Even when parents don’t pay, their children won’t be turned away when they’re in line for lunch.

The Butler School District will follow a revised version of its meal account policy following Monday evening’s school board meeting.

The policy, which previously didn’t provide details about how a school should respond if parents didn’t pay their child’s lunch bill, now will offer a predetermined meal to a child after a parent doesn’t pay for three regular meals.

The first three unpaid meals will be the typical lunch, as they are considered “emergency reimbursable meals.” But the fourth unpaid meal will be a cheese sandwich with fruit and milk, or another predetermined meal.

“There was a concern about students getting food,” said Mary Wolf, assistant superintendent for elementary education.

The parent, however, is responsible for the charges.

They will receive a written notice, and the bill should be paid in 10 days. If it isn’t, a second notice will be issued. This one will state that the district has the right to “seek further legal action” if the payment is not made in another 10 days.

The policy doesn’t mention if the child will continue to receive a meal after this point.

At the meeting, members suggested that this can be handled individually by each school.

“We’ll monitor it,” Wolf said.

Nationally, “cheese sandwich” lunch policies have been criticized by people who claim the policies are embarrassing for children.

But Wolf doesn’t expect this to be a significant problem, saying that the focus is providing students with meals.