• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

5-Year-Old With Autism, Denied Lunch By School

Arashi222

Cuddling Vampires
V.I.P Member
John Robert Caravella, 5-Year-Old With Autism, Denied Lunch By School

A New Jersey grammar school let a special needs student go hungry instead of contacting his parents over an unpaid bill, according to several reports. Despite an apology from the school district, the parents may now transfer the boy to a private school, according to Fox News.

John Robert Caravella, a 5-year-old kindergartner with autism, was denied a $2.30 meal by Cliffwood Elementary School in Matawan because his parents had yet to settle an $8 charge that was just a few days overdue, reports the Newark Star-Ledger.

The boy is unable to speak, so parents John and Silvia Caravella only learned of the school's controversial move when John Robert came home Tuesday with a note from his teacher that read: ?John Robert was not able to get lunch today [sic] he ate his muffins. There is an issue with an outstanding bill.?

The mini-muffins were intended for the boy's snack, not as a substitute for a lunch that was supposed to fortify him for a seven-hour day, the New York Daily News noted. John Robert sat in the cafeteria at lunchtime and watched others eat. "I kept re-reading [the note], thinking maybe I?m missing something here,? the mother told the Daily News. ?I mean, where is the human decency factor??

The incident happened just days after a 3-year-old autistic boy was subjected to a five-hour bus ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn without a food or bathroom break. The boy arrived home delirious, starving and with a full diaper, his mother said. The ride normally takes 40 minutes, but the bus company admitted to "routing issues."

In the New Jersey case, John Robert's parents, who said they were confused by the meal plan billing system, have since paid up, but told ABC Eyewitness News that the school's dismissive attitude and failure to contact them so their son could eat has left them frustrated. The two work in the area, and could have brought lunch or given a credit card number over the phone, they explained to the TV station.

"It was an unfortunate oversight that was addressed the next day," district superintendent David Healy said to ABC. "It's never happened here before and we will work to ensure that it will never happen again."

But the failure of so many school officials to act when John Robert needed them prompted Silvia Caravella to tell Fox News, "That little common-sense chip -- where was it?"

Here is the link for the article: John Robert Caravella, 5-Year-Old With Autism, Denied Lunch By School (VIDEO)

I just saw this article and it broke my heart. I don't see why anyone would do this to a child let alone a 5yr old that cannnot speak and tell you what is happening. Silly...Just silly in my opinion they should have just called his parents and given the kid the freaking lunch. It shouldn't have even mattered if the kid was autistic or not give the kid a lunch.
 
Last edited:
I am horribly shocked by this piece of news.

Since the public school system made the mistake of rigidly sticking with rules that harm the child beyond the child's control, I wish the child all the best in the private school system.
 
I am horribly shocked by this piece of news.

Since the public school system made the mistake of rigidly sticking with rules that harm the child beyond the child's control, I wish the child all the best in the private school system.
Doesn't it just make you so mad. I mean the poor kid cannot communicate and they are not allowing him to eat what he is expecting to eat and he is not understanding it just ugh. Makes me mad.
 
Whenever this would happen to kids in my class, when I worked with autistic kids, we just got them the lunch anyway. Forget the rules, you can't not feed kids. Crazy that they'd let $8 get in the way.
 
Whenever this would happen to kids in my class, when I worked with autistic kids, we just got them the lunch anyway. Forget the rules, you can't not feed kids. Crazy that they'd let $8 get in the way.

That's why I posted. I can't believe that the teachers didn't do something about it. See that it was affecting him, especially a kid that can't talk to communicate.Its so important to not forget that there are people.
 
This is extremely disturbing. This shows how (for lack of better words) retarded people can be. Honestly, whoever it was that decided this kid should not eat because of an outstanding payment needs to be canned (literally in the sack and fired), and it was only $8! That makes me think there was something else going on that wasn't mentioned. Even so, to let him watch everyone else eat? if only common sense was a requirement to graduate...
 
That is just disgusting, regardless of him being autistic or not to deny a child a meal because of an $8 bill is very very wrong! There should have been some sort of system in place in which they send home warning letters that they will not continue to feed him unless the bill is paid. I hope someone did/does lose their job over that, as Deno said I think something else was going on. Maybe the kid had a bad day/played up and some sadistic teacher decided to punish him by denying food under the guise of his parents not paying the bill.
 
No $2.30 lunch over an $8 balance!? Good golly, one extreme to the other! Maybe they'd have had the $10.30 if they hadn't had to spend $220 on an app in the last article.

Kids aren't like they were in my day at my brief time at public school. We'd swap servings all the time. I once had a plate that was six inches high of rolls because nobody else wanted them. If only I'd had the time to eat them all before lunch was over! And if only that kid's classmates had been as generous, because obviously they were being herded by idiots.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom