Trending
PARKERSBURG -- Distributing free breakfast and lunch to students since 2015 through the Community Eligibility Programs, the Wood County Board of Education will continue to offer meals at no charge for the 2021-22 school year.
The Board of Education announced a policy for providing free meals to all children served under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.
"I think it's a great opportunity. I think that being able to know that if you choose to send your child to school. They can get a free breakfast and lunch in many of our schools. Your student will be able to grab breakfast and lunch at no charge, especially as we look at poverty levels increasing," Hollie Best, child nutrition director, said. "We are currently at 50 percent of our students in the county who qualify for free and reduced meals."
All schools will be participating in the program as implemented under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, created as a universal free meal service to children in high-poverty areas. Applications for meals are unnecessary for the 2021-22 school year.
The meal program is an alternative to collecting, approving, and verifying household eligibility applications for free- and reduced-price eligible students in high-poverty Local Education Agencies. If at least 40 percent of a school's students are directly certified for free meal benefits, the entire school qualifies for the option.
Participating in the program is different from the nationwide USDA Free Meal program, which is running through June 2022. Best said other schools in West Virginia will use the federal program.
"Let's just hope next year the U.S. government decides to continue it across the nation. I think that is huge for our country," Best said. "Because sometimes we do have children fall between the cracks and people do not realize that."
For more information contact Best at 304-420-9631 extension 101.
Tyler Bennett can be reached at tbennett@newsandsentinel.com