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title: Lunches Seized From Children In Debt, Utah School District Apologizes | TIME
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# Lunches Seized From Children In Debt, Utah School District Apologizes

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yixPhgbw.m3u8" -->
## Video: Lunches Seized From Children In Debt, Utah School District Apologizes

[Watch (HLS stream): Lunches Seized From Children In Debt, Utah School District Apologizes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yixPhgbw.m3u8) (1:44)

![Lunches Seized From Children In Debt, Utah School District Apologizes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/yixPhgbw/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2014-01-31. It’s not quite to the level of taking candy from a baby, but just the fact there’s a legit comparison has a Utah school district facing a heap of criticism and angry parents. Lunches were taken from kids with negative balances on their accounts._


---

Jul 27, 2023 4:09 PM UTC

---

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[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

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### School District Apologizes For Photo Of A Black Student On A Leash

[Cafeteria Worker Quits Over New School Lunch Policy](/video/PjcT94cH/)

### Cafeteria Worker Quits Over New School Lunch Policy

---


## Transcript

>> It's not quite to the level of taking candy from a baby, but just the fact there's a legit comparison has the Salt Lake City school district facing a heap of criticism and angry parents. About 30 UN to elementary school students who already had their school lunch in hand Tuesday had them taken away to be thrown in the trash because of outstanding balances on their accounts.

>> The last thing you do is confiscate lunches especially in a public setting in front of peers.

>> She took my lunch away and she's like, " Go get a milk" and I'm like, " Okay ." And then I come back up and I'm like, " What's going on ?" and then she gave me orange and she was like, " You don't have any money in your account so you can't get lunch ."

>> Instead of the standard school lunch, media outlets in Salt Lake City report that children's lunch was thrown away and replaced with milk and a piece of fruit backlash to the move was swift and practically universal.

>> So wait a minute-- so they were literally walking down the room with their trays.

>> They're walking down with their trays in hand.

>> And somebody said you're accounts not up to date--

>> Not up to date.

>> and they took the food off the tray? Why didn't they trip the kids too at the end of [ unk ].

>> The school explained the child nutrition manager was sent to UN on Monday to look in to several negative balances on lunch accounts. The district says calls went out Monday and Tuesday morning to parents before taking the food at lunch on Tuesday. But the district didn't try to turn explanation into justification. Officials put out an apology on the district Facebook page writing, " This situation could have and should have been handled in a different manner. Also, we understand the feelings of upset parents and students who say this was an embarrassing and humiliating situation ." The district's spokesperson says, it will work with parents in the future and figure out a way to insure an incident like this never happens again.

For TIME, I'm Cliff Judy.

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