§ 908 — Prohibition against meal shaming

§ 908. Prohibition against meal shaming. All public school districts,\ncharter schools and non-public schools in the state that participate in\nthe national school lunch program or school breakfast program in which\nthere is a school at which all pupils are not eligible to be served\nbreakfast and lunch under the community eligibility provision or\nprovision two of the federal national school lunch act, 42 U.S.C. Sec.\n1751 et seq., shall develop a plan to ensure that a pupil whose parent\nor guardian has unpaid school meal fees is not shamed or treated\ndifferently than a pupil whose parent or guardian does not have unpaid\nschool meal fees. The plan shall be submitted to the commissioner by\nJuly first, two thousand eighteen, or sixty days from the effective date\nof this section after enactment in conformance with regulations of the\ncommissioner. After submission of such plan, the school or school\ndistrict shall adopt and post the plan on its website. The plan shall\ninclude, but not be limited to, the following elements:\n a. A statement that the school or school district shall provide the\nstudent with the student's meal of choice for that school day of the\navailable reimbursable meal choices for such school day, if the student\nrequests one, unless the student's parent or guardian has specifically\nprovided written permission to the school to withhold a meal, provided\nthat the school or school district shall only be required to provide\naccess to reimbursable meals, not a la carte items, adult meals, or\nother similar items;\n b. An explanation of how staff will be trained to ensure that the\nschool or school district's procedures are carried out correctly and how\nthe affected parents and guardians will be provided with assistance in\nestablishing eligibility for free or reduced-price meals for their\nchildren;\n c. Procedures requiring the school or school district to notify the\nstudent's parent or guardian that the student's meal card or account\nbalance is exhausted and unpaid meal charges are due. The notification\nprocedures may include a repayment schedule, but the school or school\ndistrict may not charge any interest or fees in connection with any\nmeals charged;\n d. A communication procedure designed to support eligible families\nenrolling in the national free and reduced price meal program. Such\ncommunication procedures shall also include a process for determining\neligibility when a student owes money for five or more meals, wherein\nthe school or school district shall:\n i. make every attempt to determine if a student is directly certified\nto be eligible for free meals;\n ii. make at least two attempts, not including the application or\ninstructions included in a school enrollment packet, to reach the\nstudent's parent or guardian and have the parent or guardian fill out a\nmeal application; and\n iii. require a school or school district to contact the parent or\nguardian to offer assistance with a meal application, determine if there\nare other issues within the household that have caused the child to have\ninsufficient funds to purchase a school meal and offer any other\nassistance that is appropriate;\n e. A clear explanation of procedures designed to decrease student\ndistress or embarrassment, provided that, no school or school district\nshall:\n i. publicly identify or stigmatize a student who cannot pay for a meal\nor who owes a meal debt by any means including, but not limited to,\nrequiring that a student wear a wristband or hand stamp;\n ii. require a student who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal\ndebt to do chores or other work to pay for meals;\n iii. require that a student throw away a meal after it has been served\nbecause of the student's inability to pay for the meal or because money\nis owed for earlier meals;\n iv. take any action directed at a pupil to collect unpaid school meal\nfees. A school or school district may attempt to collect unpaid school\nmeal fees from a student's parent or guardian, but shall not use a debt\ncollector, as defined in section eight hundred three of the federal\nconsumer credit protection act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1692a or file a lawsuit\nagainst such student's parent or guardian; or\n v. discuss any outstanding meal debt in the presence of other\nstudents;\n f. A clear explanation of the procedure to handle unpaid meal charges,\nprovided that nothing in this section is intended to allow for the\nunlimited accrual of debt;\n g. Procedures to enroll in the free and reduced price lunch program,\nprovided that such procedures shall include that, at the beginning of\neach school year, a school or school district shall provide a free,\nprinted meal application in every school enrollment packet, or if the\nschool or school district chooses to use an electronic meal application,\nprovide in school enrollment packets an explanation of the electronic\nmeal application process and instructions for how parents or guardians\nmay request a paper application at no cost;\n h. If a school or school district becomes aware that a student who has\nnot submitted a meal application is eligible for free or reduced-fee\nmeals, the school or school district shall complete and file an\napplication for the student pursuant to title seven, section 245.6(d) of\nthe code of federal regulations; and\n i. School liaisons required for homeless, foster, and migrant students\nshall coordinate with the nutrition department to make sure such\nstudents receive free school meals, in accordance with federal law.\n