Student: Cafeteria Worker Threw Lunch Away Because Student Was Short 15 Cents
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ORANGE CITY, Fla. (CBS) -- A high school student says a cafeteria worker threw her lunch away because she couldn't afford to pay the 15 cents she owed.
According to CBS affiliate WKMG, a sophomore at University High School in Orange City, Fla., told her mother that she put her food on a tray, got to the front of the line and gave her number to the cashier. The cashier then said the student owed 15 cents.
The student says when she told the cashier she didn't have any money, the cafeteria worker took the student's food and threw it away. The student's mother told WKMG her daughter spent her first day back at school without food.
The student's mother says the 15 cents the student owed must have been carried over from the previous school year, and she had signed up for a free and reduced-cost lunch program, but it hadn't taken effect yet.
A spokesman for the school district said the school would contact the family to resolve the issue. The student said she took a quarter to school the next day to pay off the 15 cents, but the cafeteria worker said she no longer owed anything.