District One officials say they have corrected an error in policy enforcement that left a handful of Landrum High School students without lunch this past Thursday.

Just like every school district, we have to work with unpaid balances on these things, said District One Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services and Operations Harrison Goodwin. We have 10 schools in the district, and nine went off without a hitch. At the 10th school, there was confusion on how to implement our policy and doing so resulted in some kids not getting lunch last Thursday.

The mistake was recognized and corrective action was put into place.

Goodwin said no more than a dozen students were affected.

Now, students whose balance owed exceeds the preset limit must work with the cafeteria manager and/or school principal, but will receive a meal.

Goodwin said the mistake also resulted in a policy change at the elementary-school level where students with an outstanding balance were formerly served sandwiches. Those students will now receive a full meal under the same guidelines.

According to Goodwin, the school districts philosophy certainly does not include denying any students their meals. &bsp;

Why would we deny a child lunch when we are just beating down the doors, encouraging them to eat a free breakfast that we provide under a federal program? asked Goodwin. Its not our philosophy to deny children a meal.

Goodwin also said over the course of the collection process district-wide, quite a few students were identified as candidates for the districts free-lunch program. He said LHS has more students taking part in that program and the reduced-price lunch program than in previous years.

I think thats a reflection on the economy, Goodwin said. Youre talking about $1.90 a day, but that adds up to $300-$400 a year if you only have one student.