Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Schools Serve Free Meals To Students
PARENTS URGED TO STILL APPLY FOR FREE, REDUCED PRICE MEALS
PRAIRIE GROVE — School meals, both breakfast and lunch, are free to all students 18 and under, whether they are attending school on site or virtually, through the end of December, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The news is good for parents, students and schools, but at the same time school officials are encouraging parents to go ahead and fill out an application for the free and reduced meal program, whether they believe they will qualify or not.
The USDA announced Aug. 31 it was extending the flexibility for summer meal program for operators to continue serving free meals to all children into the fall months.
“This unprecedented move will help ensure — no matter what the situation is on-the-ground — children have access to nutritious food as the country recovers from the covid-19 pandemic,” the news release states.
David Kellogg, assistant superintendent of transportation, maintenance and facilities with Prairie Grove School District, said the district is glad to provide free meals to all students but is concerned it takes away the incentive for parents to apply for the free and reduced meal program.
“This is unprecedented,” Kellogg said. “Usually, there’s the compulsion, ‘If I want to eat free, I’ll have to turn it in.’ Now, we don’t have that.”
The school is trying to get the word out to parents to fill out an application and submit it by Oct. 1.
Kellogg said some state and federal funds received by the district are based on the percentage of students who qualify for the free and reduced meal program. In addition, the district applies for various grants and a school’s free and reduced lunch percentage is taken into account on many grant applications.
A district’s free and reduced lunch rate is based on applications approved the previous year. For
“This unprecedented move will help ensure — no matter what the situation is on-the-ground — children have access to nutritious food as the country recovers from the covid-19 pandemic.” USDA News Release
2020- 21, 42% of Prairie Grove’s students qualify for the program district-wide.
Kellogg said Prairie Grove does not want that rate to drop for the 2021-22 school year. However, any applications turned in after the October deadline will not count for next year, he said. That’s why, it’s important to get applications in before Oct. 1, he added.
The situation is not unique to Prairie Grove, Kellogg said, noting that other public schools participate in the free and reduced lunch program.
Mary Ann Spears, superintendent of Lincoln Consolidated School District, last week said Lincoln has almost reached the same rate as the percentage who qualified last year. Lincoln’s rate hovers around 71%.
Lincoln is one-to-one for Chromebooks, and parents were asked to submit paperwork, which included the free and reduced lunch application, when picking up Chromebooks for the new school year, Spears said.
“We’re getting close on ours,” Spears said.
Farmington also seems to be having good success with parents filling out the applications. For 2020-21, 35% of students qualify for the meal program, based on last year’s applications. For this year so far, the rate is still 35%, according to Wendy Burris, director of the district’s nutrition program.
One concern, Burris said, is that participation is very low, compared to last year, for students eating school lunches. The school will be reimbursed for all meals served, but in Farmington, many students are bringing a lunch from home.
Burris said parents most likely are sending lunches from home because of covid-19 concerns but notes parents should not have those concerns.
“We are the safest and most sanitized place in school,” Burris said. “We always have been.”
Participation is slowly increasing, but Burris said she’s not sure how to encourage students to take a school lunch.
“It’s free, breakfast and lunch,” Burris said. “We’re trying to put that out.”
Kellogg talked about the problem of getting parents to submit applications for the program at the Prairie Grove School Board meeting on Sept. 15. The question was asked if the school could contact parents of those children who qualified last year.
Pete Joenks, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said this was not an option because of privacy laws.
“You have to give it to all students and ask them to fill it out,” Joenks said. “We can’t look at families who’ve turned it in before.”
Prairie Grove is reaching out to parents through different avenues to get the message out, Kellogg said. The school website has a message to encourage parents to fill out an application. Notes are going home with elementary children and calls are being made.
Kellogg said his hope is that a “hold harmless” policy would be approved at some point to allow school districts to use their current rate for the 2021-22 school year.