similar, there are differences. The dollar is heavier and, of course,
stamped on the average quarter one is also going to find the words
"Quarter Dollar." The SBA coin is imprinted 'One Dollar.' The 11-year-old
claims to have made those arguments at her Burbank school, but some
adults don't listen to kids.
After the reader contacted the school, her daughter's money was
refunded. From that day on the student insisted on taking only paper
currency to school. But there was a downside even to that. Upon discovery
of the confusion, the cashier simply stopped using quarters or one dollar
coins. So if you're owed change, expect to have a pocket full of pennies,
nickels and
dimes. The larger coins remain unused.
Another child in the same family had a better experience at his middle
school. His classmates see lunchtime transactions as something of a
lottery no one ever loses. The SBA dollars are apparently stored in the
same tray slot with quarters by another cashier who regards them as
equal. Those receiving change may hit a jackpot, getting back more than
they started with.
I suppose we should be instilling in our kids an ethic that would have
them immediately returning any overpayment. But I've seen school lunches,
and what a government institution offers up as a supposed "bean burrito."
A cash incentive seems a fair means of getting kids to eat them. With the
district now undergoing millions of dollars of remodeling, rebuilding and
repairs at schools throughout the city, we can only hope contractors
aren't asking to be paid in quarters -- all the while hoping to receive
otherwise unused SBA dollars.
*
I've learned in recent years that, when one pokes fun at a candidate,
at least the opposing camp laughs. When City Hall is the butt of jokes,
there's always an audience. When gadflies are picked on, anyone who has
had to wait through a council meeting public comment period gets a laugh.
And of course, laugh at a columnist, and the world laughs with you. But
make a crack about anything having to do with schools, and people get
their noses seriously out of joint.
I joked here last year about fund-raising efforts at my son's school,
and I still get withering glares from the offended coterie.
So I'll now await the storm of offended calls and letters defending
the hard work of those collecting cash from kids, and the superb
epicurean quality of burritos served by the Burbank Unified School
District.
A READER REMEMBERS
Last week I made reference to a quote describing a writer's challenge,
