Putnam City mom outraged over claims of lunch room waste

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Students going hungry and food being wasted: those are the concerns of a parent in the Putnam City School District.

Crystal Timm tells us she was outraged Tuesday when her two sons came home from school at Putnam City West and told her some of their peers in the free or reduced lunch program were being forced to throw their lunches away.

"If it comes back that their free or reduced lunch hasn't been processed, or they don't have the cash to pay for it, the lunch lady takes the tray and throws it in the garbage can next to them,” Timms said.

The district confirms that some students’ lunches were taken away, but Chief Communications Officer Steve Lindley says they were not thrown away. Instead, Lindley says they were placed to the side and the student was directed to the lunch manager's office to get a program application.

Tuesday was the deadline for the applications to be completed by a parent and returned.

“About 820 to 830 students at Putnam City West received meals either because they paid for them or because parents had filled out the paperwork and submitted it,” Lindley said. "135 did not because they didn't have $2.60 to pay for the meal or because their parents had not submitted the paperwork."

For the district, Lindley says it's a lose-lose situation; while they know it's not students’ fault, they have to have a way to cover the cost. He also says breakfast is offered free of charge to all students every day. The same rules and regulations are not enforced at their elementary and middle schools.