Don't let the petition title mislead you . . .

The title "Don’t punish children for their parent’s mistakes" was selected with the assistance of the awesome folks at Change.org and it appears to have been very effective. That being said, even when parents are attentive to their responsibilities regarding school nutrition accounts there can still be administrative and clerical errors that result in a child being denied a meal. A PIN entered in error by a school clerk or the student, another student utilizing your child's meal account, a child depleting a meal account by purchasing a la carte items, delayed processing time for funds being uploaded into meal accounts - there are several instances in which a parent may have made no mistake at all but their child suffers the consequences of an ineffective school nutrition policy nonetheless. Seeking additional support for this initiative at the Federal level I have contacted the White House for assistance. Regardless your political opinions regarding this administration the USDA has oversight over school meal programs, I believe the First Lady may be influential in addressing this matter at the Federal level. I'll be sure to share any response that I receive from them. Meanwhile, at the Texas level, attached you'll find the response that I received from the Governor's office, as expected it states that it is up to the Texas legislators to initiate any change to current Texas law. I have received a response from one legislator's assistant and expect to hear from the legislator himself as well as two other Texas legislators during the upcoming week. If you are a Texas resident please consider contacting your Texas or U.S. representatives and sharing this petition link with them. Thank you all for supporting this initiative, for some families this change will mean little, but for those in the most need, it may mean the world!