Kids balk at veggie burger, but Newton lunch lady suspended when she offers alternative

I'd hire this thoughtful lady in a minute. All the food choices available to her were pre-approved by parents, right? Goodness gracious!

Let's see---they change the menu without notice, the kids get something that they won't eat, and they whack someone who does something about it.

Perhaps we need to encourage cell phones in school to call DYS and the newspapers.

In a just world, Cronin would be fired, and Cunningham promoted.

The reprimand letter says "the food ordering system is intended to give parents -- rather than school employees -- decision-making power of what children eat" and that seems reasonable. However, the reason the issue of substituting the lunch meal came up in the first place is the meal (grilled cheese) the parent choose didn't arrive. It seems perfectly reasonable that the worker used good judgment and instead of leaving the children hungry, substituted what appears to be a healthy alternative. Might not the problem, at least in this case, be with the Chief of Operations' failure to deliver the meals ordered by the parents?

Quick - someone sign up for the movie rights...

"Coming this Fall, one women will go up against the system... to save... one child at a time. Based on a true story... 3-Time academy award winner Meryl Streep in the role of her career... One women, one child, one bagel.... The Lunch Lady (this film has not yet been rated)."

Seriously, it's a cute story, but the parents should be determining what the kids eat. What if it's a vegan kid (I feel bad for her if she was)...

This lunch lady should be honored. Smart choice on her part to feed a child. Michael Cronin proves again and again what a total jerk he really is. He should be terminated.

Force-feeding veggie burgers to kids is the real crime here. Those things are awful! The bigger question is why does one school the size of Angier have 90 unionized employees in food service!?!?

Give this woman the employee of the month award. She showed the initiative required of the highest standards of performance.

i would like to see these adults that make the rules and choose the food for the children to follow the guidelines the make the children follow - most adults would not eat most of the food that they are offering to these children!!! practice what you preach!!! good luck to ms cunningham -

Ms. Cunningham seems like a responsible adult who did not want children to go hungry. The purpose of the school lunch program is to provide nutritional sustenance to the children so they can concentrate and do their school work and be healthy. The article does not state who filed the complaint against Ms. Cunningham, the administration, supervisor,or parents. What would they have done? Let the children starve? Or force fed them the selection of the day? Or maybe they expected a take out meal be provided from one of "Snootons" gourmet restaurants. I especially would like to hear about what Mr. Cronin would have done.

The parents have only themselves to blame. What a complete joke and additional waste of taxpayer funds.

I wish you were kidding.

Yes, definitely, suspend her for being caring and thoughtful to the children she's feeding. Good grief!

The school department tells PARENTS that lunch will be grilled cheese, then deliver VEGGIE BURGERS, and they're upset that the kids wouldn't eat them?
If I were a Newton parent, I'd be complaining about bait and switch meals!
There's GOT to be more to the story than this... like too many crunchy granola heads making lunch decisions.

If she had not fed them the parents would have complained and sued her and she would have been written up and fired. I'm glad someone is looking after the kids best interest while they are at school.Besides who is the numbnut who thinks kids will eat veggie burgers!

Wow, parents in Newton need to spend a day or two at a soup kitchen. We're soooo sorry your precious didn't get the grilled cheese, and they were offered alternatives. I feel very bad for this woman.

One more "administrator" who hides behind the cloak of "personnel matters" so that he doesn't have to admit that he screwed up!

Bureaucracy trumps hunger? The Stupidity Virus is rampant.. Absent food allergies (and those foods would have been long gone from any menu!), this lady called it 100% correctly. I agree with klava- I would hire Kathleen Cunningham in a New-ton Minute... she adapted to a situation admirably.

If anyone should lose their job, whomever approved that policy, whatever it is, ought to go.

"We will respect the parent's decision,'' Cronin said. ''We’re not in the business of catering to a student’s whim if it’s contrary to what the parents ordered.’’

The parents did not order this lunch, they thought they ordered grilled cheese. If they want to fire her, it shouldn't be for this latest infraction.

