WTF?!

Rhode Island, which one would ordinarily assume takes a relatively enlightened stance on just about everything, has tarnished its rep incredibly.

Recently,  a Rhode Island school district  prepared to serve a cold meal to students with what's called  lunch debt.  Even when a local diner owner offered to help pay down some of that debt, he was rebuffed.  Amidst the outrage that ensued, the school district backed down.

Here's the kicker.  Some state's laws ban the practice of singling out students with unpaid lunch debt.  There have also been proposals for a federal law that would end the practice nationwide. Trouble is,  it's the Federal government's fault in the first place.  The Department of Agriculture establishes the qualifications for school-lunch subsidies, and requires school districts to seek payment for unpaid lunch bills.  How that's accomplished is up to the district.

In Rhode Island, kids have been forced to wear stamps or wristbands that identify them as having debt. In Minnesota, students with lunch debt at one high school were going to be kept from their graduation ceremony.

Like I said, WTF?!