Dalene Bowden may very well be back on the serving line at Irving Middle School in Idaho when classes resume after winter break. She was terminated for giving a hungry student a $1.70 meal because she couldn’t afford her lunch. The story went viral and by Wednesday afternoon, even Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad was involved, meeting with District 25 Superintendent Doug Howell:
“It’s not like me to tell anybody else how to manage their business unless it’s affecting my business and in this case, it was,” Blad said. “The city received dozens of phone calls, and our Facebook and Twitter pages were blowing up about the firing.”
By last night, the district publicly announced they were reinstating Debra Bowden. The problem? Nobody has contacted Dalene Bowden yet:
However, by 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Bowden said she hadn’t personally heard from the school district. She said that while she loved her job, she’s anxious and confused about her reinstatement.
“I have to think about it,” Bowden said. “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.”
That pessimism is probably fair. Superintendent Doug Howell did note the school district doesn’t fire people over one incident and they don’t discuss personnel matters. Bowden says she’d never had a bad review and had only received one warning—for giving a student a cookie. The horror! Howell said the district is enrolled in a federal food program and they’d work more with the district’s food service employees to make sure students are getting what they need.
“Our District focuses on the success of every student and recognizes nutrition is an important part of each student’s education and learning,” Howell said in the press release. “In addition to the Federal Service Program, the District works directly with the Pocatello office of the Idaho Food Bank and receives and distributes 1,000 packs of food each month to our students.
So, congratulations internet outrage. You got Dalene Bowden her job back!