Bismarck school district owed $23,000 from unpaid lunches

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Bismarck school officials are trying to determine how the district accumulated $23,000 in unpaid student lunches over 10 years.

Bismarck School Board President Matt Sagsveen told The Bismarck Tribune (https://bit.ly/2q42b7p ) the matter will be discussed at a meeting Monday.

“I’m not sure I have all the information I need right now,” he said. “Obviously, with that amount of money, it raises concerns, so I think we, as a board, should hear some of the details on how that debt has accrued and then we can talk about how we want to collect it.”

District Superintendent Tamara Uselman says many of the accounts with a negative balance are from former students and it’s likely that what’s owed will be covered by the district’s general fund. The unpaid lunches are from 1,110 families.

The school district adopted a new policy in November to notify parents by text and email when they owe money. Parents will also be warned that their debt could be forwarded to a collection agency if it’s unpaid.

The district’s child nutrition department is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, https://www.bismarcktribune.com