It was the last week of school. Johnny Cook, a bus driver in Haralson County, Georgia, couldn’t believe it when a middle-schooler approached him and told him he was hungry.
The reason? His lunch card was 40 cents short, so he didn’t get to eat lunch that day.
Cook had a brief conversation with the boy, and when he got back home he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Restless and frustrated, he took to Facebook to describe what happened:
A middle schooler got on my bus this evening and said mr johnny im hungry. I said why are you hungry buddy? Didn’t you eat lunch? He said no sir I didn’t have any money on my account. I said they would let you charge it?
No sir.
Huh! What! This child is already on reduced lunch and we can’t let him eat. Are you kidding me? I'm certian there was leftover food thrown away today. But kids were turned away because they didn’t have .40 on there account.
As a tax pay, I would much rather feed a child than throw it away. I would rather feed a child than to give food stamps to a crack head.
Cook's Facebook post went viral, but the next day at school, the superintendent called him into his office.
The bus driver was given two options: either recant his Facebook post or be fired.
He chose the latter.
Despite the public outcry over Cook's firing, the school district backed up their decision by saying they have a strict Facebook policy, which he broke.
But Cook said he didn't regret sharing the story online, and wouldn't take it back. ”I'm proud of the reaction and I'm proud I was able to make a stand when some people may not be able to, ”He said. “And maybe I was able to make a change, in some way, cause a little change.”
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But Cook said he didn't regret sharing the story online, and wouldn't take it back. ”I'm proud of the reaction and I'm proud I was able to make a stand when some people may not be able to, ”He said. “And maybe I was able to make a change, in some way, cause a little change.
Do you think Cook should have been fired for exposing the truth? Let us know, and please SHARE this with your friends on Facebook!

4 comment:

  1. NO!! he should not have been fired. These schools need to seriously rethink this whole lunch thing. Kids are going hungry because the teachers don't like what the parent sends in even if its all they have, children are going hungry because they don't have enough money on their lunch ticket and maybe his parents didn't have it to send in. This is totally unacceptable. he had every right to call the school out on it. They claim they want children to eat healthy foods and be active and yet they are taking lunches away and making kids go without. Not to mention the cost of those healthy foods. Just sad that he had to chose between his freedom of speech and his job.

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  2. No he should not have been fired! Tha is an example of what is wrong with everything today in America! forth cents short on his lunch card so no lunch?! Any adult that was aware of this and did nothing to help this child get to have lunch should be fired!

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