N.J. school district bans students from prom, field trips if they have $75 of lunch debt.

A New Jersey school district has come under fire after it instituted a new policy preventing students with over $75 in lunch debt from attending prom, field trips and other school activities.

The Cherry Hill school district enacted the policy last Tuesday which bars their middle and high school students from going on class trips, attending dances, and even purchasing yearbooks if they rack up excessive lunch debt, according to the Cherry Hill Courier-Post.

“I think this strikes a balance of compassion at the same time making sure we’re holding people accountable,” Eric Goodwin, school board president, told NJ.com when the regulation was first introduced in September.

However, the Courier-Post reported the new measure can be waived by the school principal on a case-by-case basis and will become “personal and very individualized based on the needs and specific situation of individual children and families,” Superintendent Joseph Meloche said in a statement to People magazine.

“There are direct contacts, letters, and meetings that are held in accordance with the policy to provide assistance to families in arrears,” he said.

Cherry Hill has come under fire in the past for attempting to enact a policy that would only allow students with lunch debt to buy a tuna sandwich, and to not offer a full school lunch to any child with more than $20 of outstanding debt.

The board had opted for tuna instead of peanut butter sandwiches because, as Assistant Superintendent Lynn Shugars said in the meeting, “we know that our little ones would probably very happily eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches until the end of time.”

That policy was changed to provide every student the meal of the day regardless of outstanding lunch debt, with district spokesperson Barbara Wilson telling People, “All children are fed.”

NJ.com reported that the Cherry Hill school district says it has posted a $200,000 profit despite being owed lunch debts totaling less than $15,000.

Despite the new policy, Ms. Wilson told the Philadelphia Enquirer the district would reject donations from philanthropists looking to pay off the debt following a local businessman’s offer to foot the bill.

“Simply erasing the debt does not address the many families with financial means who have just chosen not to pay what is owed,” Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Meloche told the Inquirer in a statement.