Ronan elementary, middle schools offer free meals
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RONAN — School lunches will be free at three Ronan schools this year, as the district partners with a federal program meant to reduce hunger in low income communities.
Ronan Food Services Coordinator Marsha Wartick said she hopes the program will keep kids from going hungry, result in monetary savings for the district, and reduce the stigma sometimes associated with accepting a free school lunch.
“This is a really good program,” Wartick said.
K. William Harvey Elementary School, Pablo Elementary School and Ronan Middle School will be included in the program, because approximately half of the students of those campuses come from families who live below the poverty line.
Under the federally funded Community Eligibility Program, first tested under a pilot project in Montana and nine other states last school year, the government chips in funds to help schools pay for breakfast and lunch if the schools have more than 42 percent of its student body living below the poverty line. The schools are reimbursed for the entire cost of the free lunch program if more than 65 percent of students are reported as living below the poverty line.
Wartick estimates the Ronan District will have to pay between $500 and $600 per month to feed approximately 800 students. She said that cost is dwarfed by what it costs to run the previous lunch program that identified students as qualifying for free, reduced, or full-priced meals. The mandatory process of sorting out which students were eligible for free or reduced lunch cost the district a considerable amount of postage each year, Wartick said.
Every family in the district had to be mailed an application at the start of the school year, Wartick said. Then the district had to sort through the applications, make a determination, and send every family a letter of approval or denial. Additionally, the district sends out routine letters informing parents of their child’s lunch account balance.
“Just the mailing costs alone are easily covered by (the savings),” Wartick said.
She also hopes the program will reduce the costs to families. Traditionally the school has allowed students to amass up to $40 or $50 in charges before cutting the child off and giving them milk and a snack for lunch.
“It’s pretty hard when they get up to $40 or $50 to get them to pay it and then get them caught back up when they do,” Wartick said. “If you’ve got three or four kids and you are on that borderline it’s really hard for a lot of those families to come up with the money to feed those kids.”
While children aren’t supposed to talk about their free, reduced, or full priced status, there are whispers in the lunch line about who has to pay and who doesn’t, Wartick said.
“For some of them it is a pride thing and for some of them, they are embarrassed,” Wartick said.
Studies have shown that hunger and social stigma can negatively impact student performance and behavior, according to a press release from Gov. Steve Bullock’s office that supported the program.
“If we want to give our kids every opportunity to succeed, then we need to ensure they’re able to focus on their studies, instead of their hunger,” Bullock said in a press release. “How can we expect our kids to concentrate on learning, when they don’t know where their next meal is coming from?”
Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau is also supportive of the program.
“Healthy meals play a critical role in student achievement and behavior,” Juneau said. “Access to nutritious meals helps students succeed in school, graduate and go on to create a better life for their families in the future. Improving access to school meals for eligible children and decreasing paperwork for schools is a win-win situation.”
