WESTBROOK — An anonymous donor has stepped forward with $10,000 to wipe out much of the schools’ unpaid lunch debt.

The donation arrived Monday, said Westbrook Superintendent Peter Lancia.

“It was a little surreal and pretty amazing,” Lancia said. “We get donations that come in to help with the debt, but we have never seen something like that. It was pretty one-of-a-kind.”

The donation will be put toward the $17,000 in debt students across the district have accrued in their school meal accounts. How that will be applied is still being worked out. 

The issue of this year’s student meal debt was first reported last week by the American Journal.

“The donation is absolutely wonderful news,” said Barbara Nichols, director of food nutrition. “I will be working with our student service team in each school – a group of guidance counselors, social workers and principals who are more involved with individual students than we are. They will be working with me to look at the list of students who owe money, so we can start to target families who we want to wipe their debt out.”

Lancia said he has asked  Nichols to review the protocols in place to collect student nutrition debt, “something we should be doing every year anyway.” That report is expected to be reviewed by the school finance committee June 6, before being passed on to the full School Committee for review.

Currently, it is the policy of the the nutrition department to send letters Fridays throughout the school year to parents whose students owe $5 or more, but that correspondence often is ignored, Nichols said.

According to the department’s administrative procedure, once an elementary school student owes more than $20, a letter is sent home along with an application for the free or reduced lunch program. Once the debt climbs to $50, a meeting with the parents, Nichols and the building principal is requested to set up a payment plan. When the debt climbs to $100, parents are asked to set up a payment meeting with Nichols and Director of Operations Dean Flanagin.

Students in elementary and middle schools who owe money are not allowed to purchase a la carte items, but can get the school lunch option. At the high school, if a student owes more than $5, he or she can’t get the school lunch meal or a la carte items until the debt is taken care of.

Working with families to get them to pay off their debt, Nichols said, is not something she takes lightly.

“I don’t know what’s happening at home. I don’t want want to put a burden on top of a family that is already burdened if I don’t have to,” she told the American Journal earlier this month.

Nichols said the anonymous $10,000 donation is not the only donation that has come in to reduce this year’s debt. A number of small donations have been sent in as well, she said.

“This is a very caring community. We are fortunate to be in a community that cares so much for one another,” she said.

Lancia said he is grateful for the recent financial support, no matter the size.

“I have always said people in Westbrook love their children. This is a really concrete way people are demonstrating they believe in kids and are making sure people who are struggling get back on their feet,” Lancia said.

Michael Kelley can be reached at 781-4337 x 125 or mkelley@keepmecurrent.com or on Twitter @mkelleynews.