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Dear Parents and Guardians,
The school meals program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, school corporations across the country have been operating with the use of a federal waiver that allowed them to feed every child for free through the end of this school year. The use of this waiver will not be available after this school year and corporations will return to the traditional eligibility requirements for free, reduced and paid meals. This means that for School Year 2022-2023, our school corporation will process free and reduced-price meal benefit applications.
The Food Services Department does have the ability to Directly Certify students who receive SNAP, TANF, some Medicaid, are certified as homeless, migrant, or are wards of the state (foster children). Households who are found to be directly certified will be notified in writing of the free or reduced-price meal status prior to the start of school and will not need to complete an application.
Meal benefit applications will not be available until after July 1*. On line applications will be available on the Corporation webpage. Paper applications will be available at the Corporation office and at all school offices. Households are encouraged to apply before the start of the school year to avoid unpaid meal charges. Students who are not approved for free or reduced-price meal benefits before the start of the school year will be classified as paid status and meal charges may begin to accumulate starting the first day of school. Meal charges accrued before the approval of a meal benefit application will be the responsibility of the household. Meal price information will be available in July. Payments for student lunch accounts can be made at www.MySchoolBucks.com.
You do NOT need to complete an application if:
● You receive notification that your child(ren) are directly certified.
*Applications received prior to July 1 will not be effective for the 2022-2023 school year.
Thank you,
Anitra Pierson
Food Service Director
Lakeland School Corp
260-499-2400
apierson@lakelandlakers.net
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