Lunch lady hasn’t responded to offer to have her job back

Dalene Bowden, the woman who was fired after giving a free lunch to a student, met with the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District Monday morning.

District 25 offered Bowden her job back at Irving Middle School in-person during the meeting, but she still hasn’t accepted or declined the offer.

Bowden’s story quickly gained national attention, with an online petition gathering nearly 140,000 signatures and becoming the top trending topic on Facebook.

District 25 first offered her job back in a press release on Dec. 24. In the same press release, the district also said it does not fire workers “due to a singular event of this nature.”

A district spokesperson said they are expecting an answer Tuesday.