Parents should register for free or reduced meals

Others have railed on this subject before, but there's an unexpected twist worthy of a revisit. I would have never guessed the amount of our kids who receive help with meals would ever go down. I can't wait for the consensus in 2020. But the reasons why seem apparent. Tough call all around collecting money from poor people, all of witch seem to have enough money for a 200 a month cell phone bill.  I'm glad they stopped the "no meal if you were behind in payment" policy. I do think more could be done to verify poverty level. Feeding your child at school is no different in feeding your child at home, if you can afford to do so.

By Zane Razzaq
Daily News staff

Posted Jan 15, 2019 at 8:16 PM Updated Jan 16, 2019 at 11:00 AM

School officials suspect that a dip in free and reduced meals applications, as well as the rising negative balance in the Food Services Department, is tied to a new meal policy that ensures no child is denied a meal.

FRAMINGHAM – School officials are urging eligible families to apply for free and reduced meals after an unexpected drop that is likely driving up a negative balance in the Food Services Department.

For the first time in at least eight years, the number of children on free and reduced meals in Framingham schools has decreased, from 52 percent in fiscal 2018 to 48 percent in the current school year. That decline amounts to several hundred fewer applications, primarily at the middle and high school levels. Finance Director Lincoln Lynch IV said the district will be proactive in getting families to apply for the program.

“We want to encourage as many people as possible to apply,” said Lynch. “As the year goes on, we’ll just be pushing out those applications to everyone.”

The School Committee implemented a new meal policy over the summer after reports that students with negative account balances were being denied meals in the lunch line. Under the new policy, no student is denied a lunch or breakfast meal. Meals are still charged to student accounts, but it falls on parents or guardians to settle the debt.
Under past practice, students at Framingham High School and Cameron, Fuller and Walsh middle schools were allowed to run up a maximum deficit of $10 in their meal accounts. Once they hit that cap, students were denied meals when they reached the end of the lunch line.
School officials suspect that both the dip in applications, as well as the rising negative balance in the Food Services Department, is tied to the new policy. In an interview, Schools Superintendent Robert Tremblay said families may feel less incentive to fill out the paperwork for free and reduced meals.
“There’s always been a social stigma about returning a free and reduced lunch application, but now we have a policy in place that says, ‘If you don’t have the means to pay, your child won’t be denied a meal anyway,’” said Tremblay. “What’s the drive for a family to sit down and fill out an application, when the outcome may very well be the same