PLAINEDGE DRAFT POLICY #8520 FREE AND REDUCED PRICE FOOD SERVICES The Plainedge School District shall take part in the National and State School Lunch Program and other food programs that may become available to assure that all children in the district receive proper nourishment. The Board recognizes the direct relationship between a child's proper nourishment and his/her ability to successfully concentrate on any task, and with that understanding, no pupil of the district shall be deprived of a "Type A" school lunch because he/she is economically disadvantaged. The Superintendent of Schools has developed the following administrative procedures to implement the Free Lunch and Reduced-Price Lunch Program: I. Application A family desiring free or reduced-price lunches for its children shall make written application onthe form provided for this purpose. Forms shall be available in each Building Principal's office, on the district website and in the Department of Food and Nutrition Office. Completed forms shall be returned to the Department of Food & Nutrition office prior to a determination of eligibility. A family may file an application at any time during the school year but must file an application for each child who attends the district's public schools. Applications cover eligibility only for the school year in which they are filed. All financial records of these programs shall be kept in a separate account. Applications will be kept confidential. Families that receive a Direct Certification letter from the New York State Office of Temporary Disability and Disability Assistance may submit the same in lieu of an application. II. Eligibility The responsibility for determining the eligibility of pupils for free lunches shall rest primarily with the School Lunch Director. Family income, including welfare payments, family size, and the number of children in the family attending school, shall be the criteria used for determining eligibility. The most recent New York State Minimum Family Income Scales shall serve as the financial basis for determining eligibility for free lunch or reduced-price lunch. Such conditions as family illness, unemployment or other temporary loss of household income shall also be considered in determining eligibility for free and reduced-price lunch during the period of hardship. Further consideration may be given to other families making application for free and reduced-price lunch who state, in writing, the reasons why their children are unable to pay for a school lunch or pay the full price.
III. Approval Approval of a family for free lunch or reduced-price lunch shall guarantee the providing of a free lunch or a reduced-price lunch to all children in that family attending the Plainedge Public Schools provided an application is submitted for each child. IV. Price for Reduced Price Lunch The amount charged for a reduced-price lunch shall be established by formal action of the Board of Education within the guidelines of price reduction established by the New York State Education Department, Bureau of School Food Management. The price, once established, shall remain in effect until changed by formal action of the Board of Education. V. Collection of Payment for Meals The Building Principal in conjunction with the School Lunch Director will establish meal time procedures that both protect the anonymity of the student and allow for proper accounting. All students who qualify for free or reduced lunch will have an account created for them in the school point of sale system which will identify their lunch status to the lunch staff, but which will not be visible to any other individuals. VI. Nondiscrimination Practices In the operation of the free and reduced price lunch program, no child shall be discriminated against due to race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. Children receiving a free lunch or a reduced-price lunch shall not be required to work for their lunch, use a separate lunchroom, enter the lunchroom through a separate entrance, eat lunch at a different time, or eat a different lunch from the lunch sold to children paying the full price of such a lunch, nor in any other way be publicly identified. Children receiving free lunches or reduced-price lunches are to secure their lunches in the same line and eat in the same area as other children. VII. Appeal and Hearing Procedure A family shall have the right to appeal to the Assistant Superintendent for Business and Administration if its written request for free lunch or reduced-price lunch is denied. The appeal must be in written form and shall state fully the reason for the appeal. Upon receipt of an appeal, the Assistant Superintendent for Business and Administration shall promptly schedule a hearing at a time and location convenient for the involved parties, and adequate notice shall be given the family as to the time and location of said hearing.
The family filing the appeal shall have the right to be represented by a person of its choosing and shall have the opportunity to examine, prior to and during the hearing, the documents and records presented to support the decision under appeal. The family shall also be given the opportunity to question or refute any testimony or other evidence, and to confront and cross- examine any adverse witnesses, and may present oral and documentary evidence and supporting arguments without undue interference. The Assistant Superintendent for Business and Administration shall render a written decision based on the oral and documented evidence presented at the hearing and made part of the hearing record, and the family and its designated representative shall promptly receive a copy of the decision. A written record shall be prepared with respect to each hearing which shall include the decision under appeal, any documentary evidence and a summary of any oral testimony presented at the hearing, the decision of the hearing official, including the reasons therefore, and a copy of the notification to the family of the decision of the hearing official. Such written record of each hearing shall be preserved for a period of three years and shall be available for examination by the family or its representative at any reasonable time and place during such period. The same hearing procedure shall be followed when the School Lunch Director challenges the continued eligibility of any child for a free lunch or reduced-price lunch. During the pendency of the challenge, the child shall continue to receive the free lunch or reduced-price lunch to which he/she is entitled under the eligibility standards contained in these procedures and based upon the information supplied in the application made by the family. A public release containing the same information supplied the parents shall be made available to the official newspapers of the district on or about the beginning of each school year. Copies of the public release shall be made available upon request to any interested party. Any subsequent changes in eligibility standards, approved by the Bureau of School Food Management, shall be announced in the same manner as above. Policy References: Federal National School Lunch Act, as amended (42 USC §§1751-1760) Child Nutrition Act of 1966, P.L. 89 642, 80 Stat.885, as amended 7 CFR §245 et seq. Social Services Law §95(7)
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