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Administrators at an elementary school in the Western Ohio community of Lebanon continue to try to explain their incredibly tasteless and insensitive social media post last week, which said students without enough funds in their meal account, or those with negative balances, would be excluded from the chance to purchase the treat during "Ice Cream Friday."
"A student must have money on their account to purchase an ice cream," the school said, according to a report by WDTN-TV. "If a student has a negative balance they will not be able to purchase an ice cream even if they bring their $1 for ice cream."
Further, the post said students would not be allowed to purchase ice creams for fellow students who did not have enough money in their accounts.
Heartless, isn't it?
"This is gross," one person wrote, according to WDTN. "I hope you realize how disgusting this is and stop punishing students over something they cannot control. I'm repulsed. Do better."
The thing is, while Donovan Elementary School later apologized for the way in which the message was communicated, it did not change its stance on the matter. Instead, it said it was trying to remind "Donovan parents how several district-wide rules apply to a la carte items purchased in the cafeteria."
One business owner was moved to donate $411.15 toward the lunch debt at Lebanon schools, saying she had once been in a position where her children had negative meal account balances and couldn't do anything about it. But "now that I could, I did," she said on social media, according to WDTN.
Good for her.
Meanwhile, whoever is responsible for that awful social media post should be relieved of such responsibilities and spend the extra time in serious self-reflection.
And the incident should prompt another round of discussion within the school district about how meal funding is handled, and what message is being sent by providing a la carte items the district knows some students will be able to enjoy and others -- through absolutely no fault of their own -- will not.