Lunch Lady Fired for Doing the Right Thing

Last week, Dalene Bowden, a food service worker at Irving Middle School in Pocatello, Idaho, was placed on leave after she gave a free hot lunch to a 12-year-old girl who said she was hungry and didn’t have any money! Bowden has now received a registered letter from the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District informing her that she has been fired.

The brief, one-page letter was signed by District 25 Director of Human Resources Susan Petit. It states that Bowden was dismissed due to her theft of school district property and inaccurate transactions when ordering, receiving and serving food. Dalene Bowden said she offered to pay for the $1.70 lunch, but her supervisor rejected her offer. And she was placed on termination leave last Tuesday pending a meeting with the District 25 School Board.

This entire fiasco has broken Bowden's heart. Do you think Dalene Bowden did the right thing? And do you think she should have lost her job over this? Every child needs to have lunch. This school district's policies need to be changed. In my opinion, the school personnel didn't have to humiliate or demean either the child or the lunch worker. I hope Pocatello hears from all of you! There's an online petition circulating that Dalene Bowden be reinstated. I will sign it. And while they're at it, she should receive a huge apology from her clueless supervisors!