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Luzerne County officials issued a letter Thursday reprimanding the Wyoming Valley West School District for telling parents their children could be placed in foster care for failure to pay school lunch bills.
“You are to immediately cease and desist making these representations,” county Manager C. David Pedri and Children and Youth Director Joanne Van Saun wrote in the letter to district Superintendent Irvin DeRemer.
The letter said the district’s action was “troubling” because it is a “clear misrepresentation” of work performed by the county agency and its foster care program.
According to the letter:
The county’s foster care system is utilized when children have been abused or when a family “has been struck by tragedy.”
“The Luzerne County Children and Youth Foster Care System is NOT utilized to scare families into paying school lunch bills,” the letter said, underlining the word “not” for emphasis.
Children and Youth’s mission is protecting children from abuse and neglect and providing them the chance to reach their “fullest potential.”
The agency strives to provide support and resources to help families and keep children in their own homes if possible. Removing children from homes “causes significant trauma and should only be utilized when all attempts to preserve the family are unsuccessful,” it said.
“Luzerne County Children and Youth should never be viewed as a punitive agency or weaponized to terrorize children and families,” it said.
The letter encouraged the district to review the Child Protective Services Law online and said the county agency would provide training for district staffers, if requested, to help them better understand the agency’s role and responsibility.
The district had issued collection letters in an effort to collect more than $20,000 owed for student lunches.
School Board President Joe Mazur conceded the letters were “threatening and a little strong” but also defended the effort, saying other communications seeking payment had been unsuccessful.