The Carroll Community School District (CCSD) will be switching to an entirely free school meal program at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year. School Nutrition Director, Sara Anderson, says the district’s shift away from paid meals started at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic with the launch of the Universal Free School Meals Program last spring by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). According to Anderson, the USDA recently announced an extension to a similar free-meal program, known as the Seamless Summer Option through June 2022.
There are several other aspects of this meal program that made it appealing to the district. By utilizing this option, the district will have more flexibility in their breakfast and lunch meal choices, such as total sodium levels or reduced requirements for whole-grain products. Anderson says the most important thing for families to understand is there are no income limitations for participation, which has the added benefit of reducing the stigma attached to students enrolled in free or reduced-price meals.
Anderson says funding comes from the USDA, so residents will not experience property tax rate increases to subsidize the free meals. When the program expires in 2022, CCSD will have provided no-cost meals to students for over two years. However, Anderson says it is possible they could begin charging for meals again in the 2022-23 school year.
She adds the district is planning to host a regular summer lunch program this year as well, and more details on that are expected to be released before the end of the school year. For more information on these USDA initiatives, follow the link included below.
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