Lunch lady canned over giving free lunch offered her job back

That’s what Dalene Bowden says happened to her after she gave a 12 year-old student a free lunch at the school where she worked in Idaho.

Dalene Bowden, from Idaho, received a termination letter from the Pocatello School District last week after she gave a tray of food to a 12-year-old student who said she didn’t have money for the meal.

WPTV NBC Dalene Bowden was offered her job back after being fired for giving a meal to a middle school student who said she didn’t have any money.

Earlier this week, she received a one-page letter from the he Pocatello/Chubbuck School District informing her she had been fired over her “theft” of school property.

Pocatello, Idaho, Mayor Brian Blad met with interim school district superintendent Doug Howell on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the impact Bowden’s termination had on the city, according to the Idaho State Journal.

A firestorm of support has asked for Bowden to get her job back. “That’s probably why the girl came to me when she didn’t have any money”. “Send them out there so they can get it taken away and thrown away? No!”

“If a kid can not pay for a meal or a parent can not pay for a meal and a person is punished for feeding that kid”. She has also hired an attorney. Bowden said that if a student exceeds that charge limit, food workers are instructed to take the child’s full lunch and dump it in front of the child and her peers.

The district fired her for theft and for making inaccurate transactions, the newspaper reported. I should not call them he will call me.

“My heart hurts”, she said.

School officials did not immediately return a request for comment from NBC News. But last week, she was sacked – via a letter – over giving a hungry kid a free lunch.

The petition was started by Raushelle Guzman after Bowden was sacked from her job after three years at Irving Middle School.

“I love them, and they all love me, too”, Bowden said.

The petition has so far had over 35,000 signatories.

Many residents of Pocatello believed Bowden’s dismissal was “absurd”. We do not need to humiliate or demean any child or worker in the situation’.

According to Howell, about 6,500 children in District 25 – more than half the students – receive discounted or free hot meals daily.