For some families, going back to school means going back to lunchroom debt
Before Minnesota banned school lunch shaming, children who owed money to the cafeteria might be handed a cold cheese sandwich for lunch. Or no lunch at all.
They might come home from school wearing a humiliating sticker or hand stamp to let their parents — and every other kid on the school bus — know they were in debt.
They might be banned from field trips or fun class activities until someone paid up.
But Minnesota did ban lunch shaming. State lawmakers, who don’t agree on much, came together across party lines on that one last year. Because a child’s biggest worry at lunchtime should be more along the lines of whether today is Pizza Day or not.
The law changed. Many school district policies did not.
As students head back to school, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid — which has battled for years to identify and eradicate lunch shaming — went