I'd be very annoyed if my kid wasn't supposed to have dairy, let's say. Or, if the parent ordered a veggie burger and she fed them hamburgers. But, this was supposed to be grilled cheese (and the grilled cheese was what the parents ordered)--how is that any different from a bagel sandwich with cream cheese? It's essentially the same thing. I'm having a hard time understanding what she did wrong. The parents hadn't even ordered the veggie burgers!!

Classic situation: Entitled kids manipulate a push-over adult into getting what they want. The sad part is that the adult still doesn't realize that she is being used, and actually believes she is heroically assisting a group of helpless waifs.

If a parent tells a child in the morning that today's lunch will be grilled cheese, then it is veggie burger.....what exactly is the problem? Well, my children wouldn't eat veggie burger over grilled cheese, I would hope someone would make sure they eat that day.

He said (Michael Cronin, chief of operations for the school district) the food ordering system is intended to give parents -- rather than school employees -- decision-making power of what children eat.

What a great position to take. “Give parents…decision making power”. I love it. I just wonder if that same “decision making power” extends to giving children birth control in the school with out the “parents decision making power”, or giving children the morning after pill without “parents decision making power”, or helping minors get abortions without “parents decision making power”.

I think the parents of this school district should stand up for this lunch lady. She's looking out for their kids. Shame on you, Mr. Cronin!!! Would you rather see your students starving?

Good for you Ms. Cunningham...I'd also hire you in a minute...Funny part is if the kids didn't eat you would have been reported and written about also..

This is absolutely ridiculous! Of course, I would want my kids not to go hungry. As a current Angier parent, I know Kathleen is doing a great job and I personally appreciate the care she gives to our kids. Her suspension memo was done without our consent!

This gets murky. School does not have it own kitchen, so everything is preordered for the kids. If you have 100 kids and 50 order burgers and 50 order grilled cheese you get 50 and 50 delivered to the school. Now when 8 kids "change their mind" and want the other option, what do you do? Cater to the mind changers? Give the grilled cheese others ordered to them? Food service budgets are lean and cannot afford to be subject to the whims of children that day in this context. I sympathize with the Lunch Lady who does not want to see kids go hungry, but who is going to be paying for the extra food in this case. The untaken veggie burgers, which were ordered but not eaten.

Try this sometime and see how pleased a restaraunt would be. Order a Steak. When it is brought to you, say, sorry changed my mind I want the Swordfish instead? You think most places would just shrug and say, ok?

It is easy for the Lunch Lady to do that, since it is not her bottom line affected. She gets her pay either way. It is the "company" that eats the loss, not her.

This is kind of stupid. The kids were refusing to eat veggie burgers, which were not supposed to be for lunch that day anyway. So basically, either way, the kids weren't eating what the parents had requested.

If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?!

I don't know about the past situations, but in this case the meal was not the one that had been told to the parents. Parents whose kids don't like veggie burgers or are allergic to one of the ingredients in them probably would have sent lunch with their kids that day. If you change the menu from what you've told parents, then you aren't respecting the parents' decisions, so Cronin is being rather hypocritical about this.

But the veggie burgers weren't approved by the parents either according to this article. Whoever sent the veggie burgers instead of grilled cheese should be suspended (if anyone should!). This woman found a SOLUTION...she should be thanked, not suspended.

It sounds like the veggie burger was already NOT approved by parents since they'd been expecting their kids would be getting grilled cheese. A bagel and cream cheese is basically the same as a grilled cheese. I think Cronin should be cited rather than doing the citing. It sounds like he's trying to build a baseless case against food services in the hopes of saving money by outsourcing next year. Cunningham has done *nothing* wrong in that the meal was already a substitution and in fact should be commended for her resourcefulness and compassion for students'. Perhaps Cronin has forgotten who the real clients are--the students and taxpayers.

"Kathleen Cunningham said she was suspended for an incident that occurred May 4, when Angier Elementary School received veggie burgers instead of the grilled cheese sandwiches that were on the menu."

So if they got veggie burgers instead of what was suppose to be served that day, then the parents didn't approve of the regular meal served.

