No such thing as a free lunch

M and D go to a charter school, which is kind of a hybrid public/provate school. They have their own Board of Education, set their own cirriculum and yet still get state money, so it's free. The downside is that breakfast and lunch are not cheap in comparison to public school. $2.60 per day for lunch. I will give them credit that the lunches at this school are much better quality taste-wise and nutritionally than at the public school we used to attend. Background done.

So, on the first day of my freedom school, I handed each child two, crisp $20 bills to put on their lunch accounts. I actually SAW my daughter hand the money to her teacher and tell her it was lunch money.

M is a pretty picky eater and I was pretty sure this was just a pipe dream. And so it was. I have made her lunch every morning except that first day an one other day that I convinced her that a chicken patty on bun would be DIVINE! So by my calculations, she should still have $34.80 in her lunch account. Imagine my surprise when I got a post-it pote attached to her homework that she had a -$18.20 lunch balance. Hmph. I showed it to her teacher and he agreed it was a mistake and that I should call the Lunch Lady.

I think Lunch Lady is probably a very nice person, but so far our relationship is not going so well. I did call her last Tuesday and left a message. I called her Wednesday and left another message with my work number. Nothing. And then. AND THEN! Friday, I get an offical looking letter that M has a -$20.80 balance! She's been charged for ANOTHER lunch she hasn't eaten! It also threatens that until the negative blance has been paid she will get only a *cheese sandwich and water* for lunch or *crackers and water* for breakfast (tough love, apparently). And if I have any questions, I should call Lunch Lady at 555-5555. I think my head exploded at that exact moment.

The final kicker, they attached a Free & Reduced lunch application to the letter. Because obviously, the problem must be that I can't afford a $2.60 lunch.