No more free lunch at school

McCOOK, Neb. — In order to keep up with federal reimbursements, the McCook School Board unanimously approved increasing prices for school lunches and breakfast by 10 cents for 2022-23, in accordance with federal guidelines.

The board has been doing this annually for the past several years to catch up with the federal price, Superintendent Grant Norgaard said Monday night at the McCook School Board meeting.

McCook Schools Business Manager Jeff Gross said that 2022-23 will be the first time in two years that meals will not be automatically free to students, as federal dollars had been paying for meals in response to the pandemic. His office has been proactive in notifying parents that eligibility forms for free or reduced lunches need to be filled out for next year, Gross said.

The forms are not only used in determining eligibility for free meals but also establish poverty levels for state aid and can qualify school districts for free meals for the summer.

For the past several years, McCook Elementary’s poverty rate of over 50% qualified the school district for free summer lunches. This year, the meals are being funded by a different government program than the one used during the pandemic and as a result, are not set up as “grab and go.” Instead, students/adults must physically come into McCook Elementary and eat the meals, Gross said.

So far this year, those participating in the free meals are those attending summer school and number between 115-120 students daily, he said. The program is scheduled to continue until July but if no one outside the school district attends, the program will be discontinued when summer school ends in June.

Norgaard also updated the board on other district items, including:

-The district is still looking for a journalism teacher at the high school. It’s hard to find teachers right now and finding one endorsed in this area is even harder, Norgaard said. Ideally, the teacher would be endorsed in English/Language Arts. He gave the board a heads-up that the person they eventually hire may be endorsed in another area.

- The school district continues to partner with the YMCA in a number of activities, such as providing transportation for extended-day students and the sharing of facilities. He said there is a potential for additional growth in this partnership, where both entities can benefit.