This is crazy, she offered a healthy meal to students who were hungry. The school should be ashamed of themselves for how they have treated her.

I grew up in Newton in the 70's/80's where parents heads were frequently lodged up their....well, you know. Today, they're lodged even further up there. Suspended because she made sure that kids didn't go hungry? Does she want to work as a nanny, because I think she's proven how much she cares for OTHER PEOPLE"S kids!!

Also, only in Newton would veggie burgers be assumed to be a desirable food choice for kids because they were chosen by tree-hugging, WholeFoods-shopping, Croc-wearing faux-intellectuals.

This is the type of employee that every parent wants.... Give me a break already, How can this woman be reprimanded for someone else's screw up as stated in the article: Angier Elementary School received veggie burgers instead of the grilled cheese sandwiches that were on the menu. Did the other individuals get suspended for sending the wrong food? And how could the parents approve a mistake by the food service company. Doesn't the school department have bigger fish to fry with regard to the budget then waste energy on someone that takes their job seriously meaning feeding the kids...

Uh...did anyone else's parents have any control over what kids were offered at school?? In my ghetto school district, we got the same 5 meals rotated week in and week out. Usually loaded with carbs as fillers.
Stop whining about veggie burgers. No one is gonna starve to death over missed lunch.
Still, I think the woman was just trying to help.

People should think before posting here. Nick (#14) starts with the quote saying that parents have the decision-making power rather than school employees, then goes on with several examples of just the opposite - the schools making decisions without parents approval.

Then Pete (#18) starts giving a scenario of ordering a steak in a restaurant, then changing your mind when it arrives at the table. A more appropriate example based on the story would be ordering a steak and the restaurant brings you the swordfish because they have no steak. You tell them you don't like swordfish so the waiter takes it upon himself to get you something you do like.

I'm sure both of these posters had something in mind that they wanted to communicate, unfortunately neither of them had anything to do with the story!

I think any school system would be delighted to hire this individual. She made a thoughtful and healthy decision to feed the children in an appropriate manner. The other choice was to force the children to take the veggie burgers which they would NOT eat. The children would then go hungry for the remainder of the school day. I say Mr. Cronin should be complimenting this woman for making his job easier. If the children were not given this alternative I wonder how he would have handled all the parent complaints when their children came home hungry.

Can u imagine if this lady was from salem? She might have been labeled a witch. Imagine the audacity of this women to offer an alternative? She should be fired for not co-operating fully with the STATE. When i think of how much money she is making i know we can cut waste by eliminating this position. We need to follow suit with supermarkets and use a self checkout system. A computer would never allow for an alternative.

Something more is going on here. Substituting a veggie burger for the announced grilled cheese is just the tip of the iceberg. Not saying the lunchroom workers were right, but sounds like someone should be investigating the finances of the lunch program. Always about the money.

So Michael Cronin suspends Cunningham for serving some children an item that wasn't on the menu, even though the veggie burgers themselves were not on the menu?

Quite simple..........don't follow rules and polices you get into trouble. After warning(s), you get suspended and then fired. Happen everywhere, should happen here. Good gawd, not like the kids would starve..............there was food available!

Let me get this straight. The parents are making what decision? In Arlington, the daily lunch menu is published in the paper. I suppose a parent COULD complain about it, but for all intents and purposes we are told, not given a "choice". If the staff has the other food on hand, clearly either that or the veggie burger is going to go to waste.

Yes, if all students thought they could appeal to get something different, perhaps the flood gates would open and there would be rioting. This is what small minded managers seem to universally think. Let one through the gate and everyone else will want one too.

You have to be fair, but you also have to not be a bonehead where children are concerned. If I were a parent, I'd rather that my kids were fed than told to go without.

Ms. Cunningham--

My best advice to you is to quit your job with the city immediately! I have absolutely no doubt that you would be hired promptly by a local family who understands that you care more about childrens' well being than the stuffed shirts in the school department! You would make a fantastic nanny.

