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School board discusses state crackdown on ‘food-shaming’

HUGHESVILLE — The East Lycoming School Board has some concerns about new state laws regarding food-shaming that were addressed during its meeting on Tuesday.

“Act 55, which was the final budget piece, finally became law … Not because the governor signed it, but because the governor didn’t sign it. After 10 days, it became law,” said Superintendent Michael Pawlik.

One of the ways the district will be impacted from the new state laws is a new stance on “food-shaming” from the state level, according to Pawlik.

School districts must provide meals to students regardless of ability to pay and cannot engage in food-shaming students who cannot pay or owe the district. In that wavelength, districts must communicate regarding unpaid balances to parents.

“We have to provide all students with a school program, and after a student is charged five lunches, there are specific requirements of contacts to parents we have to make,” Pawlik said. “When they are more than five lunches in debt, we have to offer to help them (parents) fill out the reduced lunch paperwork. It does not matter that it’s not income-based. It doesn’t matter that, ‘Hey, wait, I just forgot to send my son’s check in.’ We will need to reach out to them and ask if they need help with the free, reduced lunch form.”

Pawlik said he anticipates this might be confusing for some parents.

“You may have someone say on the phone, ‘Hey, I appreciate it, but my wife and I make $220,000 a year.’ We’re going to have to say that we appreciate that information, but the law requires us to ask about the free and reduced lunch program,” he said.

He said he has questions about future follow-ups regarding the law because he does not know if the parents need to be contacted if a student ends up with unpaid lunches multiple times other than the first occurrence.

“If we go eight weeks down the road, and they (the parents) pay it up … then we go eight weeks down the road and have five (more unpaid) lunches. Do we need to contact the parents again to offer more assistance?” he said. “We don’t know the answer to that question.”

Members of the Spartan Pride Choir also attended the school board meeting and performed a sample of the program they will perform at 7 p.m. Dec. 7.

“The students in front of you spend a great deal of time rehearsing,” Pawlik said. “Typically, they’re here in the mornings at … 7 a.m. to rehearse for classes.”

Pawlik also acknowledged that the board meeting was the last for three board members.

“Kristy (Creasy), Diane (Santo) and Randy (Eddinger), we are very appreciative of your service and what you’ve done for East Lycoming School District,” he said.

In other business, the school board unanimously approved six field trips:

• Nov. 15 for 15 high school students to visit the Pennsylvania Army National Guard Armory at an $80 cost to the district.

• Dec. 1 for nine high school students to visit Loyalsock Creek Rehabilitation at no cost to the district.

• Dec. 7 for 25 high school students to visit RS Alberts/PCT/ADS Inc. at a cost of about $200 to the district.

• Dec. 15 for 80 high school students to visit Wolf Run Village at a cost of $80 to the district.

• Jan. 3, 2018, for 94 FBLA students to visit Pennsylvania College of Technology at a cost of $260 to the district.

• Feb. 8 for 126 high school students to visit the Community Arts Center at no cost to the district.

Voting yes at the meeting were members Richard Michael, Richard Bradley, Donna Gavitt, Santo, Michael Mamrak, Karen Berger, Eddinger, Robert Heckrote and Creasy.

The next board meeting will be 7 p.m. Dec. 6 at Hughesville High School, 349 Cemetery St.

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