Why unpaid US school lunch debt can prompt a call to child welfare services

Around the US, policies empower school staff to view an unpaid food tab as proof of possible abuse

Earlier this year, administrators at South Mebane elementary in North Carolina sparked outrage - and a rushed community fundraising effort - after they issued a terse warning to parents in a school newsletter: students with lunch debt would not be allowed to attend an upcoming dance.

Community members donated more than $4,000 in three days to ensure no students were excluded. But while the newsletter raised worries that students in the Alamance-Burlington school system might be singled out for money problems, the district's meal policy contains a far more serious warning to families: repeated failure to pay for school meals can result in a referral to child welfare services for neglect.