Goffstown School District has changed its mind on a recent decision to take a family delinquent on their meal accounts to small claims court this summer.
According to a September 15 New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) article, the Goffstown School District had announced the dropping of the small claims suit that opened this summer and the acceptance of the local church’s (St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church) offer of a monied gift for the delinquent student meal accounts.
The School Administrative Unit (SAU) 19 school board passed a policy this past year that allows the business administrator of the school district to sue families delinquent on their debt in small claims court, according to InDepthNH.org.
The InDepthNH article goes on to explain how Rev. Jason Wells of St. Matthew’s had decided, along with its congregation, to pay the student meal debts as a gift to the school.
Yet Scott Gross, SAU 19 business administrator, did not seem interested in the gift money, stating he “would speak against it at the School Board” and that it “is a very complicated issue,” deciding to move forward with a lawsuit on a family that was delinquent $1500 over the summer.
However, during Gross’ interview with the InDepthNH reporter Damien Fisher, Gross talked about the lack of communication with the families and the multiple times the district has reached out to them. Fisher asked about how the lack of communication and delinquency may be an indicator of severe financial struggle. Gross then stated he is, “not making a judgment on anything other than you need to communicate.”
How the school district thought that at any point taking small claims suits against struggling families was acceptable is beyond comprehension.
Suing the families is not going to fix anything. They are obviously struggling to keep up with the meal payments, and taking them to court and racking up legal fees will not be any better, especially when the local church is offering a monied gift (alms if you will) to the school district for meal debts.
When you read the article you can see in real time the regret in Gross’ responses as he goes from taking a hardline position against the idea to a softer, more tacit approach.
St. Matthew’s response to the court proceedings was to start a second fund to support the legal fees incurred by any families brought to court.
It is absurd that school meals are pay-at-the-point of service as it is, as they should be budgeted into the school’s yearly budget like other expenses. New Hampshire seems to have some aversion to raising taxes for anything, and it would be keen of us as a state to ensure that state and local taxes reflect that need for funding if there is a required increase.
Paying for children’s meals with tax money is not the worst thing in the world; if that is too much of an infringement on your “freedom” to decide on where your money goes, then that says a lot about your priorities.
This whole ordeal has made a fool of the district and the administrator; applying bootstrap politics to kids’ meals is mental to even consider. The most frustrating aspect is how in “small c” conservative instances such as this, there seems to be no regard for the children. It is preached to protect and prioritize children but if you cannot afford to pay for your kids’ meals, then I guess we will see you in court.
Timothy Fitzpatrick can be contacted at
tfitzpatrick@kscequinox.com
