Parents accuse Salinas school of making kids sit on floor during breakfast

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) Parents of elementary school students are up in arms after they tell KION they saw something unusual happen during breakfast.

El Gabilan Elementary School is coming under fire after parents sent in pictures of students eating breakfast while sitting on the floor. They claim the photos show students having to sit on the floor because lunchroom workers are too lazy to pull out the cafeteria tables and chairs for them.

Parents tell KION the worker in the cafeteria asked the kids if they wanted to eat outside, but the kids sat down on the floor instead. They said someone from the administration office only started to pull out tables after a mother started taking photos.

"The cafeteria is dirty," said Maribel Ortiz, one of the parents. "The tables aren't clean. It affects me a lot because I don't like seeing my daughter eat on the floor. That's the first time I've ever seen them eating on the floor."

The school district responded to the incident in a statement, saying it found that the school was adapting to the climate and students sat while tables were being taken down.

"No students were directed to sit on the floor to eat. Despite the systems that are put in place to ensure the safety and security of our students, this unfortunate incident took place. Further steps are being taken to ensure that this type of incident does not happen again," the district said in the statement.