Pay $100 to skip the lunch line? Florida school fundraiser upsets parents

Parents often have to sign a lot of forms at the beginning of school year, but one of the forms caught some parents off guard.

Students attending Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, Fla. were sent home with an orientation package that included a form from the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) telling parents that students can have a “front of the lunch line pass” if they donate US$100.

For Chris Stephenson, father of a son who attends sixth grade at the school, it is an issue of privilege.

“It’s 2017. This is not the 1960s,” Stephenson told CBS news affiliate WTSP. “We’re not telling people to go to the back of the bus ’cause you’re poor. That’s stupid!”

The letter calling for donations to help with the 2017-2018 school year has other gifts for different amounts of money such as: “$50 Family Sponsor – Last name featured on website and $250 Family or Business Sponsor – All the above PLUS 2 premium seats at concerts and awards ceremony.”

READ MORE: Note telling girls to ‘dress conservatively’ in school to avoid distracting boys sparks concern in Alberta village

After Stephenson shared the letter in a Facebook post on Aug. 9 and the comments came pouring in.

Byron LaLonde wrote, “This perpetuates division of class,” and Shelly Stephenson commented “Access to food should not be a privilege.”

Principal Brian Andrews sent an email to parents informing them to disregard the Family and Business Sponsorships form that was sent home with students.

“We don’t want any kids feeling like second-class citizens,” Andrews told WTSP.

In a statement to Global News, the Polk County Public Schools wrote:

“Please be advised that the principal did not approve of this fundraiser, and he was not aware that sponsor forms for such a fundraiser by the school’s Parent Teacher Student Association were inside the orientation packets. This fundraiser will not be taking place at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy.”

“So they needed to raise money, that’s cool,” Stephenson said. “There are a lot of other schools that do it in ways that are much less privileged.”

According to WTSP, the PTSA said the letter was sent to hundreds of students and parents “due to a clerical error.”