Free and Reduced School Lunch: EFC-R

The following criteria have been established for use in determining eligible patrons for free and reduced price meals:

1. The Food Service Supervisor has been designated as the official to determine which individual students are eligible for a reduced price or a free meal.

2. The district will provide forms to parents or guardians on which application for consideration of eligibility of their children for reduced price or free lunches can be made. This application form and its content is considered part of policy and regulations.

3. The district will provide a free lunch to the students upon receipt of the application and will continue to do so until the determination is made as to whether the students qualify for a reduced price or a free lunch.

4. If the application is denied, the parents or guardians may appeal this decision to the superintendent and/or designee and a hearing will be conducted under the hearing procedure prescribed in section 9 of the National School Lunch Act, as amended. Prior to the hearing, the student will continue to receive a reduced or free lunch.

5. The district will abide by the income poverty guidelines based on the U.S. Office of Management and Budget guidelines as adjusted by the secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture.

6. The district will notify the parents at the beginning of the school year of the availability of the reduced price or free lunch. This will be a notice sent home with students or a letter mailed to the students' home. This notice is considered part of policy and regulations.

7. The district will provide a release to all informational media in the area at the same time the notice is sent to the home.

8. Students receiving reduced price meals will not be required as a condition of receiving such meals to use a separate lunchroom or section of the lunchroom, to go through a separate serving line, to enter the lunchroom through a different entrance, to work for their meals, to use a different medium of exchange or to eat lunch at a different time from paying students. The names will not be made public but shall be confidential information.

9. In order to protect anonymity of the student receiving the reduced price or free lunch, meal tickets for all students will be issued by a carefully selected staff member.

Adopted October 14, 1975
Revised 1978
Revised 1986
Revised May 10, 1988
Revised February 10, 2014

LEGAL REF.:  
P.L. 79-396

CROSS REF.:  
IHBA, Programs for Handicapped Students