Della Curry—doesn't believe in bootstraps
Della Curry is now the former kitchen manager at Dakota Valley Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado. Last week she was fired for giving out school lunches to
elementary school kids who did not have money.
“I had a first grader in front of me, crying, because she doesn’t have enough money for lunch. Yes, I gave her lunch,” Curry said.
In the district, students who fail to qualify for the free lunch or reduced lunch program receive one slice of cheese on a hamburger bun, and a small milk.
Considering that over half of the children going to public schools in the United States these days are qualifying for school lunch aid because they are
living at or below the poverty level, this must make people like
Republican Jack Kingston furious. Children should work hard for their cheese sandwiches and not have some welfare-queen-lunchmarm giving them food for free. Those smiling faces ain't gonna pay for daddy's corporate tax break and it definitely won't build a
state of the art children's prison. Compared to the rest of the nation, Cherry Creek schools are living high on the hog with only
29 percent of their students qualifying for free and/or reduced lunches.
Mrs. Curry, a mother of two, acknowledges that she broke the law and that the school district is just following the rules, as you can read below.
In the district, students who fail to qualify for the free lunch or reduced lunch program receive one slice of cheese on a hamburger bun, and a small milk.
Curry says that meal is not sufficient. Many times she paid for lunches out of her own pocket.
“I’ll own that I broke the law. The law needs to change,” she said.
As Paul Ryan can tell you,
in a story he conjures up out of the dust that is his soul, kids that go hungry love wealthy men who are mean to them. Something like that, I don't remember the details exactly.
Here is the Cherry Creek School District's statement:
The law does not require the school district to provide the meal to children who have forgotten their lunch money, that is a district decision. According to our practice, we provide hot meals to students the first three times they forget their lunch money and charge their parents’ accounts. The fourth time, we provide a cheese sandwich and milk.
The district has worked to keep lunch prices low and still meet the federal nutrition requirements. The costs of our lunch program are not covered by the prices we charge. At the end of the year, any unpaid accounts revert back to the general fund which also covers instruction, security, building maintenance and overall operations.
Before we yell at the school district, remember, it wasn't the district that refused to earmark $124,229 to help cover costs for school breakfasts for poor children. The people who did that were Republicans.
Specifically, Republicans.
The Colorado Department of Education requested an additional $124,229 for the Start Smart Nutrition Program, which subsidizes the cost of breakfast at school for poor children, for the current budget year ending in June.
However, the request failed on a 3-3 party-line vote.
Because Republicans have regained the state House this year, the JBC is equally split for the first time in almost a decade. There have been a few 3-3 votes this year as the committee has considered budget items, but the one on school breakfasts raised eyebrows at the Capitol.
Sen. Kent Lambert (R-Colorado Springs) is quoted as saying:
"As a family guy myself with children and grandchildren, I take a very strong responsibility to earn money to feed my own family."
That's right, shitty poor people. Feed your own kids. Stupid poor kids! But before we paint Mr. Lambert and other Republicans with such a yucky brush, he does believe in charity:
"I think if that need is out there, there are charitable groups that are out there that go way, way beyond that to take care of families in need," Lambert said. "Out here in El Paso County, for example, we have churches all over the place."
We. Have. Churches. All. Over. The. Place. I hope you get stuck on an island without food for two days Senator. My guess is that you'd cook your dog in the first six hours.
You can watch the CBS Denver report below.