By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
The food services director for the Pulaski County Special School District urges parents to fill out applications now so that their children can receive free or reduced meals.
Reduced lunches cost 40 cents at both elementary and secondary schools. The regular price, which the district has not had to increase this year, is $2.50 for secondary students and $2.25 for elementary students.
The applications are available at every school and at the district office, 925 E. Dixon Road in Little Rock. “We try to make them available everywhere,” food services director Regina English said.
Most of the schools will send a packet of information home with the students and the applications will be in those too, she continued. Her office also mails some applications.
Eligibility for most is based on family income and size as compared to the poverty level set by the federal government.Families with incomes of 130 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free meals. Families with incomes of 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reduced meals.
Eligible incomes for free meals range from $14,937 for families with one child to $51,519 for families of eight. Eligible incomes for reduced meals range from $21,257 to $73,319.
Children whose families are members of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly food stamps, are categorically eligible for free meals. Students enrolled in Head Start/Even Start programs, the children of migrant workers and homeless children are eligible for the free meal program.
Foster children are eligible for free meals regardless of the incomes of their custodial families.
English explained that students who qualified for the federal program last year have 30 days from the first day of school to enjoy it before they must turn in a new application.
“(After) that is normally when we get them,” she said.
The district receives approximately 13,000 applications each year, English noted.
As for how many qualify, “our biggest year was 8,000 to 9,000,” she said. That is about 57 percent of the typical 18,000 enrolled.
English said she would love for the district to be at 63 percent or higher because it receives $500 in Title 1 funds from the U.S. Department of Education for each student on the free and reduced meal program.
“Students see that money. That goes to special testing and things they need in the classroom,” English explained.
It takes 10 days to process an application, so submitting them before the 30 days is up is highly recommended, she continued.
If a student’s application isn’t processed before then, the student can charge a meal three times. After that limit is reached, the student gets an alternative meal consisting of a grilled cheese sandwich or water, English said.
She noted that lot of parents don’t realize their children qualify for the program or don’t fill out an application because of the perceived stigma.
“It really helps the child to be able to receive a nutritious, healthy, full hot meal. A lot of parents think they don’t qualify, but they would be amazed at the guidelines and how lenient those are. I don’t want one (child) to go hungry. It saddens me,” she said.
English continued, “I had a daddy last year who took one of his kids off it because she was embarrassed.”
But the only people who see whether a student gets free or reduced meals are her staff of five, English said.
She explained that teachers, cafeteria workers, Superintendent Jerry Guess and others don’t have access to the names of students on the free and reduced meals program.
In other food service related news, PCSSD received a $3,000 grant to give students at Pinewood Elementary School, Robinson Middle School and Robinson High School the opportunity to eat breakfast in their classrooms.
The program will start the third week of school.
The $3,000 covers equipment, including a computer the cashier will use and insulated totes to keep meals either hot or cold.