YUHSD’s online academy students now eligible to receive free meals
Delivery route added to increase access
New guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has allowed Yuma Union High School District’s student nutrition department to begin offering no-cost grab-andgo meals to students enrolled in the Yuma Online Distance Academy (YODA), an exclusively online learning platform provided by the district.
Previously, YODA students were deemed ineligible by the USDA and Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to receive the district’s nutrition services at no cost, because although they are considered students of the district, they are not connected to a brick-and-mortar school.
Under the new guidance, YODA students will procure these meals from the brick-andmortar campus they attended during the 2019-2020 academic year. Grab-and-go nutrition services continue to operate on each YUHSD campus from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
If students were enrolled in YODA last year rather than a brick-and-mortar site, they will go to the campus they were last connected to, YUHSD Student Nutrition Services Director Grace Pruit said.
“At one point, they were registered and tied to a home campus, so they would just go back to whatever that campus was,” she said. “We use our student database system to see when they initially registered and enrolled not only with the district but with YODA as well, if it was prior to when COVID started (affecting Yuma County) in March – we can look there and see what campus they were tied to when they registered if they don’t already know.”
With approval from ADE, YUHSD has also made provisions for students who aren’t able to get to campus each day during distance learning: delivery routes comprised of major bus stops within the district’s boundaries.
“That really helps us get the food to the community to meet them where they are,” Pruit said. “One of the barriers for our students is transportation. We do have a lot of students that participate in our transportation services when we’re in normal session, so we knew that was a barrier for our participation numbers and getting the food to the students. We’re excited to have bus routes as a part of the program.”
To receive a meal, students are required to present their student identification card or number; parents and guardians may procure a meal on their student’s behalf with the same items.
According to Pruit, it’s possible this service will be extended beyond the district’s transition to hybrid learning, though nothing is concrete at this time.
“As of right now, the opportunity is available during distance learning,” Pruit said. “We are awaiting some additional data and information on if it’s going to be a possibility for our department when we start the hybrid model. There’s a lot of moving variables with that – knowing how many (students) are remaining on distance learning versus how many are coming on campus, and our department resources. Staffing is a huge component with that to continue the bus routes, but we’re going to do everything we can to make that available if at all possible.”