Unpaid Peabody School Lunch Bills Top $100,000

PEABODY, MA — Unpaid lunch bills have topped $100,000 at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, Assistant Superintendent Christopher Lord said in a note to parents Thursday.

"Please make every effort to promptly cover lunch expenses for your child as this limits the food options we can purchase for the whole school," Lord wrote.

Other Massachusetts school districts have struggled with rising unpaid lunch bills. In Woburn, for example, the school committee approved a measure last April that allows school officials to refer unpaid school lunch bills to a collection agency.

Woburn adopted the policy after watching unpaid school lunch bills climb to $48,000. School officials cannot deprive students of food under the new policy, which took effect at the start of the 2019-20 school year.