Elementary school takes lunches from students in debt

SALT LAKE CITY -- Parents in Salt Lake City are criticizing an elementary school for taking lunches away from students, because of unpaid accounts. 

When fifth grader Sophia Isom got to the end of the lunch line she was met by a district nutrition manager who monitored accounts. \"So she took my lunch away and she's like, 'Go get a milk' and I'm like okay and I come back up and I'm like 'What's going on?'\", says Isom, \"Then she handed me an orange and she said, 'You don't have any money in your account so you can't get lunch.'\"

Isom says the food she got in line was just thrown away. 

The district said it started it notified parents about negative account balances Monday. Isom's mother, Erica Lukes, claims she was not notified. \"Even if they did try to send the word out, you still don't do that to a child,\" she said. \"You don't take a lunch out of their hands.\"

District officials say the situation should have been handled differently, and parents should have been given a grace period. Salt Lake City School District Spokesman Jason Olsen says, \"They did take that tray away and give them fruit and a milk. We don't ever let kids go without any food entirely.\"