FULTON, NY – Fulton City School District officials are eyeing a possibility to enter a program allowing free breakfast and lunches for all students in the district.
The Community Eligibility Provision under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 allows high-poverty schools or entire districts to offer all students breakfast and lunch for no charge due to funding from state and federal sources.
While one neighboring Oswego County school district, Hannibal CSD, applied for and implemented the program in the 2017-2018 school year, Superintendent of Fulton schools Brian Pulvino said FCSD waited to observe the outcome of putting the program into effect.
“It almost sounded too good to be true,” Pulvino said. “So, we decided to take a year to better understand it and watch Hannibal’s venture with the program.”
FCSD Food Service Director Terry Warwick said, “Hannibal’s forecast went above what was expected.”
Superintendent of Schools for Hannibal Central School District Christopher Staats confirmed the program’s success in the first year of implementation thus far.
“We have seen a major increase in the number of students participating in breakfast and lunch,” Staats said, noting that an increase of 5,000 breakfast and lunches had been administered in the first semester under the Community Eligibility Provision.
The results had surpassed his expectations. “We had hypothesised more students would participate, but when we looked at the numbers we were shocked by truly how many more we were seeing. People are embracing it. It’s been very easy for the staff to prepare the food and have made accommodations to keep up with the pace. Every single staff member in our district just loves the context of this program,” he said.
While Hannibal provides free lunches to qualifying grades kindergarten through eighth grade, Staats said next year the program will grow to include the high school grade levels to encompass the entire district.
In Fulton, calculated qualifications show the entire district would be eligible for the program pending approval.
According to CEP criteria, at least 40 percent of the district’s students must qualify as “Identified Students” – the population of students that qualify for free or reduced meals without an application.
These children are directly certified, or eligible for free or reduced school meals without and application, because data matches indicate they live in a household that participates in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP,) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Cash Assistance (TANF,) Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR,) or Medicaid, if identified as receiving benefits as part of the Direct Certification Matching Process.
Other qualifying students include those who are directly certified because they are in foster care, homeless, migrant, living in a group home as a ward of the state, or in Headstart.
According to Warwick, Fulton’s percentage of Identified Students surpasses the required 40 percent, currently estimated at roughly 52 percent of the district’s student population.
The reimbursement rate for the program is determined by a calculation including the Identified Student Percentage.
FCSD business manager Kathy Nichols explained the reimbursement criteria. The amount of free meal reimbursement, paid at $3.37 per lunch meal and $2.19 for breakfast meal, would be roughly 84 percent for FCSD based on current numbers.
Likewise, the remaining almost 16 percent would be reimbursed by the paid meal rate of $0.45 per lunch meal and $0.30 per breakfast meal.
The district will then simply keep track of how many total meals have been distributed under the CEP. In order to continue tracking data for additional funding sources, students that do not fall in the Identified Students Percentage will collect family income information using an alternate form.
The CEP allows food service employees to lessen administrative work and improve efficiency and meal quality. The program eliminates unpaid meal fees and, as exemplified in Hannibal, participation is expected to increase.
“Increasing food challenges is a problem nationwide, it’s not restrictive to this area. This would be a viable program for our community. It would eliminate the stigma associated to receiving free meals,” Superintendent Pulvino said.
After meal requirements changed rather significantly under previous federal administration, participation numbers had lessened. Warwick and the food services department have worked to structure new meals that students favor while still adhering to nutritional standards.
As such, participation numbers have increased in the 2017-18 school year, Warwick said.
“We’ve taken the time to build a stronger foundation,” Pulvino said. This way, if implementing free meals, students will be willing to participate knowing the meals taste good.
District officials will be preparing the district’s application form to be submitted in April. If approved, free meals for all students will be implemented at the start of the 2018-19 school year and would run for a period of four years before requiring reapplication.
“I’m very excited about this. This is something I think would be wonderful for our community,” Warwick said.
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“It almost sounded too good to be true…” You know the old saying, “if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t.” Another liberal socialist experiment in Oswego County. You can thank the (lawmakers) in Albany for this. Cuomo is taxing you to death and everyone seems to enjoy it.
This will never happen in Oswego school district. They are too greedy. Oswego would raise the taxes 10 percent. Can’t cut into the over inflated salaries…
The meals that are provided now, should be free. All the do is open a can, box, and take it out of the freezer. Nothing is made in the kitchen anymore. The lunches now gross.
Nothing in life is FREE I urge all you Taxpayers to go visit Hannibal’s Lunch cafeteria’s during lunches & stay to the end of the lunch times in all 3 schools in this district to see bulk of the nutritious foods dumped into the garbage receptacles on a daily basis by the students….same goes for all the surrounding districts also Guaranteed you will not be so keen on this program………Oh & wear earplugs the noise is deafening also be prepared to be nauseated as to the students eating habits…..or lack thereof.
Nothing is free.
I really wish we would stop using that description. Properly put, the headline should read: “Fulton eyes school meals program paid for by taxpayers.”
“Free” sounds as if the program just somehow appeared on it’s own.
Honestly put, if a parent cannot afford to provide a basic breakfast or lunch for their child, then there is a much bigger problem that needs to be seriously addressed.
CORRECT, NOTHING IS FREE!
PLUS, YOU ARE ENABLING & ENCOURAGING MOMS TO NOT GET OUT OF BED & FIX EVEN A BOWL OF CEREAL FOR THEIR CHILDREN OR MAKE A SANDWICH FOR LUNCH.
I KNOW ” SOME CHILDREN WOULD NOT EAT IF NOT FOR SCHOOL BREAKFAST & LUNCH”!
WHY? BECAUSE PARENTS DO NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR TAKING CARE OF THEIR CHILDREN, NOT EVEN FEED THEM BEFORE THEY GO TO SCHOOL. SORRY IF I HAVE OFFENDED ANYONE. BUT POURUNG SOME CEREAL IN A BOWL FOR YOUR CHILD ( OR THE PERSON CARING FOR YOUR CHILD) IS NOT THAT HARD!
We have this where I live (in a neighboring county) and my children are actually in school. (I wonder how many of you constantly complaining about public schools have children currently enrolled there.) It is wonderful. Some days my children prefer to take their own lunch from home, but it’s nice to have that backup. And I know their classmates whose parents wonder how they will pay for the next meal value it as well. But then again, I’m one of those liberals who have this crazy notion that children should have access to food on a daily basis and will gladly pay my taxes to ensure such.
Yes Kelly, kids should have access to food. In their homes before school, and in their homes after school. If you want a child to have the option to eat at school instead of at home, then send that child with money from that parent for that child to purchase that food.
Call me crazy for believing we should actually provide our children with meals, clothing, shelter, and parenting. Somewhere along the line we have acquired the belief that “what’s your’s is mine” even though I did nothing to obtain it, except vote in a politician to forcefully take it from you.
Need help? There are plenty of food pantry’s and charities whose soul purpose is to help those in need.