Why do I think if the meal that day had been cheeseburgers instead of veggie burgers and the kids wouldn't eat cheeseburgeers that the women would have been promoted by them instaed

I would've called the little whiners' bluff.

GOOD FOR HER i F i HAD KIDS i WOULD WANT THEM TO EAT SOMETHING. SHE SHOULD NOT BE SUBSPENED. COME ON WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS. SHE DID A GREAT JOB THANK YOU.

If the kids had ordered veggie burgers, I'd support what happened -- BUT these kids ordered grilled cheese sandwiches ... is the clown who can't tell a grilled cheese sandwich from a veggie burger also suspended? My kid would rather eat gum from under the desk than a veggie burger. This lady did something in the apparent best interests of the children, and she gets suspended? Was she supposed to let the kids go hungry? Imagine the uproar if she had done so.

Good one mezzb at #4 : ) I laughed so much I almost choked on my pizza.

Perhpas these anal parents should......PACK THEIR KIDS A LUNCH! Lazy. If you want to be sure your kids is eating whta you want, get off your lazy duff and pack their lunch for them andhave hte argument at home. lazy parents.

The lunch lady should be receiving a six figure salary instead of the adminstrater's. She displayes more education using her common sense then all the advanced degrees the adminstraters possess.

I don't understand posters who are blasting the parents for how Cunningham was treated, and am astonished at the acrimony towards Newtonites. Nowhere in the article does it say that parents were upset. It was the *&(&* bureaucrat who got mad at her, and parents certainly don't have any control of hiring decisions at that level.

Wow...the lady is doing what she was hired to do - feed children. She was looking out for the kids and made sure that they had something to eat, rather than go hungry. The absolute idiot who made the decision to suspend her for doing her job (feeding children) needs to be canned. Clearly, she was doing something her "boss" could apparently care less about - taking care of the children in her care to the best of her ability. It is really, really pathetic that he's more interested in being an uncaring jerk than a good "educator." He has educated me about the fact that he is more concerned about the bottom line than what is in the best interest of the children. She gave them a bagel and cream cheese instead of the crappy veggie burger that they weren't even supposed to get in the first place, not lobster bisque or filet mignon. And it wasn't even her fault that the meal delivered wasn't the correct meal! Sometimes "executive decisions" need to be made and she made the appropriate one.

Your fat kids are not going to starve if they skip one meal.
I'm a stay at home dad and whenever we go ANYWHERE like the playgound, park, zoo whatever the other kids moms (usually chubby as well) always have snacks with them.
Your kid can go a couple hours without food!
If little Ashley or Logan is hungry enough they'll eat the veggieburger.
You're raising a generation of fat cry-babys that get whatever they want by whining for it.

It's not like she is giving them donuts... the "alternatives" she offered sound healthier than the school lunches I had in elementary school 20 years ago. And I agree with the 99% of people here who support Ms. Cunningham's decision.

Start a petition to fire pencil pusher Cronin.

This is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard in my llife especially due to the state of the world;s economy today. All the money, that is now being used to hire subs as well as fight the union who has thankfully appealed this ridiculous decisioin, could have been spent more wisely. Like, maybe going to the actual schools and the people that educate them!

as a Newton home owner and tax payer, I would fire the mayor and the entire school committee over this issue. I vote for Ms. Cunningham for mayor

The lunch lady should do her job and give them their lunch. If they don't eat it, maybe they aren't actually hungry. If they didn't like the other items she gave them, I guess she would have had to buy them candy bars? Ice cream? Pizza? Since she is so worried about hungry children, send her to Ethiopia.

There's a special rung in Hell for politicians, defense lawyers, and school administrators.

the food services manager did the right thing making sure the students had food to eat. Keep Kathleen Cunningham, FIRE Michael Cronin, he sounds like a jerk.

First, I was a picky child and rarely ate school lunch.
Second, the menu item was not even the correct one.
Third, she gave them options.
Fourth, even if they were vegan children like someone was stating, the menu item was supposed to be grilled cheese. Definitely not a vegan meal.
Fifth, she did nothing wrong.
Sixth, she did nothing wrong.
Seventh, HOMESCHOOL YOUR KIDS and help stop the spread of stupidity :)

Forty years ago, when we were looking at houses, Newton had the reputation of having the best school system in the state. Realators would push one town or another as having the "second best" system in the state. This is just the most recent story that underlines the fact that I don't think the Newton school system has anywhere near the ranking it once did!

