South Jersey schools enforcing controversial lunch policy to combat outstanding balances

your seven day. >> See you soon, Kath. Appreciate it. Let's go to Gloucester County now and one school district there is putting a new policy in place due to thousands of dollars in unpaid lunch bills. Aside from restricted meals, students could now miss out on other school activities until the bills are paid and Shaina parents say that they are not happy about these changes. >> Yeah, that's exactly right. A lot of parents feeling as though that the students and the children are being penalized for something they maybe can't control. But the district telling me over 700 student accounts are past due totaling almost $68,000. And now because of this policy, kids are going to be missing out until those bills are paid. The Deptford Township Board of Education cracking down this year after thousands of dollars of past due lunch bills from students who weren't able to pay until the bills are paid. The district says meal restrictions will be put into place based on grade level. As an example shown here in this letter from the superintendent sent to parents, students from grades six through 12 who owe 50 bucks or more won't be given a breakfast or a lunch per this policy. Students in this situation will find themselves left out of school activities like school dances, prom and field trips. The district even planning to withhold report cards and graduation activities for unpaid bills. I think it's unfair. >> Like, you know, a lot of parents, they don't have it. And they shouldn't hold the kids back from going field trips or anything. You know, it's lunch. >> It's almost like you're penalizing a child who already doesn't have it for Kayla Hahn, she tells Fox, 29 she was once one of those kids. >> My mom, you know, we I wasn't we didn't grow up wealthy like we were kind of like middle class, lower class. >> I would be in line and like it's embarrassing being in line. Like you don't have money for lunch. >> In a statement to Fox 29, the Deptford Township School District says many qualifying families can apply for free lunch programs, adding paperwork should not be a barrier to feeding students. But for families that don't qualify under these programs, the District says its goal is to, quote, keep open and honest communication regarding balances and payment, something that many parents and residents don't necessarily agree with. We obligate children to go to school, but we're not paying for their lunches. For these two parents, they say they'd be willing to pitch in and couldn't imagine that other parents wouldn't have the same heart. >> They could have opened it up and asked if there's maybe other parents that would like to donate or help the children, maybe something where we can do it anonymously in the summertime. Remember, they were giving kids lunch to take home. So if you knew they didn't have lunch the whole summer, why would you penalize them when it's time to come back to school ? >> Now, the district did say in a statement they're hoping for more increased participation in free and reduced lunch programs. We have an application for you if you qualify, if you believe you qualify on our website, Fox 29.com. The more that folks participate according to the district in these free and reduced programs, maybe more students at this point. More schools in Deptford would qualify as Title one schools. That means more funding from state and federal agencies would come in to make sure there's more funding for kids to have lunch. In-Depth