Heartbreaker

Okay, so I totally got a heart-ripper moment today. We went to lunch and after my kids were through the line, the lunch secretary said she needed to talk to me about Jorge. I knew what was coming, but I had to listen to her anyway. The district has this policy where if a child is in the negative for lunch money to a certain amount, then they can't have lunch! DUMB, yeah I know. Anyway, Adriane (lunch secretary) told me that Jorge had a block on his account because he was whatever amount in the red that made it so he couldn't have lunch. So, I had to walk him all the way back to our office (we go to lunch at the school next door until we move into our new place), tell the office secretary and she gave him crackers to eat because of the dumb district policy. Oh my gosh I wanted to cry for my sweet Jorge. Just because mom hasn't sent lunch money doesn't mean you should punish him! AND it was pizza day! I felt so bad for him and his little empty tummy all afternoon. He even had to stay in the office for all of lunch recess too. I understand that the parents need to pay for lunches, but honestly!! This is ridiculous. Needless to say I felt horrible for not forking over enough for him to be able to eat lunch. I should have; I totally should have! Maybe it's not a big deal for anyone else, but for me it just confirmed how much I really do care about my students and that I can't ignore or brush off the fact that the majority of them are dirt poor! I feel so blessed.