Good for you Mrs. Cunningham, keep up the good work. You should be commended, not suspended. This is ridiculous, and an embarrassment for the school officials.

Once again it appears that there is no room for common sense in our public school systems. I would have liked to have heard more from the bureaucrat that issued the suspension. What in their expert opinion would the proper course of action have been? I guess the children could have thrown away the vegetable patty and made a ketchup sandwich instead to stay within the official policy.

When I was a kid we had two choices at home and elsewhere: take it or leave it.
If kids don't want to eat the lunch it is their choice. It is NOT the responsibility of the school to be McDonald's and give the kid whatever they want if they whine loudly enough.

Suspension was the right move.

I think she was right but the kids should try healthier options like veggie burgers (if prepared right). School food is now the same food they feed inmates. Parents should pack their kids lunch instead of complaining. It's too bad that because parents are so lazy about spending 20 minutes every morning packing a lunch, that Mrs. C had to deal with this.

I wish I was The Donald---so I could say to Mr. Cronin: "YOU'RE fired!!""

Kudos to Kathleen for doing what every mom would do...make sure that the kids have food in their bellies before heading off to class!

There has to be more to this than what got published.....

It's all processed food if the food is delivered by a delivery truck it is mass produceed and full of chemicals anyhow I agree with guigal pack their lunch...lazy parents If i was a food service director I would hire you where i come from our director is not being rehired because he is doing his job right....

This should never have made the press. Wish her boss took her job for a day and see what he would have offered as an alternative. Think they should suspend him for 5 days. She offered a perfect alternative lunch and this should have been addressed with the people who delivered the wrong food. End of story period!!!
We should have more caring people in the school systems.
Good JOB MS. CUNNINGHAM!!!!!!!!
rob5551

I like to know who makes all these rules. This woman did the right thing and offered the children alternatives that they would eat. If they took the veggie burgers I bet they would of ended up in the trash which would be wasting food. This woman should be commended for thinking of these childrens's needs and letting them get the proper nutrition instead of going without lunch. Back in the day you either brown bagged it or ate what was on the lunch menu that day. There were no other choices. The food she offered was food that would have to be eaten sooner or later. I hope this woman wins this and is reinstated or hired by another school system for her honorable and caring performance.

newton has 90 food service staf for the whole district i belive, which compared to others districts its size it not big at all.

I think that those of you who feel that the lunch lady is wrong should re read the article. These are not kids crying because they don't want what was posted as being lunch it was a substitute. If you went to a restaurant and ordered a NY Strip and backed potato and you go backed chicken and rice I bet you would complain and not eat it. These kids were told they were going to get a Grilled Cheese sandwich not a Veggie burger.
I am not even in your school area but I have to say that if Ms. Cunningham were my daughters lunch lady I would consider myself lucky. She cares and that's what we need in all of our schools.
GIVE THESE KIDS WHATS ON THE MENU AND MAYBE THIS PROBLEM WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED.

So Newton is one millions dollars short on the school food service budget. I got an answer for that short fall. Fire the moron who couldn't get the food order right and then fire Cronin. What an awful example he is in a educational system - are we not teaching kids how to think and problem solve?
stop the spread of stupidity close the public shools down!!!

I think that the lunch lady acted very responsibly; she gave the kids a healthy alternative. What is wrong with having a healthy choice? Isn't that what the big push is now for? For those that say the children should have gone without, would you be saying the same thing if it were your kids changing their minds? As a young adult myself working with children I see the same thing over and over again-my child is an angel, they would never act like that....keep telling yourselves that as your children throw their non-existent tantrums. Thank goodness for people with common sense like the lunch lady.

My kids are ok with the school food but it REALLY bugs them and my when the school severs a different lunch than what was on the menu.So I know where the lunch lady was coming from!

