Dear Schodack CSD Community,
We are happy to announce that all students enrolled in Schodack Central School District will be able to receive a free breakfast and lunch meal every school day effective this Friday, December 1, 2023. This includes students attending Questar III’s Paul Puccio School at Maple Hill.
This is a result of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) expanding access to the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP allows eligible schools participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to offer school meals at no charge to all students.
Starting December 1, this means your students can receive breakfast and lunch at no cost to your household. No further action is required by you.
Important things to note:
- Free breakfast and lunch for all students will not be available until this Friday, December 1. Please plan school meals accordingly until that date.
- Per CEP guidelines, for a meal to be free, students must take the minimum required components of a “complete meal” when in the cafeteria line. This means they must take at least three of the following items: meat, meat alternate, fruit, vegetable, bread grain or milk/juice. Additionally, one of the three items taken must be a fruit or vegetable. Monthly meal calendars are available on our website’s Food Services page.
- This means snack items (including snack milk), second portions and single food items (i.e. only a meat entree) are not free under CEP guidelines. However, these can still be purchased using student cafeteria accounts or cash.
- Schodack CSD has been approved for the CEP program for the next 4 years.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the CEP program at Schodack CSD, please reach out to our Food Services Director Tom McNay by email (mcnayt@whitsons.com) or phone (518-732-4269).
