TOMS RIVER – The district will be applying for three more schools to be included in a program to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.
Currently, only South Toms River Elementary takes part in the program, officials said. However, new guidelines have made Citta, Walnut Street, and Pine Beach elementary schools qualify.
District Business Administrator William Doering said that the requirement used to be that 40% of households certified for free and reduced meals. It was changed to 25% which means that three more schools are eligible. Additionally, more schools could be eligible in years to come if trends continue.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Community Eligibility Program “allows the nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications. Instead, schools that adopt CEP are reimbursed using a formula based on the percentage of students categorically eligible for free meals based on their participation in other specific means-tested programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).”
During a recent Board of Education meeting, Doering said he sees this as a positive, as it will provide more assistance to families. The district will be making an application to allow these three schools to take part in the program.
Anna Polozzo, who represents South Toms River on the board, said that the principal in that school has told her that the free breakfast and lunch has “significantly impacted behavior and student achievement in his building and I imagine it would have a similar impact in other buildings.”
In related news, meal prices will be reduced in the coming school year. The cost of lunch will go down by 75 cents and the cost of breakfast will go down by 50 cents, Doering said.
The district already charges well below the maximum allowed by law, but this will help families even more, he said.
A parent of a high school student who buys lunch all 175 full school days would be saving about $131 a year. A parent with three elementary school children who all buy lunch every day would be saving about $262 a year.
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