Photo: Kylie Kirkpatrick
A 10-year-old boy’sfight to end student lunch debtand save his classmates the shame of being served an “alternative” meal at school has inspired real change in California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Saturday to ban the practice of singling out students unable to pay for their lunch, and cited the efforts of elementary schooler Ryan Kyote in helping bring the issue to greater attention.
“I want to thank Ryan for his empathy and his courage in bringing awareness to this important issue,” Newsom said in anews release.
It ensures that all students will get a “state reimbursable meal of their choice,” even if their parent or guardian has unpaid meal fees.
Kyote made headlines this summer after he donated $74.80 of his allowance savings to pay off the school lunch debt for his third-grade classmates at West Park Elementary School in Napa, California.
Kylie Kirkpatrick (left) and son Ryan Kyote.Courtesy Kylie Kirkpatrick
His generosity even led to a meeting with Newsom in August, where the Democrat promised that if he got the bill on his desk, he would sign it, Kyote’s mom Kylie Kirkpatrick tells PEOPLE.
Kirkpatrick told PEOPLE in June that her son’s activism first took off after he heard about a 5-year-old in Indiana who was denied lunch because they were unable to pay for the meal.
“He was like, ‘I don’t understand why that happened. Why would that happen to a 5-year-old?’ ” she said. “It really touched him in a way and he wanted to do something so that wouldn’t happen to his friends. We talked about what we could do to make a difference locally.”
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In September, a 9-year-old Ohio boyhad his lunch taken away from himon his birthday because of a $9 unpaid debt on his account, and was given cheese and bread instead.
The Green Local School district later amended its policy so that all students would be able to receive their standard lunch regardless of account balance.
Three-quarters of the 5 billion lunches served in school cafeterias in 2018 were offered at a free or reduced price, according to theU.S. Department of Agriculture.
TheSchool Nutrition Associationpreviously reported that 75 percent of school districts reported having unpaid student meal debt at the end of the 2016-2017 school year.
source: people.com
