SNOW HILL – Students at several local schools will have access to free breakfast and lunch thanks to the school system’s enrollment in a federal meal program.
The Worcester County Board of Education this week voted unanimously to enroll the county’s nine eligible schools in a federal program that will provide free meals for all students.
“Providing our students with access to healthy and nutritious meals is one of the keys to academic success,” said Odtis Collins, the school system’s coordinator of food services.
Collins presented the school board on Tuesday with a recommendation to enroll in the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program. He said the program was created because the Health, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 required significant changes in childhood nutrition programs in an effort to reduce obesity and increase access to healthy meals and snacks. The CEP program, which is open to schools that have an “identified service percentage” greater than or equal to 40%, was created in the wake of the 2010 changes.
“CEP was phased in over a period of three years starting in school year 2011-2012, “Collins said. “It was nationally implemented in school year 2014-2015. As you can see it’s been around for a while.”
Through CEP, schools that are certified by the Maryland State Department of Education can serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students.
“As a result of the application and the certification process we filled out, nine of our schools were approved as certified schools,” Collins said.
Those facilities are Pocomoke High School, Pocomoke Middle, Pocomoke Elementary, Snow Hill High, Snow Hill Elementary, Snow Hill Middle, Cedar Chapel Special School, Buckingham Elementary, and Berlin Intermediate School.
“Out of those nine schools that were certified, each one of those schools is currently serving free breakfast,” Collins said. “Eight of those schools are serving supper. So really what we’re doing here is adding another piece to the puzzle, offering them free lunch.”
Collins recommended the school system enroll in the program, which operates in a four-year cycle, beginning in the 2023-2024 school year.
“I will tell you if this is approved and it’s not a good fit we’re not committed to the four year cycle,” he said. “We can always go back to our traditional way of counting and claiming.”
The board voted unanimously to enroll the nine eligible schools in the CEP program for the coming school year.
