The application process is now open for free and reduced lunches at the Petal School District, with qualifying households eligible to receive even more benefits outside of the meal plan.
With each application, families may receive discounts or credits on Internet access and utility bills, while helping to maintain funding for student programs and services. In addition, there are possibilities for free or reduced testing fees, waived college application fees, and the Pandemic EBT card that was issued by the federal government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Prior to the pandemic, you had to fill out free or reduced lunch forms, and thankfully the federal government was able to give free meals to all of our students throughout the district,” said Matt Dillon, superintendent of the Petal School District. “However, through this process, we have individuals that are not filling out the forms that normally would, because there’s really not a big incentive because they’re getting a free meal.
“We make decisions in our district, or fill out grants, or fill out federal program information. It’s so important to have these accurate numbers of free or reduced lunch, but it’s also an incentive for families because there’s an opportunity for Internet access, and decreases and discounts for home Internet service and utility bills from participating carriers.”
Filling out the application, which can be found online at https://bit.ly/32UeMmn, will not change a student’s free or reduced lunch status.
“It’s just a way for us to accurately (keep) track, as we’ve done prior to the pandemic, and it’s very helpful for our district,” Dillon said. “But also, it can be very beneficial to families just outside of the free meals that come with it.
“This has always been the case; when you fill out free and reduced lunch paperwork, and if you’re eligible for free and reduced lunch, we inform families of these Internet discounts and other things that are available. Of course, it’s all dependent on carriers and other things that are outside of our control, but as with anything else, it’s always important to explore those opportunities and see how that might benefit our families throughout our district.”
Applications for free or reduced lunches or generally accepted year-round at the school district. Typically, the applications ramp up at the beginning of the school year, but because of the pandemic, officials have not seen a great response to that process.
“Again, those meals are already being taken care of,” Dillon said. “We just need for our families to complete that online, if they need the free and reduced meal applications.
“That will be beneficial not only to the district, but more importantly, it will be beneficial to our families for these other potential discounts that are out there.”
Officials from the school district send out a link from the School Status carrier to allow families to have easier access to the signup process.
“Typically, in the past, we’ve had really good response, because it was dependent on the meals and the price of the meals,” Dillon said. “Over the last school year and this school year, we haven’t had a great turnout in response to filling out these applications.
“So it’s very critical for us to fill (these) out for title purposes and other purposes, for us to get school funding outside of just local funding. There are other opportunities for us to bring money to our district to benefit our kids. But also, there’s that direct benefit to our families as well, by going through this process.”
