The district is made up of seven schools and serves about 5,000 children, Mr. Usavage said. C. David Pedri, the county manager, wrote the district a letter, noting that foster care should never be viewed as punitive. “It weaponizes Luzerne County’s foster care system,” Mr. Pedri said on Saturday. The foster care system is here to help kids who are abused.”“Taking a kid out of a house is one of the most extreme things that a foster care system has ever tried to do,” he added. We would never take a kid out of a house for failing to pay a school lunch bill.”Mr. Pedri said the foster care system should not be utilized to “terrorize” people into paying their lunch debt.

Source: New York Times July 20, 2019 20:37 UTC