2021 Massachusetts General Laws
Part I - Administration of the Government
Title XII - Education
Chapter 71 - Public Schools
Section 72b - Unpaid Student Meal Debt; Determination of Whether Student Is Categorically-Eligible for Free or Reduced-Price Meals

[ Text of section added by 2021, 62, Sec. 1 effective October 14, 2021.]

  Section 72B. (a) A school district superintendent or their designee shall notify a parent or guardian of a student's unpaid meal debt that remains unresolved. Within 30 days of notifying a family of the unpaid meal debt, the school district shall determine if the student is categorically-eligible for free or reduced-price meals. During the 30-day period, while the school district determines the student's eligibility for free or reduced-price meals, the student shall not be denied access to a school meal until the district has made a determination that the family is ineligible for free or reduced-price meals. The department shall establish the protocol that a school district superintendent or their designee shall use when notifying a parent or guardian or a student's unpaid meal debt.

  (b) No employee, agent or volunteer of a school or school district shall:

  (i) take any action that would publicly identify a student when payment has not been received for a school meal or for meals previously served to the student;

  (ii) serve a student with unpaid meal debt an alternative meal that is not also available to all students at the cafeteria; provided, however, that the alternative meal shall comply with the pattern for a federally-reimbursable meal;

  (iii) deny a student a meal as a form of behavioral discipline or punishment;

  (iv) dispose of an already served meal because of the student's lack of funds to pay for the meal or because of unresolved meal debt;

  (v) prohibit a student or a sibling of a student from attending or participating in non-fee based extracurricular activities, field trips or school events solely because of the student's unresolved meal debt;

  (vi) prohibit a student from receiving grades, official transcripts, report cards or from graduating or attending graduation events solely because of unresolved meal debt; or

  (vii) require a parent or guardian to pay fees or costs in excess of the actual amounts owed for meals previously served to the student.