FOOD SERVICES UPDATE Financial impact since implementing new policy on April 27 th : • Negative balance/unpaid meals as of April 26 - $30,012.04 • Negative balance/unpaid meals as of May 16 - $35,641.20 • Increase since implementation of policy - $5,629.16 • Balance being “negotiated” - $1,242.00 • Remaining balance due - $34,399.20 Negative balance notifications since implementing new policy: • Balances over $50 generate letter • Negative balance letters being sent home twice a month • Since new policy, all letters being sent home via mail Customer Service Training: • John C. Stalker Institute Customer Service program offered through DESE started today • Training session will take place every other month along with site visit training for individual location staff
FOOD SERVICES UPDATE CEP (Community Eligibility Program) Qualifications: • To qualify for participation in CEP, a school/district must first have a Direct Certification approval level for “Free” lunches over 40% • CEP applies a “1.6” factor to determine CEP eligibility (i.e., 40% times 1.6 equals 64% of students who would be eligible for free meals • Remaining 36% of student population would need to have meals paid by municipal funds (School or City, not Food Services since those are “federal” funds and may not be used to further subsidize meals) • Framingham would need 64% of its students to qualify as CEP in order to have free meals for all without incurring any costs to the district or the city • District eligibility through CEP stands at 36% of students with an additional 17% receiving free and reduced meals through the application process • Families who complete the Free and Reduced Meals application available through FPS are not counted for purposes of calculating CEP eligibility • Families become CEP eligible through their participation some form of federal or state of Massachusetts assistance such as: TANF, SNAP, WIC, CACFP, CHIP (Mass Health), SSI, MCV/Homeless
FOOD SERVICES UPDATE Response from middle and high school principals to the question: How has the recent meals policy impacted the health and wellness of your students? • Have not heard anything one way or the other • Less students are going to the nurse throughout the day looking for available fruit • Seen a reduction in student stress around this issue • There are more kids not paying now who used to pay Observations from Food Services staff: • Multiple students using other student ID #’s • Students taking second lunches stating , “I know you can’t take it away.” • Students leaving the line without going through the register
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