School officials: Free lunch program beneficial to schools in many ways
Fourth-graders at Ringgold Elementary School South wait in line to be served their lunches.
Shelby Basinger, 14, from Connellsville takes a tray of food from the serving line at the Connellsville Area Middle School cafeteria.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Molly Gillott, 9, of Connellsville carries a tray of food from the serving line at Connellsville Area Middle School during summer lunch.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
The Community Eligibility Provision allows qualifying schools to offer free meals to all students.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Olive Bigley, food service worker at Connellsville Area Middle School, prepares food in the serving line.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
William Gillott, 8, sits with friends and family while eating lunch provided by the summer lunch program at Connellsville Area Middle School.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Enjoying a meal provided by the summer lunch program at Connellsville Area Middle School are (from left) Sydney Gillott, 13, Shelby Basinger, 13, and Molly Gillott, 9, all of Connellsville.
A student at Ringgold Elementary School South picks up her lunch.
Ringgold Elementary School South students enjoy the lunches they either brought in or picked up from the school.
A federal meal program introduced at eligible area schools over the last three years has eliminated not only expenses for parents and administrative burdens for schools, but a stigma often associated with students receiving free and reduced meals.
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a reimbursement option for schools in high poverty schools that wish to offer free meals to all children, has been implemented by four Fayette County school districts and two Mon Valley districts with success, according to school officials.
“Students took advantage of it,” said Carl Bezjak, acting superintendent at Albert Gallatin Area School District, reflecting on the district’s first year of the program last year. “It saved time for parents to pack lunch and for students to purchase lunch. It’s a nice cost savings with nutritional value.”
The CEP serves as an alternative to the School Breakfast and National School Lunch programs for schools that have at least 40 percent of their student population considered “identified students,” or students who are automatically eligible for free meals due to poverty or homelessness.
Under the program, which currently operates in 29 area schools, every student is eligible to eat breakfast and lunch for free, ensuring students receive proper nutrition.
Dr. Karen Polkabla, superintendent of Ringgold School District, reported a noticeable difference in students’ behavior and performance in the classroom when free breakfast was made available to everyone at Ringgold Elementary School South, which enters its third year of CEP participation.
“We saw a huge difference in how they were in the classroom. Everybody feels better when they’ve had breakfast,” said Polkabla, adding that students previously complained of stomach aches. “Maybe they were just hungry.”
A provision from the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the CEP was made available to Pennsylvania schools for the first time in 2014-15.
Participating schools agree to serve free meals for four consecutive school years and receive federal reimbursement based on the number of participating students.
While 40 percent is the benchmark for participation, the higher a school’s identified student percentage (ISP), the more financially beneficial the program is to a school district.
Schools with an ISP of 62.5 percent or higher have all of their meals reimbursed at the highest federal rate, known as the free rate.
Connellsville Area Superintendent Phil Martell said the program has helped the district’s pursuit of financial stability, helping to trim $150,000 from a $300,000 food service deficit last year.
“Financially over last couple years, food service has been in the red,” said Martell. “We knew last year we would need to make some cuts.”
Through the program, increased meal participation has led to increased federal reimbursement to the district, Martell said, as all 11 of the district’s schools use the CEP.
Uniontown Area Superintendent Dr. Charles Machesky said the program proved to be financially beneficial in its first year, with Ben Franklin, Lafayette and Uniontown Area High schools participating.
While it wasn’t a moneymaker, he said, the district did not lose money by participating.
At those schools, the district is reimbursed for 93 percent of meals served. While two other schools in the district qualify for participation, reimbursement figures would be considerably reduced, said Machesky.
“It is extremely fiscally responsible for all parties involved, most importantly taxpayers,” he added.
Brownsville Area School District, which previously qualified for the program but deemed it financially disadvantageous, enters its first year of the program after seeing an increase in its ISP. Free meals will be served at the district’s three schools.
“We were previously not at a high enough threshold for it to be financially beneficial to district,” said food service director Amy Keeler. “Over the course of last year our numbers increased, and that allowed us to participate in it this year.”
Both the elementary center and middle/high school in Monessen City School District also participated in the program last year.
Under previous federal meal programs, schools were required to collect forms from students detailing their home economic situations to determine eligibility. The CEP eliminates the need to collect applications at the beginning of each year, reducing administrative paperwork and simplifying meal counting.
“We didn’t have to send out forms. Students didn’t have to turn in forms with household income,” said Bezjak. “(The associated paperwork) is tedious work for our secretary to keep track of it. It takes all of that off the table. Everybody across the board can walk up and eat lunch.”
“We don’t have to worry about collecting paperwork from parents,” added Polkabla, explaining that students sometimes did not turn in the necessary forms, preventing the Ringgold school from serving meals to students at prices they could afford.
School officials say there was a stigma associated with turning in such forms and receiving free and reduced meals, one which is erased by serving free meals to all students.
“High school students in the past rarely filled out the form for free lunch,” said Machesky. “There was a stigma associated with it, the other students knew. With this, every student is the same.”
Keeler said schools that have opted into the program have statistically shown improvement in several areas — tardiness, absenteeism and visits to the school nurse decrease, test scores improve.
“Studies have even shown that discipline issues decrease,” she said. “When the entire district is enjoying free breakfast and lunch, it’s a better environment for students.”