TULSA, Okla. – A Tulsa mother is fuming after her son was denied lunch – which was dumped in the trash – because he forgot his lunch money.

Tulsa Public Schools officials told KRMG the district’s strict no lunch charges policy for high school students is designed to teach them responsibility, and it isn’t going to change any time soon.

The anonymous mother said her son was forced to go hungry recently when a school food service worker told him he owed $3 he didn’t have. The mother said cafeteria officials seized his tray, and dumped it out in front of him to make their case, according to the news site.

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“Let me know that he owes money, send a note home or something, but I don’t think a child should be told no, they can’t eat,” the mother said. “I don’t think that if he forgets his money one day, it should be ‘no, you can’t eat.’”

Tulsa Public Schools spokesman Chris Payne said that’s how it’s got to be.

“In the real world if you don’t have your money and you go to McDonald’s, they’re not going to serve you,” he said.

Payne said there’s zero tolerance for high schoolers, but elementary and middle school students can typically rack up about $7 before they’re turned away, though policies are different at each school.

“We, at the high school level, do not allow charges for lunches,” he said.

A similar situation in Franklin County, Kentucky prompted parents there to spearhead a campaign to give away lunches to all students in the district at taxpayer expense, The State Journal reports.

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Mother Farida Elnemer launched a petition drive and gathered more than 1,000 signatures from supporters of her initiative to take advantage of the community eligibility provisions of the National School Lunch Program, which grant blanket free lunches to all students in high poverty districts.

The petition drive comes after reports that school officials confiscated lunch trays from students whose lunch accounts were in the red. In some cases, those trays were also dumped into the garbage, according to the news site.

“The petition shows people from all over the world. Most of those are people from right here in Franklin County,” Elnemer said. “It’s still being signed right now.”

Unlike in Tulsa, Franklin County officials typically provide students with an “alternative” lunch when they can’t pay – a cheese sandwich. Mounting lunch fees, however, are a significant problem, officials said, accumulating to more than $20,000 earlier this school year.

And while Elnemer is working to make all lunches free, other residents like Scott Ellis are taking matters into their own hands.

He believes school officials are “bullying” students by taking away their trays, so he’s raising money to help cover their debts.

“I know this might be the only meal they get. We’re trying,” he told board members at a recent meeting, according to the Journal. “All we ask is that you all try.”

Board members didn’t address the lunch debt issue at the meeting.

Other parents also spoke out about the issue online.

“There is no such thing as ‘free’ anything. Somebody pays,” user_35801 wrote. “Empathy is turning into entitlement. Parents, provide for your children!”

“35801 is right nothing is ‘free,’” ihateoxygenthieves posted. “I don’t agree with them throwing away lunches. Glad that problem was addressed. My child one time owed a whopping $2 and was given an alternative lunch of a cheese sandwich while the ‘free’ lunch students got their pizza.”

“Ah, the liberal way of life. Nobody need be responsible for anything,” gayle_woods added, “don’t worry somebody else will take care of it.”