City, county schools to offer free lunches

KWalker@CalhounTimes.com

Both Calhoun City and Gordon County school systems announced earlier this week that all schools meals will be completely free for all students for the entirety of the 20212022 school year.

Because meals will be free throughout the school year, free and reduced lunch applications are not required and will not be collected by either system.

GCS Director of School Nutrition Nicole Heard said lunches would be free for students thanks to participation in the Seamless Summer Option, a U.S. Department of Agriculture program aimed at supporting access to nutritious meals while minimizing potential exposure to the coronavirus through June 30, 2022.

“That program is being offered nationwide for all school nutrition as part of the response to COVID,” Head said. “We’re really happy to be part of it because we know there are kids in our community who rely on these meals and this ensures every student has a proper, nutritious meal to keep them full during the day.”

Maintained through the Dept. of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) arm, the Seamless Summer Option is particularly concerned with maintaining food safety and security for students during the 2021-2022 academic year when schools are reopening but many children are not yet vaccinated. It hopes to do so by limiting the need to collect meal payments at meal sites, which speeds up the service of meals and thereby reduces contact and exposure to COVID-19.

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The program also facilitates implementation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for safe school meal service, which include serving meals outdoors or in classrooms.

“Schools may not have access to electronic systems typically used to determine eligibility and collect payment

A crew from CSX loads the old railroad crossing signal cantilevers from the tracks at Court Street onto a trailer using a crane, partially blocking traffic. CSX workers secure the old Court Street railroad crossing cantilevers with outdated lighting to a trailer to be hauled away after new equipment was installed.

The railroad crossing at Line Street received updated cantilevers with new signage, as well as the latest in lighting and signaling technology. Cars wait to cross the tracks into downtown at Court Street. The new railroad crossing equipment now installed at the Court Street and Line Street crossings downtown have updated LED lighting, as well as state-of-the-art signaling technology, according to a CSX official.