I don't believe legally the school district can have the authorities remove children from their parents and place them in foster care over an unpaid school lunch bill.
If I had my druthers, school districts would not have a feeding program for the kiddies at all. When I was in elementary school, we kids brought our lunches. It wasn't until I was in junior high that the school district had a cafeteria and we kids were required to eat those putrid school lunches. No brown bagging. The cost in those days was 35 cents and we paid the cashier at the end of the lunch line. No one ate for free back then.
Today, this district not only serves lunch, but breakfast and an after-school snack. Since this town is "distressed," the few taxpayers like myself who are left foot the bill for the vast majority of kids on public assistance and food stamps.
If the lumps in DC were serious about curbing runaway spending, they would eliminate these feeding programs. If you have kids, pack a lunch for them and feed them breakfast and other meals at home. My parents weren't wealthy, but they made sure we kids were fed. They did not abdicate their responsibility to the "gubmint." High time our government forced today's parents to do the same.