Well, Mr. Cronin, your job is to make sure that the food that is ordered actually gets there. It seems you can't get the job done. No excuses. RESIGN.

Kathleen Cunningham God-Bless you. You wouldnt have any family that hail from Dublin by chance ? We may be related.

Let's drop the P.C rubbish and let the kids eat. She gave them a healthy meal, leave her alone.
Poor kids have to go home hungry because they wont eat some administrator's California crap.

In rural New York where I grew up in the '80's we had an answer to that.
FOOD FIGHT !!!!
Mick

Have some more sloppy joes. I made em extra sloppy for yous.

This women showed INITIATIVE. The government hates initiative.

Everyone runs out of things. THe ONLY guarrenteed way to be sure you kid gets what you want them to get is if you pack it yourself. If you let others do the job of feeding your kids for you, then be prepared to be dissapointed if they dont it the way you like. Lazy .lazy .lazy parents. If you care so much about what your kid eats, then pack their lunch! It's bad enough you're letting them gret subprime food ,what difference does it make what they get? It's all crap. If you cared about your child's health ,you'd take the 20 minutes and pack their food. lazy

if more people that were working with our kids actually cared about our kids, they might make it to graduation, but here they are making lil kids hate school allready, by 10th grade they will want to drop out . And forcing veggie burgers on a human being, by the way humans, for the majority don't like pretend meat. I can't speak for everyone, but my father would have thought my mother lost her mind if she had ever tried to serve veggie burgers, and he would've thrown them away. If one of those kids she had helped were mine , I would be in the womans debt. If you lived up by carthage hun , i'ld give you a job any day. and if it were my kid, i'ld sue for starving him/her, they are lucky my kid doesn't go there.

Loving the lunch lady. My kids are all good eaters and like most everything, but they know if they don't like something, they don't have to it, as long as there was another healthy option, that what matters, she did the right thing!!

I doubt that the lunch lady was working just for the fun of it. She probably needs the money. Being deprived of a needed job because some uptight bureaucrat like Cronin overreacts to a compassionate act is really sad. His justification for the firing is truly vacuous. The whole point is that the school system FAILED to deliver the lunch to which the parents had agreed. The lunch lady was just patching up that error.

Do these children have a choice to bring their own lunch? Or are they being forced to eat a school lunch? Don't like it?....Bring your own!! Leave the lunch lady alone!! what she did was right!

I am a lunch lady in another district, usually there are alternative choices.
I understand there is no on site facility to cook, parents make the choice ahead of time. Fine, but their choice was not available so she made a decision.
Most cafeterias have a system in place for allergies, it will pop up on the cash register screen so even if there was an "issue" it would have not gone further than the lunch line.
Sounds like spoiled pampered people pissed off because even though their choice was not available they still felt they, not a "lowly" lunch lady should be making the decisions.
kudos to her, i would say come work for us but alas we also are being terminated and replaced with a private company.

Seriously - the parents didn't order veggie burgers, they ordered grilled cheese. So who cares if your children eat veggies burgers or another "healthy option". I would much rather have my children have "something" to eat rather that "nothing". What about all the children that ate veggie burgers? That wasn't approved by the parents...grilled cheese was approved...
I just can't beleive the stupidity of people. Be thankful that this wonderful lady offered them something else to eat instead of letting these kids go hungry all day. But no, of course she will be the one that gets reprimanded - not the person that caused the error of veggie burgers to get delivered instead of grilled cheese in the first place! But - she did something RIGHT, so she has to take the crap for it. Just simply unbelievable! I, and many other parents would have done the same thing. I hope she fights it to the end and then files a complaint against the person that wrote her up. Good luck.

