this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2025
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A Boring Dystopia

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[–] VerbFlow@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago
[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 11 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

My wife runs a school kitchen, a big school, 2k+ high schoolers and almost 20 staff. Her pay is actually terrible, but the job has good medical insurance and I'm self employed with no benefits so she's been sticking with it. Collecting debt is part of her job. They never withhold a basic meal (no extras if they have unpaid debt) but that meal gets added to their debt.

They don't threaten anything legal like in this story, but they will not give you your diploma or transfer your credits if you haven't paid your debt in full. We're in Ohio.

[–] muusemuuse@lemm.ee 9 points 6 days ago

Not wanting to feed children doesn’t seem very pro-life.

[–] shittydwarf@sh.itjust.works 208 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Lunch debt? The fuck outta here with that dystopian nightmare shit

[–] rayyy@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago

It's the first stop on the way to slave labor.

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[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 172 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Christ empowered his followers to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and tend to the sick. For some reason American Christians have decided that these explicit dictates should he ignored, much like the reminder that it is not their role to judge, so that they can instead focus on bigotry.

[–] entwine413@lemm.ee 58 points 1 week ago (36 children)

That's pretty much the entire history of Christianity.

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[–] alekwithak@lemmy.world 125 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

State doesn't pay for kid's lunch. If parent can't afford kid's lunch, state takes child and places them in a foster home. State pays foster home many many times the cost of lunch to take kid.

Tell me what the goal of this system is so I can call someone else a conspiracy theorist for a change.

[–] ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago (7 children)

May I introduce the Victorian concept of Children in Workhouses.

That's where you're heading.

[–] punkibas@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

Well that was a fucked up but very interesting read, thanks.

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[–] Spookyghost@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 week ago

I'm betting it's a 'hungry kids yearn for the mines earlier' sort of thing

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[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 95 points 1 week ago (12 children)

Kids go to public school during lunchtime. Public school feeds the children lunch (something with real nutritional value that we would all want our kids eating). Kids do not pay for this. That's it. There should be no further discussion here. If you disagree with this I want to put my thumb into your eye socket in the worst way. It's so fucked up this is even a topic of discussion.

[–] Subverb@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago (4 children)

They're the future of our country and society, and legally required to be there, but we won't feed them.

'cause 'merica you fucking commie.

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[–] OldChicoAle@lemmy.world 72 points 1 week ago

"You might be giving your kids a terrible childhood, so we're going to ensure they have a terrible life starting in our first-class foster care system"

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 67 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Punishing the poor for the crime of poverty.

How typically conservative.

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[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Do the schools actually have the authority to do that or is it like all those other empty threats I use to get? It's insane, but not surprising that the schools would threaten that. The sort of family who has to skip on paying lunch debts also doesn't have means to talk to a lawyer.

edit:

Luzerne County's manager and child welfare agency director have written the superintendent, insisting the district stop making what they call false claims.

Yup, empty threats made to impoverish families.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

" for neglecting your child's right to food"

So you (the district) agree that right exists? Either you're not providing food and thus you're doing the neglecting and also they don't owe you anything, or you are required to provide food regardless of payment because you're in loco parentis during the school hours. And the $450 could very likely have been used to provide food and other necessities for those kids before and after school.

If you want to charge them with neglect, you have to prove they neglected their child, not just your budget.

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[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago

Kids having lunch debt is the most American thing I've ever seen.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 48 points 1 week ago

Starve your kid or lose them. That's quite a choice for a poor parent to make.

My late father grew up in an orphanage because my grandfather was too poor to care for 5 kids and a sick wife. My grandparents were able to take the kids home on Sundays though, so it wasn't a situation where they yielded full custody. I'm not saying an orphanage was ideal, but it's a shame that these days there is not the same kind of middle ground where kids can be cared for but still stay connected to their family. I guess that is too much of a social safety net for conservatives to tolerate.

[–] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Who made this warning?

I need a name

Because that has nothing to do with debt, putting kids in foster care wound only cost the state even more money

That is only about unbridled power and control

Absolutely delusional

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[–] slingstone@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago (3 children)

So it's too expensive to provide school lunch, but not too expensive to completely take over the care of the children entirely. More and more, I understand what people mean when they say the cruelty is the point. This makes zero goddamned sense.

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[–] frezik@midwest.social 43 points 1 week ago (2 children)

How the fuck is that supposed to fix anything? It's easily cheaper for the state to pay for their lunch.

[–] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Homeless people turn into cheap prison labor super easy. And foster kids become homeless so fast.

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[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago

My school held my diploma for 6 months because of $20 worth of lunch debt that turned out to be a computer error.

That was 12 years ago.

Schools using food as a weapon against students is nothing new.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yet another reason why I hate every goddamn billionaire with the fire if a thousand suns.

[–] Mustakrakish@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

*firey passion of a thousand suns

Edit: white hot intensity of a thousand suns (forgot the exact quote)

[–] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

*fiery suns of a thousand passions

[–] Hazor@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

*sunny passions of a dozen fires

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[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Just a reminder that the same people who are against free school lunches for children are the ones who stand in front of abortion clinics screaming about how abortion is murder.

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[–] agent_nycto@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

But why oh why aren't people having kids?!

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