August 30, 2013 at 4:31 p.m.
Free and reduced lunch program helps community and district
Free and reduced lunch program helps community and district
But, as it turns out, not everyone in the community is taking advantage of the program.
"The free and reduced numbers, the actual numbers, are used by the federal and state governments to calculate how much funding we receive," said district superintendent Kelli Jacobi. "They're looking at our district-wide free and reduced numbers and that's how they decide how much our district is going to get. So, if we can get more families to fill out those forms, we will find more families with eligible kids, even if they don't eat the school lunch, because we find a lot of families that would never imagine qualifying for the program that actually do qualify. ... The actual correct numbers will help us increase our federal and state funding for those programs, grants, that rely on that information."
According to the state school report cards released last year, the number of district kids who receive free and reduced lunch range from 53 percent at Pelican and Crescent Elementary Schools to a low of 31 percent at the Northwoods Community Elementary School.
Central Intermediate School came in at 45 percent, James Williams Middle School at 45 percent, Northwoods Community Secondary School at 43 percent and Rhinelander High School at 36 percent.
That drop-off from the middle school to the high school is something the district is concerned about, Jacobi said.
"We know that we have kids at the high school that aren't eating lunch. In elementary school and middle school they qualified for free and reduced lunch and now we see them sitting in the cafeteria just not eating. I know some of those students because they had been in my classroom at one time so I looked at it and they didn't have a free and reduced application," Jacobi said. "We have teenage boys that should be eating thousands of calories a day that aren't eating at all while they're at school because of that issue. It's not good for the kids."
Jacobi said she believes that the drop-off from the lower levels to the high school is because of a fear of being stigmatized.
"At the high school level, we notice that our free and reduced numbers drop a very large amount. We know that when our numbers at the elementary and intermediate schools are as high as they are, as the kids get older, the middle school numbers drop a little bit and then by high school it drops significantly," Jacobi said.
"We know the families are still here, but when the kids get to high school, the families are not completing the free and reduced application for one reason or another. ... I know that some consider it stigmatizing, that people will know their kids are getting free and reduced lunch, but that's not the case."
The district takes steps to ensure that all information remains confidential.
"When kids go through the lunch line, they use their ID number and it just records through like any other kid. People standing around them aren't seeing something that pops up saying 'free lunch' or anything like that. There's nothing that would stigmatize a child now that we're all computerized," Jacobi said.
"Many years ago, kids on free and reduced lunch got a different colored lunch ticket. It was a terrible thing to do and it was very stigmatizing. We don't do that (anymore), that's not something we would ever allow. Parents don't need to worry about that. There's nothing in the process that stigmatizes kids."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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