AURORA | A kitchen manager at an Aurora elementary school is making national headlines after she says she was fired for giving a hungry student a free meal.
Della Curry said she was let go from Dakota Valley Elementary School last week for violating school district policy and giving a child a free lunch.
“I was fired for giving food to children that did not have money. While I know that what I did was legally wrong, I do not feel bad about it and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
A district spokeswoman disputes that.
“She was not dismissed for giving away free food,” said Cherry Creek School District spokeswoman Tustin Amole.
Amole said state law bars her from discussing personnel issues without written permission from Curry, which she said Curry has not given the district.
“I would be happy to discuss all of the details if she would change her mind and give us permission,” Amole said.
In a statement Tuesday, Cherry Creek School District officials said district policy when a student forgets lunch money is to give them lunch the first three times and charge their parent’s account. On the fourth time, they give them a cheese sandwich and carton of milk.
“No child is ever allowed to go without lunch,” the district statement said.
Curry, who has since launched a Facebook campaign called “No Child Goes Hungry,” said that fourth option — a cheese sandwich and milk — doesn’t cut it.
“I will never understand how the ‘best’ country in the world considers a cheese sandwich to be adequate nutrition for a child,” she wrote.
Curry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Please help Della! gofundme.com/supportdella
Bravo to Ms. Curry for doing the right thing! Many schools across the country have engaged in similar vindictive actions against children who, through no fault of their own, lack money for lunch. The school should not allow children to go unfed or, in this case, underfed – take up accounts with the parents, and do not punish the children! There are OTHER, better examples of how to deal with children who cannot pay for their lunches – one stunning example would be North Carolina schools, in which EVERY child is fed, regardless of ability to pay. Are we so selfish, so callous, so cold-hearted that we would willingly let children go hungry? Children who, if they cannot afford a school lunch, may not get a dinner or breakfast either… I was interested in the school district response to the uproar over their cruel and draconian policy, and their grievous error in firing Ms. Curry for being a humanitarian. They sincerely explained that the money not spent by denying children their lunches would be used for building maintenance, security, overall operations and instruction. Because more brooms are so much more important than human dignity and good nutrition.
We need MORE Ms. Currys – all over the world! – to counteract the unbelievable cold-heartedness of people like the Cherry Creek School district administrators.
It’s always the same…here you have a liberally run school system run amok with political correctness and no doubt a liberal victim complaining about something they basically voted for….liberals P.C. B.S. So. just suck it up and shut up.
It’s always the same. You try to discuss a serious issue and you have a right-wing troll chime in with his hatred of all things liberal. No wonder we can’t get anything constructive done in this country these days.
Did anyone miss the part where it said she was NOT fired for giving a tearful child with no money a free lunch? She is putting on a full-court press on social media SAYING she got fired for that reason – but SHE is the only one saying that. There is something else going on here that hasn’t been made public (yet) and she won’t give her consent to let the district come forth with the REAL reason she was fired. Let’s hear the TRUTH about it before we form an opinion … and for those who form opinions without knowing that facts – you should all be punched in the head continuously until there are bones in your stool. Shame on you.