming Valley West School District.  Joseph Mazur, the president of the district’s board of education, has defended the letter because “it worked.”

Mazur emphasized that despite some students not having enough money to afford breakfast and lunch, the school district still fed all the children.

“Every poor kid got a meal,” Mazur said. “If the Board of Directors was mean and cruel they’d just honestly say, ‘Stop the lunches,’ but we didn’t.” (source)

Mazur claimed that the school district’s $8 million budget was stretched thin and that they were desperate to claim the money owed by parents.

A philanthropic Pennsylvania businessman TRIED to step in.

If the school board is truly desperate, then why on earth would they turn down a businessman’s offer to pay the entire $22,000 debt?

Todd Carmichael, chief executive and co-founder of La Colombe Coffee in Philadelphia, says he grew up poor and knew what it felt like to be hungry. So Carmichael, in true voluntaryist spirit, offered to take care of the outstanding lunch money bills.

In a letter sent to papers in the Wilkes-Barre area on Monday, Carmichael said his offer was motivated in part because he received free meals as a child growing up near Spokane, Washington.

“I know what it means to be hungry,” Carmichael wrote. “I know what it means to feel shame for not being able to afford food.” (source)

But Joseph Mazur, who says the school district is cutting every possible cost to stay afloat, turned down the offer.

Why would a desperate school district turn down a check for 22,000?

Because Mazur believes “the money is owed by parents who can afford to pay.”…

Furthermore, his refusal to accept Mr. Carmichael’s offer tells me that this isn’t about the money, as Mazur has proclaimed. It’s about wielding power over the parents of these kids. And about making them ashamed….

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