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Despicable: teachers stealing federally funded student lunches

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Despicable: teachers stealing federally funded student lunches

Teachers in Germantown High, in Pennsylvania, have allegedly been stealing federally funded student lunches for poor students. This disgusting practice has meant that a number of students have had to go without food. One brave teacher had the audacity to do everything in her power to put an end to the thefts… and was fired.

SAMENIA MAYER said that she’d always tried to do right by the students she served at Germantown High, where she recruited and trained mentors to keep incoming freshmen on the right path.

So, when she noticed that teachers there were helping themselves to federally funded lunches before their students could get to them during a summer program, she complained to the principal, who ignored her complaints, she said.

Mayer said that the problem became so bad that even when the school ordered more than 100 boxed lunches for about 80 students, up to 20 students still went hungry, an allegation that students backed up last week.

She alerted alumni, clergy and community organizers, about what was going on, but when nothing changed, she called and e-mailed staff at the school district, seeking action. She was told to raise her concerns with the school’s principal, Margaret Mullen-Bavwidinsi, who turned around and fired her, Mayer said. To add insult to injury, the day after she was fired, signs went up around the building warning teachers not to eat the students’ food.

… Mayer was incensed.

“The staff gets paid. They have no right to take that,” she said of the students’ lunches, paid for by a $6.5 million Department of Labor grant. “This is the federal government’s money. You have to do what they tell you to do with it.”

… During a recent parent roundtable, Mayer brought her concerns to Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, whose aides suggested that she inform the principal. A district spokesman said that the district expects to fill the TAP position, but added that a principal is responsible for addressing complaints.

Mayer said that she felt that the teachers she’d seen taking lunches – usually hoagies, chips, fruit, cookies and juice or water – were cheating their students, 83 percent of whom are considered economically disadvantaged, according to district figures.

“Some of [the students] would come to me crying, saying that they haven’t eaten,” she said.

Last week, two teachers leaving the school who didn’t want to identify themselves denied the claim.

“Do you see what the students are fed? Why would I want to eat that?” asked one teacher, while the other added that she buys her lunch from the culinary students.

But incoming freshman Cierra Riley said that she was annoyed after seeing teachers digging in her grub earlier this month.

“For some of the kids, these are their last [meals] for the day,” she said.

Her friend, Kayla Hazzard, also a freshman, said that on several occasions she and at least five classmates she knew didn’t eat.

“A Campus Pal [a high school senior] told us that they ran out of food because the staff was eating our stuff,” she said of one of those instances. One time, “they tried to give me just an apple.”

… But Mullen-Bavwidinsi and Datcher said that Mayer wasn’t innocent. They said that she not only ate the food but also brought leftovers home to her four kids.

“We are not filing a grievance [against the district] because Samenia is not giving you the whole picture,” Datcher said. “Do you think I would jeopardize my career if she got fired because she asked a question? We better have more than that to hang on.”

Mayer scoffed at the accusation.

“Why would I take food that was left out all day to my kids?” she asked. “Why would I go to great lengths to go to 440 [Broad Street, district headquarters] based off of something I was doing too? That’s hypocritical.”

In an e-mail to Mayer sent on July 17, Mullen-Bavwidinsi told her to leave the matter alone.

“Since you are NOT in charge of DOL incentives as part of your charge, I will respectfully ask that you NOT concern yourself with this issue,” she wrote.

When reached at her school last week, Mullen-Bavwidinsi said that teachers are not allowed to eat the lunches and that she didn’t recall sending the e-mail. She declined to comment further.

Can you sink any lower than this? I am just disgusted at the thought of this. It doesn’t surprise me — a school abusing federal funds is hardly news — but to steal food from your students, to where they have nothing to eat for the day is absolutely despicable. It’s unforgivable. I am furious, and I don’t even have children affected by this. I can’t even imagine how these students’ parents must be feeling. And the school is still trying to cover the whole thing up, even though Mayer was able to produce e-mails that seem to prove that she isn’t lying.

The really sad thing? As outraged and angry as I am that this happened, I’m also not surprised. There’s a reason that more and more Americans don’t trust public education. It’s because more and more public schools are proving to be untrustworthy, thanks to the teachers unions. Bad teachers are rewarded and given a lifetime pass, never held accountable for their actions or the bad education they dole out to their students. The state of education in America today is horrific, and it’s easy to see why homeschooling is becoming more and more appealing to parents.

As for the so-called educators at Germantown High, there’s only one thing that needs to happen here. That principal needs to be fired, like yesterday, and any teachers found to have stolen food need to be fired as well, along with any other teachers who may have covered up the fraud. Of course, it probably won’t happen. The school district is already saying that the claims are unfounded, despite students who went without food backing up Mayer’s claims, despite e-mails between Mayer and the principal about this matter. Pathetic, isn’t it? But it’s typical of our schools. Teacher screws up, and the school district circles the wagons to protect them, no matter how bad it is.

Hat Tip: Hot Air

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4 Comments
  • AW1 Tim says:

    Cassy,

    It should go beyond firings. What these teachers did is called “theft” and they stole from items supported by Federal monies, and that makes it a Federal crime.

    It’s bad enough to steal from a school, but to literally steal a child’s food is beyond despicable, and EVERYONE of those involved ought to see some sort of jail time.

  • Jenny says:

    The thieving teachers should be prosecuted if proven guilty. Furthermore demand consequences on all the administrative staff that failed to do their job and looked the other way. Penalize them monetarily by a reduction in this years salary and demote them permanently. An email thread is handy. I agree – unions protect unproductive teachers. If enough parents are aware they may push for home schooling and vouchers.

  • noodle says:

    One more reason why the government should not be in charge of anything. There are no checks and balances. Let a private organization or a church provide meals for the needy.

  • Anonymous says:

    Left/liberal “educators” suck, are bunch of thugs and dumbly create evidence (that warning e-mail)… rules don’t apply to them, unless it’s federal fraud and being sued for wrongful dismissal that is.

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