North Penn had role in universal free breakfast plan

Governor Tom Wolf and local officials have announced a plan to provide universal free school breakfasts for 1.7 million students across the commonwealth this school year.

“It is completely unacceptable for a child to start the day hungry,” Wolf announced in a statement on Sept. 9.

“I’m taking hunger off the table for Pennsylvania kids by creating the Universal Free Breakfast Program. Regardless of whether or not they qualify for free or reduced meals normally, every student enrolled in public or private schools will have the opportunity to feed their belly before they feed their mind this school year,” he said.

According to Wolf’s office, the Universal Free Breakfast Program will go into effect on October 1, 2022 and run through the end of the 2022-23 school year. More than 1.7 million Pennsylvania children enrolled in public schools, intermediate units, charter schools, career and technology schools, and child care institutions that participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs will benefit from this statefunded program.

And, a North Penn School District employee was involved in making this happen, district officials said this week.

According to the district, Melissa Froehlich, North Penn School District’s Coordinator of School Nutrition Services and School Nutrition Association of Pennsylvania Communications Chair, and Nicole Melia, Food Service Supervisor of the Great Valley School District,

were instrumental in advocating for the Universal Free Breakfast Program.

Froehlich and Melia, along with the School Nutrition Association of Pennsylvania, worked with Wolf to establish the program following the expiration of waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that covered universal free meals for all students.

“We commend Governor Wolf and the Administration for their dedication to a hunger-free Pennsylvania. Universal free school breakfast across Pennsylvania helps to ensure every student will start their day with a healthy, nutritious meal,” said Froehlich.

North Penn and their SNS department had provided free meals to students starting with the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, in numbers totaling more than two million total meals by fall 2021 and over one million more during 2021-22, and in May Froehlich and the school board warned that federal waivers to continue that program were set to expire, presenting several scenarios in a special finance committee meeting on May 24.

North Penn had already made plans to cover universal free breakfast for the 2022-2023 school year, as well as free lunch for students who qualify for both free and reduced price meals, according to a district statement. The reduced category has been eliminated and those students will also receive lunch at no cost. Funding for this program will now be covered by the Pennsylvania government’s Universal Free Breakfast Program which goes into effect October 1, 2022 and will run through the end of the 2023 school year.