The need for lunch money will be one less thing Gilmer County families have to consider beginning with the 2024-25 school year.
The school system announced lunches will be provided to all students at no cost for next school year. The news came after a nine-month application process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which was led by nutrition director Patricia Partin and her staff.
“Gilmer County Schools have met the requirements to participate in system-wide Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP allows districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications,” the press release stated.
“School lunch is critical to student health and well-being, and ensures that students have the nutrition they need throughout the day to learn. Gilmer County Schools offer healthy meals every school day and now we can provide these meals next school year at no cost.”
The county’s students already receive breakfast at no cost, which is a practice that has been in place since 2017, according to Partin.
Gilmer County Schools met the requirement of CEP because of the number of students who receive a free or reduced lunch. Partin examined the free and reduced lunch eligibility data of all students at all schools, which came out to 77 percent. That figure was plugged into a formula and submitted to the USDA.
“We take the number of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, and factor that through a multiplier,” said superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley. “At this point, our number is over 100 percent. One hundred percent of the kids are not free and reduced, but when we put it through the multiplier, it comes out at over 100.”
Students statewide received free meals during COVID for the end of the 2019-20 school year and all of 2020-21. For the subsequent two years, as well as this year, only students who met the financial qualifications and submitted an application received a free or reduced lunch.
Because all of the county’s students will receive lunch at no cost next year, free and reduced applications are not required. This will save the district time and resources and take the burden off families.
“By not processing applications, we’re saving a lot of money with the man-hours that would have gone into that,” Partin said. “Sometimes it’s hard on the families to have to fill those out and send them in. It’s hard on the children, and a lot of times, we don’t get them back. It’s a headache for the families to have to collect all that information.”
Partin and her staff will have to resubmit free and reduced data to the USDA on a yearly basis to ensure the district falls within CEP guidelines. As long as those requirements are met, all students will continue to receive lunch at no cost.
“I’m very excited we’re able to do this,” said Partin. “It was a lot of work for this office, but it was truly worth it. We’re so excited to provide this service for our students and families.”
The district will continue to provide meals at no cost during June and July to those 18-years old and younger. Summer Feeding sites and times will be printed in a future edition of the Times-Courier.