From Teresa Stepzinski, The Augusta Chronicle:

The Brantley County school board is turning to a collection agency to help recoup unpaid student lunch bills, which administrators estimate total $16,000 to $18,000 on any given day.

Beginning May 17, the district will turn unpaid lunch bills over to a Waycross collection agency that Cindy Ham, district nutrition program director, described as “diligent but respectful.” A 40-percent late fee will be added to the amount owed, she said.

The students won’t be penalized, she said.

“The kids don’t go hungry. We give them a free meal,” Ham said. “Our board of education didn’t want to put the children on the spot because this is an issue with the parents.”

Federal regulations forbid school system nutrition programs from being in debt. The collection agency is a last-ditch effort to collect the money. Unless parents pay up, the school system will have to cover their debt from its general fund, Ham said.

“I hate that we have to do this. I don’t want to do this. But we don’t have any other choice. We have to obey the federal regulations,” Ham said.

Ham said the number of students receiving free or reduced lunches has increased from 54 percent last year to 62 percent this year.

“We want to help families as much as we can. If they call us and let us know they don’t have the money, we can work with them to get it worked out,” she said.

Brantley County isn’t the only school system with lunch money collection problems.

Until March 1, neighboring Glynn County averaged about $50,000 daily in unpaid student lunch bills, said Janet Mitchell, food and nutrition coordinator for the 12,615-student school system.

At that time, the district implemented a new policy that Mitchell said has dramatically reduced the outstanding debt for student lunches.

Students are given a cheese sandwich and milk for lunch if they owe for more than five meals in elementary school, or more than three meals in middle school.

School officials then send letters home with those students twice a week reminding parents they owe lunch money, then follow up with telephone calls, Mitchell said.

“People came in droves to pay off their bills after we notified parents in February that this would be our new policy,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said they considered a collection agency, but decided to try the cheese sandwich policy first. They got the idea from other school systems with similar policies, she said.

“A child might forget a letter stuffed down in their bookbag, but they’ll remember a cheese sandwich. I think the cheese sandwiches spark memories in parents that encourages them to pay because you get tired of eating the same thing every day,” Mitchell said.

Continue to the full article at The Augusta Chronicle.