Thousands of Cedar Rapids families wrongly told of overdrawn school meal accounts

CEDAR RAPIDS - Thousands of messages were sent in error Sunday night to parents of Cedar Rapids Community School District students, telling them their school meal accounts were overdrawn.

The goof - caused by a district Food and Nutrition Department employee accidentally checking the wrong box online - sent 17,854 voice mails, 16,796 emails and 41 text messages. The mistake did not affect the actual account balances.

'They immediately tried to stop it,” district spokeswoman Marcia Hughes said Monday. 'But it rolled so fast, we couldn't.”

Because the notification was meant only for students carrying a negative balance, students and families with account surpluses were understandably puzzled.

Many balances were inverted: messages would claim a $40 balance was a $40 deficit, for instance, Hughes said.

The notification also went out to some district employees who do not eat meals at a school.

'It was confusing for everyone,” Hughes said. 'And we certainly apologize for that, but it was a system error.”

Online, account balances continued to display the correct account balances.

If a meal account is actually overdrawn, students are notified by the system, School Messenger, via email, phone or text, depending on the personal preferences.

Elementary and middle school students can overdraw their accounts by $10 and $5, respectively, before being denied regular lunch and instead given a 'substitute sandwich” - sunflower butter or cheese - for free until their accounts are paid off. High schoolers are not given such a buffer.

Lunch costs $2.50 at the elementary school level and $2.60 in middle and high school.