A company has offered to rehire a New Hampshire school cafeteria worker whom it fired for giving a student lunch for free, but she isn't interested.
Bonnie Kimball said she was terminated March 28 by Fresh Picks, a vendor that supplies food to the Mascoma Valley Regional High School in Canaan, but the company has now backtracked on its decision and offered her employment once again.
Kimball's initial firing came a day after she gave a student lunch after realizing the boy was unable to pay for it.
Kimball says that when the student's account showed no funds, she quietly told him 'tell your mom you need money,' and provided him with the food for free.
She said a manager just asked what was on the boy's plate and walked away. The next morning the student's bill was paid but her job was gone.
Bonnie Kimball was terminated on March 28 by her employer, a vendor that supplies food to a high school in Canaan. She was fired a day after giving a child without money a lunch
The company has since offered her job back, but Kimball says she has no intention of returning
'His family is very well known in this town and I can guarantee that if I called his mother, she would have come right in and paid the bill. But I didn't want to get her out of work,' Kimball said.
'I know they would have brought the money the next day. The bill was going to get paid.'
A spokeswoman for the Manchester-based company said Friday that an employee it did not name violated school and company policy and that a district manager had terminated the person.
'Do you understand what you did was wrong? That was theft,' Kimball says she was told.
However, the company said it had since offered to rehire the employee, provide her back pay and would 'work with the school district to revise policies and procedures regarding transactions.'
Cafe Services, the food provider Kimball (pictured) was employed by, said that employees 'would not be let go because they provided lunch to a student'
The school district, in a statement, said it talked with the company about the firing of what it described as a part-time cafeteria worker and would review its food service policies to ensure conflicts between the district and its vendors don't come up in the future.
It also said it requested the right to be released from its contract with the company next year, which would open the process to other bidders.
'First and foremost, it is our goal to do right by our families, community, students and employees at the Mascoma Valley Regional School District,' Superintendent Amanda Isabelle said. 'The events of these past few weeks and the feedback I have received from parents has given me considerable pause.'
'These guys really took care of our kids. They put our kids first and their focus was really our kids,' Christina Moodie, whose son attends the high school, said. 'I know Bonnie went above and beyond for the kids.'
Kimball said she doesn't blame the school for her initial firing but she also has no intention of returning to the same company
A letter dated April 9 from the company describes the reasoning for her firing as providing unpaid items to a student during lunch
