Cafeteria worker fired months after lunch confiscation incident

WELLINGTON — A cafeteria worker was fired Tuesday over a January incident in which she confiscated the lunch of a McCormick Middle School student. The boy's family had owed $6 in unpaid lunch debt. Barb Ziegler, who worked at the school for decades, was terminated in a unanimous vote by the Wellington Board of Education after a nearly two-hour meeting behind closed doors. In a hearing Monday, Ziegler was given a letter detailing the charges against her, according to school board President Brett Murner. The board did not publicly discuss the situation at Tuesday's meeting, but Murner said Ziegler's termination is effective immediately. The student's mother, Jamie Babb, said in a phone interview earlier this year that she wanted Ziegler to lose her job. She showed a security camera video in which her son, a fourth-grader, sat down at a McCormick cafeteria table and took a bite of food. That's when Ziegler approached and slid the tray away from him, walking away without a word. "They offered him no food after," Babb said. "He was nervous and he was embarrassed." The video shows the child sitting there, appearing stunned. Babb said his friends saw what happened from across the room and offered to buy a new lunch for him — but her child wasn't allowed to buy more food. Watching the video footage, Babb said it was clear Ziegler overstepped her authority. During his investigation into the incident, Superintendent Ed Weber echoed Babb's concerns. He said district policy allows students to accrue $20 in cafeteria debt before a student's account is flagged. The student is supposed to be given three more meals, and then the school system has a reserve fund that can be used to help cover lunch costs. It would have been Principal Nathan Baxendale's job to step in if the problem persisted, not the cafeteria staff's responsibility, he said. "This isn't the first time this has happened," Babb said. "Why was my son singled out? And what made her feel it was appropriate for her to take (his lunch) instead of sending him to the office?" Six other parents reported similar problems with Ziegler while their children were at McCormick, she said. Outraged by the situation, donors flooded the school district with cash to eliminate lunch debt. By February, Weber said enough had been received to wipe out all students' debt at not only McCormick, but the entire district. Two parent groups came forward in the aftermath to propose ways to provide more food items and choices to students. "We'll certainly be working with them," Weber said. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.