'KKK Chicken Tenders' On Methuen, Massachusetts School Lunch Menu Sparks Controversy
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METHUEN, Mass. — School officials in a Massachusetts town are apologizing for sending home a lunch menu that listed KKK Chicken Tenders as an option.
About 6,500 students in four Methuen schools went home with new menus Tuesday, a day after the original one mistakenly listed chicken seemingly in the style of the Ku Klux Klan.
The menus were supposed to read "KK Chicken Tenders," short for "Krispy, Krunchy Chicken Tenders," Methuen Schools Superintendent Judith Scannell told the Eagle Tribune. Scannell said it was an unfortunate typo by an "exemplary employee," and apologized if anyone was offended.
"The School Committee was not aware of any of this," Scannell told the Tribune. "But now, this is totally out of control."
Only one complaint was lodged to the food service director, according to district officials. One angry parent went directly to local station WCVB-TV, saying that when she asked someone in the Nutrition Department how Methuen Public Schools would address the issue, the official brushed it off.
"She didn't even care. She was, 'Oh well, it's there. This is what it is and this is what they're eating,'" the parent told WCVB-TV of the Nutrition Department official.
The menus were not reprinted, but the menu on the MPS website has been changed to read "Krispy Krunchy Chicken Tenders."
"If they're teaching our kids to spell correctly, it should be 'CCC,'" the parent told WCVB-TV.
Methuen Mayor Stephen Zanni, who chairs the School Committee, told the Tribune that his office hasn't received any complaints.
"It was all used on a typographical error, so I don't think there was any intent," Zanni said.
The Methuen gaffe comes as a Florida high school featured a sign promoting a literacy program -- containing a prominent misspelling. The sign at Lakewood High in St. Petersburg read, "Laeping To Literacy Night 6:30 p.m." The sign was installed by a school custodian last Friday and taken down Monday.
Last month, a New York school took heat for a misspelled crossing sign: "SHCOOL X-NG," and a Minnesota grammar school gave public kudos to spelling bee winners with a marquee reading, "Congradulations."
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First Posted: 02/29/2012 2:21 pm Updated: 02/29/2012 5:36 pm