Cafeteria Workers Will Be Fired For Denying Attleboro Students School Lunch

ATTLEBORO (CBS) - The school lunch company announced Friday that it is taking disciplinary actions against four of it's employees it says denied school lunch to students who didn't have enough money in their accounts at the Coelho Middle School in Attleboro.

Holly Van Seggern, a spokesperson for Whitsons, said that several individuals will be terminated as a result of their investigation.

Van Seggern said, "As a family company, we can hardly imagine the shock and humiliation they felt and our primary focus at this time is to help restore the community's faith in our ability to provide every child in the district with the meals they need to fortify themselves throughout each and every school day."

Van Seggern says the incident was isolated to the Coelho Middle school, and the employees were acting outside of the districts policies.

They will be retraining employes on how to interact with children and will handle meal balances directly with parents in the future.

Whitsons will be offering free lunch to students at Coelho next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and will also hold a BBQ for the school community.

When asked why the employees denied the lunches, Van Seggern said, "Their explanations didn't adequately explain the events that occurred."

More disciplinary action is expected in this case.

The School Superintendent is conducting her own investigation and will not comment on specifics.

WBZ-TV has confirmed that the school district is looking into reports from students and parents that the school Vice Principal was involved in the incident.