I personally work with Kathy C, this is nothing more than a personal attack by Rob Clickstein and Michael Cronin.
The parents of the child in question ordered grilled cheese they did not order veggie burgers, one chid out of many went to her and asked her for something else because he/she does not like Veggie burgers. Veggie burgers should'nt even have been in the bldg that day, except for the fact that food service is trying to clean out their freezers for teh end of the year, did the parents of the children that received the wrong meal get a credit on their acct?? I would question the food service office on that
Furthermore, this has been going on since our Holiday Party in December, Mr Clickstein did not like the way the Yankee Swap went and his wife was upset,,the party was in early December, Kathys problems started shortly after that, the veggie burger incident is a cover up for his motivations
I hope our union and its attorneys FINALLY stand up to these 2 supposed Administrators. Where is the Superintendent on these issues or the school committee. They allow the food service director to just send whatever food he feels like sending out after parents have specifically ordered another item,,,when your ready to privatize, start with Rob and get rid of the real problem

My step-mom was a "lunch lady". She said she could not bear to see a child go hungry and would do what she could. Kudos to Ms. Cunningham. I want you to work at my children's school! You're wonderful!!!!!

I don't think the lunch lady should be blamed. However, I've eaten many a veggie burger in my life, and they are quite tasty. In fact, my daughter eats them, has since she was young and she didn't know the difference. If the menu said grilled cheese, and the parents picked that as their choice and it was not offered, then it is the administration of the school's fault, not the lunch lady. In fact, the choices she offered the children were healthy, available, and much more appealing to children than a veggie burger. Here's a thought - why not offer vegan meals only to the students who are vegans, and let the other children have meals that include meat proteins. Or better still for the taxpayer - make all children bring bag lunches, then the parents have made the lunch, know what's in it and the school can't be held responsible for what their child consumes. That would never work, too many parents don't want to be held accountable for the actions of their children.

When did this discussion become a "my way is better." I find it offensive when people state "taek 20 min to pack lunch," or other such comments. Now, you are badmouthing the parents. What about the students that receive free or subsidized lunch? Why is it YOUR business to see that other children AREN'T eating school lunch? Why do you feel that you should tell others to home school the children.

The story is that one staff person tried to help the children who did not get the lunch that they were intending. My child orders lunch once a week. He decides which lunch he wants to buy and I pack the rest. Of course, this is the one day he decides to buy lunch that week. He gets a veggie burger (which he doesn't like). He accepts it, because the rule is you eat what you are given. So he takes three bites, and now my kid is hungry and I am out $3! We don't buy school lunch every day. His treat of the week was grilled cheese. NOT. The administrator should be suspended. This poor lady was cleaning up his mess.

Stop judging other people. We are allowed to make choices. You make yours. I make my own.

Have three children in the Newton Public School System. When I experienced a host of medical problems including several emergency surgeries and had not packed a lunch nor completed a lunch menu for our then nine year old for months...it suddenly dawned on me one morning...what have you been eating for lunch? He shyly said, "I told the lunch lady that my mommy was sick in the hospital and she's been giving me a lunch." One of the first people I thanked for "looking out for our children" was the lunch person. I am also thankful that my son had enough courage to speak up and tell an adult that he needed help. My husband was too overwhelmed. I'm certain that there is more to this story as these things always do but it's nice to know that the "village" at large is looking out for the welfare of our children.

p.s. One blogger commented on, "why are children so obese?" Take a look at the lunch menu...it offers chocolate milk instead of water beause the federal government sees no nutritional value in water and won't reimburse school lunch programs if offered. Now that is criminal!

SuperMom, please dont say what school that was from, we dont need another lunch lady getting suspended for anything, our cafeteria must of been in total chaos today, Kathy Cunningham is a godsend for our children, I am quite sure they were all looking for her and her smiling face today. I hope the director was not the person there today, he does'nt seem like such a nice person.

As a graduate of the Newton public schools, I will tell you that no child should be forced to eat those veggie burgers. I don't really care for veggie burgers, but one day I bought what I thought was just a big burger. I opened that bad boy up, and it looked like compressed vomit. I rolled it down the hall, and it just kept going and going and going. And it didnt break at all! Would you want your kids to eat compressed rock hard vomit? I rest my case...

Bravo Lunch Lady!
Folks, this is Newton-if the kids went hungry the parents would have sued the city for millions. In my estimation she just saved Newton about $8 million in nonsense lawsuits. Give Kathleen the rest of the year off and double her salary!

