YUHSD students in brick-and-mortar campuses will still receive free meals

As the 2020-2021 academic year begins in a remote learning environment for Yuma Union High School District, all students enrolled in a brick-and-mortar campus will continue to receive meals at no cost to them, the district announced earlier this week.

Participants in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the district provides these meals through the implementation of Provision 2 and Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), special assistance programs afforded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that waive household applications and fees.

According to YUHSD Director of Student Nutrition Services Grace Pruit, these provisions will still be available when YUHSD transitions to hybrid learning, slated for Aug. 17.

Because the district’s Yuma Online Distance Academy (YODA) is not recognized as a brick-andmortar school by the Arizona Department of Education or USDA, students enrolled there are not eligible for free meals. However, according to Pruit, they will be able to purchase them for $2 (breakfast) and $3.25 (lunch). Adults may also purchase a breakfast for $2.50 and lunch for $4.

“While the YODA students are a part of our district in many ways, however, to the federal and state level, they are not considered brick-andmortar (students) so we cannot provide them free meals,” Pruit said. “We won’t deny providing a meal to anyone. It’s just a matter of if they’re our students and they have a student ID number, then they’re eligible at their home campus for a meal at no cost. If they’re not one of our students, we would just sell them the meal, whether it’s for a child or for an adult.”

Much like the grab-andgo method following school closures earlier this year, meals will be available for pick-up at all district campuses – Cibola, Gila Ridge, Kofa, San Luis, Vista and Yuma High Schools – between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. To receive them, students will need to provide their student identification number in the drive-thru line. Parents are able to pick up a meal on their child’s behalf, providing the same information.

“We’re excited to have those services start back up,” Pruit said. “My staff are all very excited to see the friendly faces of the students that they serve. They’re ready to get back at it.”

Regardless of the pandemic, Pruit said these free and reduced-price meals are a “critical resource” for students to take advantage of.

“It’s critical that our students have the resources that they need for their learning,” she said. “One of those resources is fuel for their body. If they don’t have access to food, if their access is limited, we need to make sure that we have that resource available to them so they can have the fuel they need to be energized, so they can engage in their classes and so they can be present. If you are hungry for whatever that reason is – maybe you have access to food at home but you woke up late and forgot to grab something for breakfast – it starts distracting you from your instruction.”