District Collect Lunch Debt

Marshalltown Community School District in Iowa has almost $26,000 in school lunch debt on the books. So they've hired a collection agency to try to recoup some of the money owed to the district.

I admire the district's decision that kiddos should not be turned away from the lunch line (though there are some ways to mitigate these growing charges, like alternate lunches for delinquent kiddos, e.g. PB & J), but why not prevent students from registering or collecting report cards/transcripts until their account is paid. Seems like the collection agency is going to cost money and goodwill.