Della Curry, an elementary kitchen manager who was loved by the kids, was giving some of the students free lunches to hungry school children who didn’t have money to pay for the food. As a result, the school district fired Curry, but that may not be the only reason that got this lunch lady fired.
There has been a lot of media attention covering this story and an enormous amount of public opinion.
Curry understands that the Colorado Cherry Creek School District was following procedure in firing her and knew that she was breaking school policy. She also stated that she cares about the kids at the Dakota Valley Elementary School and would do it again “in a heartbeat” if she could.
“I had a first-grader in front of me, crying, because she doesn’t have enough money for lunch. Yes, I gave her lunch.”
What is more shocking than her firing, is the current federal law that allows students who can’t afford to pay for lunch to have a single slice of cheese on a hamburger bun with a small carton of milk. This is the option if the family does not qualify for federal assistance to pay for lunches.
Currently, a family whose combined annual income is below $31,000 will qualify for free lunches while a family below $45,000 will qualify for a reduced rate. Curry points out that there are kids whose family is above that threshold who simply cannot afford lunches sometimes.
Curry is unashamed for her actions and admits to breaking the law. She is hopeful that enough awareness is raised following her job termination that people will take action to change the laws regarding school lunches for children who can’t afford it or might have forgotten their lunch money.
Despite what Curry says about the reasons for her termination, the school district released a statement today stating that she was not dismissed for giving free lunches to students. They also stated that they were not allowed to release the details of her dismissal and their investigation without Curry’s permission, which she refused to give.
Regardless of the reasons, it’s good to see that, at the very least, more awareness is being raised. There’s no excuse for a child in school to only have the option of having a pathetic slice of cheese on a hamburger bun if they can’t afford to eat or forgot their lunch money.
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