SARASOTA, Fla. (WSVN) — A school letter went home to parents of children at one Florida school, saying their kids could move to the front of the lunch line in the cafeteria if they sent in extra money.
Lawton Chiles Middle Academy’s Principal Brian Andrews said he was not aware of the letter, and that he strives to include every child.
“This definitely hits home for me and I am very upset about it,” Andrews said.
One student’s father was the first to speak out about the letter, where the PTSA was raising money by having parents pay $100 for a pass for their students to go to the front of the lunch line.
“Let me read this again. This can’t be right,” Chris Stevenson recalled. “They can’t have thought, ‘This is a great idea.’”
Stevenson said the letter sent the wrong message to students.
“If we’re putting kids in the front because Dad has money, this dad over here doesn’t. Why didn’t that click? It’s 2017. It’s not the 1960s,” he told Fox 13. “We’re not telling people to go to the back of the bus because you’re poor. It’s stupid. It’s beyond where we should be at this point.”
After he took to Facebook, he found there were several other offended parents.
The Parent-Teacher-Student Association is taking the blame.
“This family and business sponsorship program was explored, but we decided not to implement,” the president of the PTSA explained to Fox 13. “Due to a clerical error, the form was inadvertently included in the orientation packets.”
The school superintendent was also quick to shoot down the idea after the issue was brought to her attention.
“It’s not the way we operate,” Dr. Jacqueline Byrd insisted. “This story is not happening.”
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