Circle of Hope, St. Mary schools at odds over lunch tab

The St. Mary Parish Council agreed to give the Center of Hope an additional $5,000 to feed its 21 students.

The Center of Hope is the name for the parish Association for Retarded Citizens program. Its class rolls include mostly elderly adults – mostly men – who have various mental disabilities.

The parish council stepped up with the cash after Center of Hope Director Bonita Peltier told them her Medicaid budget had been cut by 18 percent. Medicaid funds are financed by the federal government, but administered at the state level.

Peltier took her request to the parish council after St. Mary Parish School Superintendent Donald Aguillard refused to allow the Center of Hope’s students to eat lunch at area schools at the discounted faculty and staff price of $2.50 per meal.

Aguillard reportedly said the Circle of Hope students could not eat at any school and pay $2.50 for their lunch “because it is not budgeted,” Peltier told the council.

She explained that many of the male students bring a small pre-packaged lunch. “Now, I ask you, how can a man function all day from 7:30 am to 3:30 p.m. on something that small?”

Aguillard, who was not present at the council meeting, said he did refuse Peltier’s staff lunch at the reduced price.

“There is no confusion here,” he said. “What the Circle of Hope needs is a lunch program and, unfortunately, they are not a school, so they can’t take advantage of our lunch program.”

The superintendent said the standard lunch price in the school system is $3.75 for adults and $2.50 for faculty. Some students receive free or reduced-price lunches – 40 cents to $1 – depending on their parents’ income level.

“Look, this isn’t about what I will or will not do. It would be illegal for the board to try and throw a net over these individuals. I checked, and it’s absolutely illegal for them to pay any sort of discounted price for a meal within our school system,” Aguillard said. “They are not school board employees. They can, however, pay $3.75 for a lunch, a price which is available to all other members of the public.

“That’s about where we are,” he added. “I checked and it’s absolutely impossible. The school system’s lunch program cannot extend beyond the reach of our staff, faculty and students.”

Aguillard said if he could, he would have all Circle of Hope students fill out free lunch forms.

“The question is the need for funding (the Circle of Hope). We’re not throwing a wrench into their mechanism,” he said. “The real question is how can the community provide for these individuals?”

The superintendent reiterated there is “no precedent” for a request like Peltier’s and he does not have the authority to make that decision.

“Mrs. Peltier can continue to bring her students to Centerville High School, as she has done in the past, but it has to be at the price of $3.75 a meal,” Aguillard said.

The parish council views the situation differently. Several members suggested the school board should step in to help the program.

Councilman Craig Matthews urged Peltier to accompany her students at the next School Board meeting in September to make her request in person. He asked other councilmen to join him.

Councilman Butch Middleton, who is a retiree from the St. Mary Parish School System, was in disbelief of Aguillard’s position, “particularly,” he said, “in light of the amount of food that is thrown away at school cafeterias.”

“To hear, ‘No, you can’t pay a discounted price,’ well that’s just ridiculous,” he added.

“Maybe we can get 21 teachers to buy one extra lunch per day?” Councilman Logan Fromenthal suggested.

“Maybe so,” Peltier answered. “But we’re the forgotten population. You can’t budget the kind of money that we need.”

Circle of Hope (St. Mary Arc) Director Bonita Peltier describes the size of lunch her students eat before the St. Mary Parish Council. She said a majority of her students are elderly and only eat small, packaged lunches. HOWARD CASTAY JR.