Idaho lunch lady fired for giving free lunch offered job back

Delane Bowden, the Pocatello, Idaho cafeteria worker who was fired after she gave a 12-year-old girl a free lunch, has been offered her job back. The story went viral earlier this week, with a petition earning nearly 80,000 signatures.

As we previously reported, Bowden was working at the Irving Middle School in the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District when she gave a student a free lunch because the girl didn’t have $1.70. The district first placed her on leave, but she later received a letter informing her that she was fired for theft.

Since the story gained national attention, a Facebook page earned over 7,000 likes and a petition reached 79,800 signatures.

Thankfully, she has been offered her job back. The school district issued a lengthy press release, which said that it recognizes “the efforts of our food service staff, schools, students and patrons and the Board of Trustees that make a positive difference in the lives of children in our community.” After the holidays, the district will provide more training for its food service staff. The district has also stressed that the federal school food programs are strictly regulated and a district could lose funding if they don’t follow the regulations.

At the end of the statement, the district offered Bowden her job back.

City officials also issued a statement Wednesday, noting that no elected officials were involved in the decision to fire Bowden.

In an interview with The Idaho State Journal late Wednesday, Bowden said that she has not heard directly from the district and has not decided if she will take the job back or not.

“I have to think about it,” Bowden told the Journal. “I’m afraid that they would just make my life miserable and then try to set me up, or get rid of me some other way.”

Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad told the Journal that he wasn’t too happy with how the school district handled the situation.

“I wish the district would have come out in front of all of this and let people know why they did what they did,” Blad said. “They know that this is a serious issue and this is not what Pocatello is about.”