More students registering for free, reduced lunch
STAMFORD — As a student at Westhill High School, Bremelin RamosHernandez said the free and reduced lunch program relieved her of the anxiety of wondering if she had enough money for food.
RamosHernandez qualified for free lunch based on a statedesigned calculation of her parents income. Because she registered for the program, RamosHernandez was able to enter a pin number in the cafeteria checkout each day that enabled her to eat without pay. But many of her peers who may have qualified were not signedup and struggled to pay, the Stamford teenager said.
“I knew some people who had to pay and it was very stressful for them, and sometimes I would give them my pin. If I didn’t get lunch one day, I would give other people my pin so they could eat,” she said.
RamosHernandez graduated from Westhill in the spring and plans to attend The College of Westchester in White Plains, N.Y. in the fall, but went to Stamford Government Center one afternoon in August to help her mom register her younger siblings because she didn’t want them to miss out on the program.
Like RamosHernandez, Stamford Public Schools also understands the benefit of registering students who qualify for free and reduced lunch and last year launched a major initiative to sign up students for the federally funded program.
The result was a 5 percent increase in registered students. From 2014 to 2017, 52 percent of Stamford Public School students were registered for free and reduced lunch, but last year that number jumped to 57 percent, according to school district data.
In a district that last year served 15,974 students, the five percent increase represents 799 more students who benefited from free or reduced lunch.
For families, the financial impact is huge. Reducedprice meals cost 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast whereas a full priced lunch costs $2.85 in elementary, $3.10 in middle, and $3.20 in high school each day.
“We wanted to get the word out to families about what resources were available. Some families may not think they could benefit from filling out a school lunch application so we made concerted efforts in the school buildings at outreach,” said Associate Superintendent for School Development Olympia Della Flora, who came to Stamford in 2018 and has since overseen the district’s efforts around student food insecurity.
School principals and central office staff sent home emails and flyers to parents about the program and partnered with community organizations, such as the United Way of Western Connecticut, to help spread the word and it worked.
The ultimate goal? Provide students with the physical nourishment they need to succeed in school, said Della Flora.
Students who are hungry are more likely to be hyperactive, absent or tardy, experience behavioral, emotional and academic problems, and repeat a grade, according to The Food Research and Action Center.
In Connecticut, that research bears out, as evidenced by BullardHavens Technical School in Bridgeport.
Data from the 201718 and 201819 school years shows that when participation in free lunch increased from 45 percent to 80 percent, chronic absenteeism decreased from 23.5 percent to 16.9 percent.
In the same period, tardiness dropped 16.5 percentage points and the passing rate for four physical fitness tests increased from 16 percent to 62.5 percent.
“If we want to kids to be ready to learn, we have to make sure their basic needs are met and one of the basic needs is food,” Della Flora said. “If we have kids who are hungry they can’t focus on learning because they’re more focused on the physical aspect. We think that’s a