I’m stumped. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why a decision by the Cranston Public School District to hire a collection agency to go after unpaid school lunch fees has caused such a stir among mainstream media outlets.
Rhode Island School District Sics Collection Agency on Parents Over Unpaid Lunch Money
School district sics debt collectors on parents for unpaid lunch fees
Rhode Island school district calls in debt collectors to get $45,000 unpaid lunch money from parents
School turns lunch debts over to collection agency
Admittedly, I wrote about this last week, but I used the original article, which labeled the collection agency that had been hired as “controversial” because it had been fined by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. I can’t understand why outlets like the Newsweek, New York Daily News, the U.K.’s Daily Mail, and USA Today have thought this was such an important item that they needed to cover it. It’s not like the amount of the debt is so overwhelming — $95,000 — that it’s newsworthy. It’s not like Cranston is the first school district to hire a collection agency. I wrote about two such placements back in October, one in Pennsylvania and the other in New Hampshire. I just don’t get it.
You do have to shake your head at some of the ways that the news has been covered. The Daily News wrote that the agency has been “hired to harass parents” into settling their unpaid debts. All the agency has been asked to do by the school district is to send a letter to the parents asking for payment or to make arrangements to try and settle the unpaid debt.
Do you understand why this is generating such buzz? What’s your theory?
Because it sells papers. They are painting a picture of poor, destitute, struggling parents, who can’t afford to pay to feed their kids. But nothing could be further from the truth. Those parents qualify for free lunch subsidies. The school district isn’t billing them. They are billing the parents that were able to afford to pay but just took advantage of the school and didn’t pay. If I walked into a restaurant and had a meal and walked out without paying, I would be in jail. It’s stealing. How is this any different? These parents ought to be ashamed of themselves. But that story doesn’t sell papers.