News, Waterford

W-C to look at options for funding free, reduced lunches

By Dave Fidlin
CORRESPONDENT

A discussion about hot lunch prices within the Washington-Caldwell School District for the upcoming year sparked a big-picture discussion about funding free and reduced lunches in the years ahead.

Mirroring policy decisions made in a number of other Waterford-area school districts, Washington-Caldwell officials decided a few years ago to withdraw from the federal lunch program.

The decision means Washington-Caldwell, like many of its neighboring districts, has more flexibility in what kinds of foods it puts on students’ plates, but that decision comes with a cost.

The U.S. Department of Education has been cracking down in recent years in an attempt to thwart the growing trend of obesity in the nation’s youth population. Districts participating in federal meal programs are restricted on food quantities, calorie counts and what types of foods can be served on a given day.

Locally, officials have criticized the federal guidelines, asserting the amount of wasted food has skyrocketed — a visible demonstration the federal guidelines are not meshing with students’ tastes. Leaders within Washington-Caldwell and other districts have asserted they will continue to make strides toward offering healthy meals, but with variations that will appeal to students.

Washington-Caldwell and other districts no longer participating in the federal lunch program do not receive funds to cover the cost of offering free and reduced lunches to students.

At Washington-Caldwell’s monthly School Board meeting July 18, Rachel Opgenorth, district bookkeeper, said the free and reduced lunches are being funded directly from the operating budget — a decision the School Board made when it withdrew from the federal program.

As the books are closed on Washington-Caldwell’s operating budget for the 2015-16 school year, Opgenorth said the district ran a deficit of $4,000 for lunch operations that came as a result of funding the free and reduced lunches.

The district still has a running balance of $14,000 to fund free and reduced lunches in the 2016-17 school year and beyond.

Knowing that the funds set aside to cover deficits for the hot lunch program will eventually be depleted, district officials this week said they will begin looking at alternative options to ensure students from financially-strapped families will continue to receive lunch daily.

Once the new school year gets underway, Superintendent Mark Pienkos said he will collaborate with his peers in neighboring districts to come up with possible solutions.

“We’ll do some investigating … and will see what they’re doing to hold down costs,” Pienkos said.

Comments are closed.