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Deadline looms for school meal sign-ups
By KENT FISCHER Revised September 6, 2000 © St. Petersburg Times, published August 31, 2000 LAND O'LAKES -- About 7,000 Pasco County school children stand to lose their free or reduced-price lunch benefits on Tuesday unless their parents turn in updated applications, which are due Friday. Roughly 20,000 of the district's 45,000 students received a free or reduced-price lunch last year, prompting schools to embark on campaigns to re-enlist as many families as they can. The district has compiled a list of families who participated in the program last year but who have not re-enrolled. Schools are calling families on the list and sending more applications home with their children, and mailing them directly to parents. But those efforts won't pay off unless parents return the application to schools, said Rick Kurtz, the district's director of food services. "For a lot of people, (the late application) just doesn't hit home until we start charging their children for lunch," said Rick Kurtz, the district's director of food services. Several principals said that while they want their neediest students to receive nutritious meals, they also want to enlist as many families as possible to ensure their school's demographic reports accurately reflect their student population. Many government programs and grants are distributed to schools based on how many low-income students they have, which is documented by their free and reduced-price lunch enrollment. To qualify for a subsidized meal, a family of four cannot earn more than about $31,540 a year. A school lunch costs $2.00 at the middle and high schools, and $1.60 at the elementary schools. The reduced price for program participants is 40 cents.
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