I am an Angier mom with a child with Food Allergies. This wonderful lunch manager has taken fabulous care of our children. For those who were worried that a vegan kid was offered a dairy meal... don't forget that the originally ordered meal was a grilled cheese, so that isn't an issue. Kathy knows that. She know our children..... Every single one of them. By name, by allergy, by what beverage they usually get... she is incredible. She even knows what a child typically orders. When my child was able to start eating dairy, she contacted the school nurse, because my child could not previously have dairy. She just wanted to 'check in' to see that there wasn't a mistake. She KNEW the health needs of my child. She is bright and caring, and really watches out for our kids. She would never jeopardize the health and safety of our children. I understand the City policy that neither the lunch manager nor the child should shift the decision made by the parents. But in this case, there was no way she could adhere to the parents' request since the requested meal never arrived in the school. Kathy did the best she could to feed a growing child a meal closest to the one requested. Shame on the school system for blaming Kathy for their mistake.

Cronin gets paid for his idiocy?

He gets paid what 90 of us lunch ladies get paid in a year! Nice life huh, Mike...

I want to thank everyone for the continued support. I appreciate the cards, calls and gifts of well wishes. The support of the Angier community, co workers, along with family and friends, is amazing.

To all that placed a comment, for or against, Thank you.

Kathleen Cunningham

Kathy: I want you to know my children miss you dearly, they keep asking "where is Kathy??" how do I explain to them that she is not working this week because she made sure a child was fed instead of going hungry, isn't that your job. HE mentioned tht he has'nt been getting his milk and fruit lately, is there none in the school? He said you always had it on the tray and now its never there,,,is this something new? isn't it included in the price of lunch?

(I already posted a comment on the main boston.com page, but this bears repeating.) As an Angier mom, I can tell you that Kathy Cunnnigham really cares about our kids. We are lucky to have her. I still can't get over the fact that Mike Cronin is punishing her because she did not serve the kids what the parents ordered. What on earth did he expect her to do? She was UNABLE to serve the kids what the parents ordered, because the wrong lunches were delivered! Thank goodness Kathy knows which kids do/don't eat which foods and was able to give them something she knew they'd eat. Would Cronin have insisted that she give a veggie burger to a kid who was allergic to the ingredients and had been expecting a grilled cheese sandwich? Sounds like it.

Some types of veggie burgers have mushrooms. Some people, like myself, are allergic to mushrooms. Had I had my grilled cheese replaced with a veggie burger, I too would have refused to eat it.. and what, the school would prefer that I just not eat that day? FTS.

There was already an unauthorized lunch substitution from grilled cheese to veggie burger, made by the central production facility; the lunch lady simply allowed this to be to some other meal. The real infraction was that she allowed the students some input on what the substitution would be. This freedom could lead to further expressions of self-choice on the students' part, a big problem in school priso... er systems.

This woman is being punished for demonstrating independent thought. Management is scared whenever an employee shows signs of intelligence, it makes them unpredictable and hard to control. They prefer robots, then it takes less effort for them to maintain their cozy lifestyle. So if someone doesn't follow their mindless scripts to the letter they're subject to equally mindless discipline.

My children attended Newton schools K-12 starting in 1990, and the food was always terrible! Most children brought lunches from home. Kudos to the thoughtful woman who made A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE SUBSTITUTE. I am a vegetarian who would probably turn up my nose at a veggie burger...I am also in a preschool program where children bring their own lunches. Kids as young as four know well what they can or can't have to eat. Shame on Newton for making a fool of itself yet again!

The media is an evil twisted tool devised to program the minds of the weak and ignorant. How grown adults can believe everything in a newspaper is beyond me. Get a job and do it. That's all Ms. Cunningham needed to do. And all the talk about horrible veggie burgers. Have you ever had one? I just ate one at a Newton School and found it to be quite appetizing.

Just to reiterate: Angier school community was NEVER consulted about this. If we had, Kathy would still be with us!