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For five years, Bonnie Kimball's job serving students at Mascoma Valley Regional High School in Canaan, New Hampshire, lunch was her life.
"We didn't even call it work," Kimball told Valley News. "We got up in the morning, we took care of our families and we went to take care of the kids."
Kimball's extended second family at the school included 326 students, and she shares that, in between ringing them up at the cash register and making them ice cream sundaes, she listened to them.
But according to the New Hampshire Union Leader, Kimball was fired by the school's food vendor, Cafe Services, after she allowed a boy to have his $8 lunch when it was discovered he had no money in his account on March 28.
As the contract with Cafe Services, under its Fresh Picks Cafe subsidiary, is set to expire, another vendor, The Abbey Group, was at Mascoma High to observe kitchen operations. Cafe Services sent a district manager to the school who, at one point, was watching Kimball run the register.
"When I rang him up, the student didn't have any money on their account," Kimball told Valley News. "So, I have a district manager here. My boss has told me, 'Don't cause any scenes with the contract,' and I quietly said, 'Tell [your] mom you need money.'"
The student told Kimball that he would, and he paid his outstanding bill the next day. However, that same day, Kimball was notified of her termination.
"It was my life for five years. I went and I took care of another family," she said. "You don't just lose a family member, be OK and move on."
While the district's policy, according to school board chairman Cookie Hebert, is for a student to be fed even if they do not pay, they are supposed to receive the "lunch of the day," not "a la carte" dishes. Many rose to Kimball's defense.
Two of Kimball's coworkers quit in protest of her firing, a community member wrote an impassioned letter to the editor outlining what all the "kitchen ladies" have done for the students for a "modest wage and without fringe benefits — no health insurance, no paid vacations or time off when sick," and many responded to the news with outrage on social media.
The school district stood behind her, too. Kimball herself said she does not blame the district and reports that she has received many encouraging words from officials.
Ultimately, Cafe Services' decision to terminate Kimball's employment did not sway the School Board's vote on Tuesday. The board voted to continue using Cafe Services for another year. Meanwhile, Kimball says, “I guess I’m mourning my job.”
What do you think, Ladies? Should we start a letter writing campaign? This is just WRONG!
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This could be anyone we know. And how many of us remember a nice lunch lady who was a savior to us or one of our kids? I know I know more than one.
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OMG what has happened to this country, this makes me very ashamed of what we've become. I live an hour from this town, these people need to stand up and fight this, not just a few, the whole fricking town needs to do something about this. Someone came up with this punishment for these children, (the different meal when they owe money), just to humiliate them in front of the other kids. (bet it was a republican). There doesn't seem to be any place in this world for someone with a conscience or kindness and caring for others anymore. Those parents should spend the next month packing a lunch for those kids, not spend a cent towards Café Services, and that school needs to hire her back, what is Café Services going to do, throw away their whole contract.
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Wow teluog....that is a great idea. That would hurt the cafeteria service where it hurts and that is the only thing companies understand. Money. I wish this could become a national cause so that companies stop doing things like this.
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(CNN)
School officials and a food service company want to rehire a lunchroom employee who was fired for allowing a student in New Hampshire to take food without paying.
But the former worker says she won't take their offer."They're not doing it for me, they are doing it to save face," said Bonnie Kimball, the former lunchroom employee.
Kimball was fired in April after a student at Mascoma Valley Regional High School in Canaan, New Hampshire, told her he didn't have money to pay for the items in his lunch tray. She says she let him take the food for free and the boy paid his $8 lunch tab the next morning.
Last edited by Spunky (5/18/2019 11:17 am)
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They've offered her the job back because of all the publicity, she's refusing unless they get together and work out a new policy to address the problem. That's what happens when a few people speak up. Don't know if she'll have any power to actually make the change, but at least they offered her the job back.
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I hope she gets enough people to get behind her and make the changes needed to change policy. This is a no-brainer if people stand their ground. I think teluog's idea to take home lunches for a couple of weeks is phenomenal.