Free and Reduced Price Meal Applications:

 

School District 27J Nutrition Services Department is again trying to help families determine their eligibility for free or reduced price meals before school starts.  The fastest and most convenient way for families to apply for Free and Reduced price meals is online at https:\\sd27j.payschools.com.  Free and Reduced meal information and instructions have been posted on the Nutrition Services page of the district website at https://www.sd27j.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=294 . Please help us encourage families to apply online as this is the fastest and most convenient way to apply for Free or Reduced price meals. 

• Attached you will find Step by Step Online Application Instructions in both English and Spanish.
• Paper application packets are currently being printed and will be delivered to each school.
• The district's communications department will be sending a district wide email, text, and phone dialer to families with information regarding applying for Free and Reduced price meals this week.
• We encourage office staff to visit the District's Free and Reduced page on the district website at https://www.sd27j.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=294 to learn more about the process in order to help families that may have questions.

 

Free and Reduced Application Tips:

 

• Families only need to complete ONE application per household, even if they have children attending more than one school in the district. 
• Students that attend BOLT ACADEMY and BRIGHTON LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER will not show up in the online system, those students will need to be listed as OTHER HOUSEHOLD members and NOT students. This is because those schools do not participate in the National School Meals Program.
• A new application must be completed each school year.  If families choose not to complete an application, they must pay full price for their meals.
• Families that qualify and have recently received a Direct Certification letter for the 2017-2018 school year  DO NOT need to complete an application.  Please have the families read the letter they received carefully, verify that it is for the 2017-2018 school year, and follow the instructions.  If any children in the household were missing from their eligibility notification, have them contact School District 27J Nutrition Services, 630 South 8^th Avenue, Brighton, CO  80601, (303)655-2986 immediately.  Free and Reduced meal information may be shared with the school for the purpose of waiving school program fees that they might otherwise be required to pay. Enclosed with that letter they would have received  a 2017-2018 Information Release Form.  They must complete the Information Release form and return it to either the school or the Nutrition Services office in order to share their information electronically with the school to waive any eligible school fees.  If the family does not have the Information Release Form please provide them with one.  
• Paper Applications may take up to 10 business days to process from the day they are stamped into the Nutrition Services Office.
• Free and Reduced Application packets and Information Release forms are required to be available at each school that participates in the National School Meals Program until the last day of the 2017-2018 school year.Forms that are received at the school must immediately be given to the school kitchen manager or sent through interoffice district mail to the Nutrition Services Office.  

 

Online Application Information and Tips:

 

For the families convenience, School District 27J offers an Online Free and Reduced price meal application. We ask that you please encourage families to complete the online application instead of a paper application.  However, they are still able to complete the paper application, and must be given that option. The online application is the most convenient way to get a determination, and is faster than a paper application.  If completed correctly, the family will receive their Free and Reduced meal status as soon as the application is submitted. Paper applications may take up to 10 business days to process from the day that they are received by the Nutrition Services Office.

• Families will need each student’s ID number in order to complete the online application. Nutrition Services is unable to provide Student ID numbers to families, they must obtain student ID numbers from the school. 
• If a student is new or returning to the school district this year, the school must have them registered  and active in Infinite Campus in order for Nutrition Services or the family to locate them in the  Free and Reduced program system. 
• Student ID numbers that start with a "0", will need to be inputted into the system without the "0" (For example; student ID number is 00123456, will need to be inputted as 123456).
• The system will not allow a family to submit an application for students that have already been approved through the Direct Certification process for the 2017-2018 school year. This means the student has already been approved via the State Direct Certification process.

 

Waiving School District Fees based on Free and Reduced status:

 

Free and Reduced meal information may be shared with the school for the purpose of waiving school program fees that families might otherwise be required to pay. If a family chooses to share their Free and Reduced meal information with the school to waive eligible school program fees, they will need to complete the disclosure (Fee Waiver) section of the Free and Reduced online application form. If a family is completing a paper application they will need to complete the Information Release Form that is included in the Free and Reduced Application Packet.  

 

Information Release Forms - In order for Nutrition Services to share a families Free and Reduced status to waive school fees, the family must have completed the Disclosure (Fee Waiver) section of the online application or the Information Release Form when submitting a paper application. Families only need to complete one Information Release Form per household, even if they have students attending different schools in the district.

 

IMPORTANT:  Nutrition Services does not handle any current or past years fee related questions.   For information regarding school fees, please direct the families to the individual at each school that handles fees.

 

Homeless/Migrant/Foster Students: 

 

Homeless/Migrant Students: Nutrition Services can not automatically approve a homeless or migrant family for free meals until we have received proper documentation from the Homeless/Migrant Coordinator or an application has been processed. It is in the best interest of the family to complete a free and reduced meal online or paper application and mark the Homeless or Migrant box .  Many times the application is processed before the Homeless/Migrant Coordinator is able to qualify and provide Nutrition Services with the proper information.  All online and paper homeless/migrant Free and Reduced meal applications are processed first and then verified with the Homeless/Migrant Coordinator.

District Homeless Contact:

Sallynn Duran 

(303)655-2839    

sduran@sd27j.net

   

District Migrant Contact:

Elizabeth Antillon      

(720)670-0630     

ecantillon@aps.k12.co.us

 

Foster Students:  Nutrition Services can not automatically approve a foster student for free meals until we have received proper legal documentation or a Free and Reduced meal application has been processed. It is in the best interest of the family to complete a free and reduced meal online or paper application and mark the Foster child box.  

 

Nutrition Services tries our best to prioritize students that may qualify under special circumstances. 

Free & Reduced Online Application Instructions-ENGLISH

Free & Reduced Online Information Sharing Release-ENGLISH

 

Free & Reduced Online Application Instructions-SPANISH

Free & Reduced Online Information Sharing Release