Free lunch could cost worker job

Dalene Bowden admits that she broke the rules, but she’s not apologizing and says she would do exactly the same thing again.

Bowden was put on leave early last week after she gave a free lunch to a 12-year-old girl who said she was hungry and didn’t have any money for a meal.

“I love my job, I really do”, Bowden told the Statesman.

“Cause they’re hungry”, said Bowden.

“So, I handed her the food and said, ‘Here”.

The paper also quoted Shelley Allen, a spokeswoman for the District 25 schools board, as saying children who can not afford to pay their lunch bill are usually provided with a snack but that kitchen workers are expected to remove their lunch tray.

Bowden says that she plans to seek legal advice. Students who have exceeded the tab are supposed to be given a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

School District 25 Interim Superintendent Douglas Howell said he couldn’t discuss the specifics of Bowden’s personnel matter. The petition can be linked to directly at www.thepetitionsite.com/393/046/931/do-not-let-a-child-suffer-need-a-hot-lunch. “We’ll take care of it in a minute, ‘” she said.

Lunch rooms in the district throw out food every day, Bowden said, so giving the girl a free lunch did not shortchange the paying students. “And they never called me…then I got the letter”, she said.

She tells KPVI parents of Irving Middle School students want her back, but Dean Molder says there’s a bigger problem here, “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 added: “I think the district’s policy needs to be changed”.