The free school lunch program that was passed at the onset of COVID-19 is set to expire on June 30, 2022. Congress did not extend the school meal waiver providing free meals to all students for the upcoming 22-23 school year.
If you are on the direct certification list, you will not need to fill out an application (you will receive a letter notifying you of this prior to the school year beginning). If you completed an application last year and qualified for free or reduced meals, you will have until September 23, 2022, to complete a new application. After September 23rd, you will need to pay full pay for meals until a new, approved application has been received by the school.
In addition to this, in order to be eligible for the ACE SCHOLARSHIP (for students taking classes for dual credit AND those taking classes strictly for college credit), you will need to complete and be approved for free/reduced lunch status. The ACE Scholarship applications open up on August 1st. Contact Ritchie Morrow if you need help with this application: Ritchie.Morrow@nebraska.gov. During the 21-22 school year, up to 3 classes were paid for by the ACE scholarship (if you qualified for free/reduced lunches), but we are unsure on the number of classes covered this year.
Some of you have positive meal balances already in your child(ren)'s account. To know the balance of your child(ren)'s account prior to the start of the year, simply log into your PowerSchool parent account.
Please note that breakfast will be served at 7:30 AM daily this year, and all junior high athletes who have practice will have a "grab and go" breakfast available to them at the conclusion of their first period PE class, IF they are out for a sport and were not able to attend the 7:30 AM breakfast. Otherwise, JH students are asked to eat at the 7:30 AM breakfast option with the rest of the K-12 students.
Finally, we will have a collection point to pay for school breakfast/lunches at our Open House on August 16th. We ask that you pay for at least two weeks of your child's meals in advance, if you aren't on the direct certification list or qualified/may qualify for free/reduced lunches. This is also a reminder that "seconds" or "extras" will not be given to those students who have a negative meal balance, and are a separate charge, regardless of lunch status.
The first Tuesday of each month will be a Farm to Table instructional lesson provided by our FFA students, and a day that all students will have access to homegrown beef!
Additionally, sack lunches will be available to students participating in school events during the school day (i.e., golf and track meets, field trips) when a lunch is needed off site. This will meet the federal lunch guidelines AND the student meal will be charged to his/her account. NOTE: You must let the kitchen know at least 24 hours in advance if a sack lunch is needed for a school activity.
The following are the meal prices for the 2022-23 school year:
Breakfast (for all students) - $2.05
Reduced breakfast price: TBD*
Lunch (varies by grade level):
PreK - $2.90
K-6 - $3.10
7-12 - $3.40
Reduced lunch status (PreK-12): TBD*
Adults - $4.10
Extra Milk - $0.60
Second Meal - $1.65.
*The reduced price for breakfast/lunch is yet TBD.