An eighth grader in Northern California allegedly received detention after recently offering a fellow student some of his lunch.
Weaverville Elementary School student Kyle Bradford, 13, gave a friend some of his chicken burrito on Tuesday because the student didn’t like the cheese sandwich being served by cafeteria officials that day.
“It seemed like he couldn’t get one, a normal lunch, so I just wanted to give mine to him because I really wasn’t that hungry. It was just going to go in the garbage if I didn’t eat it,” Bradford told CNN.
Although Bradford’s mother said he should not have been punished for being compassionate, he received detention.
“By all means the school can teach them math and the arithmetic and physical education, but when it comes to morals and manners and compassion, I believe it needs to start at home with the parent,” Sandy Bradford told KRCR-TV.
The punishment was doled out because of a policy that prohibits students from exchanging meals in an effort to avoid issues with allergies, according to officials with Trinity Alps Unified School District, which includes Weaverville Elementary School.
“Of course if students are concerned about other students not having enough to eat we would definitely want to consider that, but because of safety and liability we cannot allow students to actually exchange meals,” district Superintendent Tom Barnett told CNN.
Bradford said he would share his lunch again if a friend asked him to, CNN reported.
The school was in Weaverville, a community in Trinity County.
