Silver City parents upset after school runs out of lunches for kids
Elizabeth Reed, KOB.com
Updated: 02/20/2015 7:56 PM
Created: 02/20/2015 8:40 AM
Some Silver City parents took to social media to raise concerns after a middle school ran out of lunches for the second time this year.
"My son goes to La Plata Middle School, he's a seventh grader. He's constantly coming home hungry because they've either run out of food or because the food is just plain nasty or the portions aren't big enough," mother Nicole Orrantia told KOB. "They're still getting portion sizes that they're getting in kindergarten and I think the older the kids are, they should get bigger portions to get full."
Cindy Kendrick with Food Services for the Silver Consolidated School District confirmed La Plata Middle School ran out of food twice on the same recipe for chicken noodle soup. She says the kitchen staff tries to make up for what the children don't get by adding something else, but last Thursday, they had another issue.
"We had the food in the district that day but they couldn't get through to the central kitchen because of a phone issue." Kendrick said. "We're just going to have to rework that recipe and just make sure that our communication is a little bit better. Ninety-nine days out of 100, those kids at La Plata get the extra food that's left."
But some parents say the school has been short on meals more often than the district will admit.
"In the past when my son was in elementary school and they ran out of food, I did call the school and did get upset with them. They said it's a once in a long time thing that happens, but I come to find out it's happened more often than what the kids are saying," Orrantia said.
"My oldest attended La Plata last year and it happened then too. So this problem is not new. It's very sad and unfortunate," Samantha Dimock-Furry wrote to KOB. "We now send our kids to school with lunches. They have taken a lunch every day this year. It's sad for the kids whose parents can't afford lunches."
Superintendent Lon Streib told the Silver City Sun-News he intends to get to the bottom of the issue.
"We know how many kids we have to feed, we should know how much food to prepare," Streib told the paper after Tuesday's school board meeting.
At the meeting, the school board voted to give Streib a 3.5 percent raise, which made La Plata Middle School parents even more upset.
"I heard that the superintendent got a raise... A lot of us parents think that money could have gone toward the lunch issue for those kids, since for a lot of those kids, the lunch is the only hot meal they'll get all day," Orrantia said.
Kendrick told KOB that the district's Food Services would rework the chicken soup recipe to make sure they don't run out again.
"We try to do the best we can for our kids and I would invite those parent that have a complaint to call me or come and have lunch with their kids," she said.
Updated: 02/20/2015 7:56 PM
Created: 02/20/2015 8:40 AM
Some Silver City parents took to social media to raise concerns after a middle school ran out of lunches for the second time this year.
"My son goes to La Plata Middle School, he's a seventh grader. He's constantly coming home hungry because they've either run out of food or because the food is just plain nasty or the portions aren't big enough," mother Nicole Orrantia told KOB. "They're still getting portion sizes that they're getting in kindergarten and I think the older the kids are, they should get bigger portions to get full."
Cindy Kendrick with Food Services for the Silver Consolidated School District confirmed La Plata Middle School ran out of food twice on the same recipe for chicken noodle soup. She says the kitchen staff tries to make up for what the children don't get by adding something else, but last Thursday, they had another issue.
"We had the food in the district that day but they couldn't get through to the central kitchen because of a phone issue." Kendrick said. "We're just going to have to rework that recipe and just make sure that our communication is a little bit better. Ninety-nine days out of 100, those kids at La Plata get the extra food that's left."
But some parents say the school has been short on meals more often than the district will admit.
"In the past when my son was in elementary school and they ran out of food, I did call the school and did get upset with them. They said it's a once in a long time thing that happens, but I come to find out it's happened more often than what the kids are saying," Orrantia said.
"My oldest attended La Plata last year and it happened then too. So this problem is not new. It's very sad and unfortunate," Samantha Dimock-Furry wrote to KOB. "We now send our kids to school with lunches. They have taken a lunch every day this year. It's sad for the kids whose parents can't afford lunches."
Superintendent Lon Streib told the Silver City Sun-News he intends to get to the bottom of the issue.
"We know how many kids we have to feed, we should know how much food to prepare," Streib told the paper after Tuesday's school board meeting.
At the meeting, the school board voted to give Streib a 3.5 percent raise, which made La Plata Middle School parents even more upset.
"I heard that the superintendent got a raise... A lot of us parents think that money could have gone toward the lunch issue for those kids, since for a lot of those kids, the lunch is the only hot meal they'll get all day," Orrantia said.
Kendrick told KOB that the district's Food Services would rework the chicken soup recipe to make sure they don't run out again.
"We try to do the best we can for our kids and I would invite those parent that have a complaint to call me or come and have lunch with their kids," she said.