Orange County Schools board temporarily waives lunch policy for further review

The Orange County Schools Board of Education made changes to its lunch policy which will limit middle school students' debt to $10 and could leave the door open for a universal lunch plan, making lunch free for all students in the system. 

Orange County Schools discussed changes to its lunch policy in recent weeks, and on March 9, the school board decided to waive the current policy until the end of the academic year. 

Elementary and middle school students can charge their lunches if they forget to bring in money, according to the current lunch policy. However, if an elementary student accumulates a negative balance of $10, they will not be charged further and will instead be given an alternate meal at no additional cost. 

The policy says if a middle school student accumulates $10 of debt, they will receive a voucher to be paid off by the next day. 

The policy committee motioned to waive the policy for 60 days in order to review the policy in a board policy meeting on Feb. 28. While the policy is under review, students who charge their meals will be able to select the meal of their choice, regardless if it is a U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved alternative item or not. This waiver also entails holding a maximum charge of $10 on student accounts, meaning accounts currently exceeding that will be reset to be $10. 

Board member Hillary MacKenzie, who also serves on the board’s policy committee, said she wants to be able to reassess the current policy to better it for next year. 

“I think the idea is to give us enough time to assess and regroup for next school year,” she said. “I’m still worried that high school students are not eating.”

With the distinction between elementary and middle school policies not being clear, OCS Board Chairperson Will Atherton explained what the policy states for middle schools.

“So the way it works today is at elementary schools, you can go up to $10 and then you can get alternate meals,” Atherton said. “But at middle school, when you get to $10, the way the policy is written, is you get a voucher. You have to pay the voucher back, and then you can get another voucher.” 

Some schools, however, don't force students to select the USDA-approved item if their balance is in the negative $10.

Cameron Park Elementary School Principal Tony Widder said in an email that his school is able to do this because of donations.

“Thanks to the generosity of community stakeholders, we receive donations to cover the cost of unpaid meal charges when a student’s balance exceeds the $10 limit,” he said in an email. 

In the meeting on March 9, Board member Sarah Smylie said she would like to look into this issue more deeply and see what other options are available for the schools’ lunch policy. 

“The federal government also has community eligibility, and we have several schools that qualify for community eligibility,” Smylie said. “You have to do a bunch of math to figure out if it's worth it. Usually this means the whole school gets free lunch.”

Widder said an option the Board could potentially discuss is a universal lunch plan, which would make lunch free to all students in the school system. 

The Board approved the motion to waive the current policy in place until the end of the school year. 

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