The Wayne County Board of Education voted Tuesday night to
provide free breakfast and lunch to all students this coming school year.
The move extends the federal Community
Eligibility Provision from the 11 schools that qualified through the program’s
rating scale this past year.
Board Treasurer, Ancie Hatfield and
Food Service Director, Brenda Arrowood say the school system will not have to
spend much more than it has the past two years to fund the program.
Arrowood said there are proposals in
Congress to relax the strict nutrition guidelines that have caused some parents
to publicly express their concerns at board meetings in the past year.
Regardless of what happens at the
federal level, Arrowood said her cooks will continue to work hard to stay
within those guidelines and provide a tasty meal that kids will eat.
Superintendent Lynn Hurt added she was
happy to endorse the recommendation because providing meals for every child is
a step in the right direction toward better success in the classroom.
The move also means that unpaid meal
bills will stop accumulating, although the school system, must under federal
law, continue to pursue the more than $700,000 in bills that have accumulated
during the past decade. The past two years, the school system averaged more
than $70,000 in new debt, according to the news release.
