Pocatello, ID lunch lady fired for giving student free lunch

Delane Bowden, the Pocatello, Idaho cafeteria worker who was sacked after she gave a 12-year-old girl a free lunch, has been offered her job back.

Interim District 25 Superintendent Doug Howell has since offered Bowden the chance to return, according to a statement from Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25. He goes on to say the district takes “extreme efforts” to ensure students get free or reduced fee hot lunches if their families can not afford them. Bowden says that they are instructed to throw the real food away if a child over the limit attempts to buy it – a problem that somehow still persists nationwide in 2015.

Even though Bowden offered to pay for the lunch which cost $1.70, she was ultimately relieved of her duties by the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District. “Then i got the letter”. A Facebook page called Give Dalene Bowden Her Job Back has gathered more than 7,000 likes.

The school district released a statement Wednesday night saying state law prohibits school officials from discussing personnel matters, but it said it has never taken action against an employee for a single incident.

According to Bowden, a supervisor placed her on leave after witnessing what she had done. She has hired an attorney to look into the case. After a student exceeds that limit, his or her parents are notified that they need to pay their dues. This time she put her pin number in again, and that’s when the school realized she did have enough money and made her pay $1.70.

School officials did not immediately return a request for comment from NBC News.

She plans to seek legal counsel regarding the termination letter accusing her of theft.

Bowden’s story garnered hundreds of comments on social media. The district participates with the Idaho Foodbank’s weekend backpack program that sends food items home with needy students. “Students must be provided with an adequate meal”. “I think the district’s policy needs to be changed”. The District works daily to help children who are hungry, who need healthcare, who are homeless and who are neglected and/or abused.

A petition posted online to save a Pocatello lunch lady’s job has almost 45-thousand supporters Wednesday morning.