Newton not eligible for district-wide free lunch, yet

More than half of the nearly 3,000 students in the Newton Community School District qualified for free or reduced lunch during the 2013-2014 school year according to the Iowa Department of Education.

Just a decade ago that number was at 31.6 percent.  The rise in the number of families needing to utilize the program hasn’t only been an issue in Newton —  it has grown into a national epidemic.

In response, the National School Lunch program — a program that is under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service umbrella — created the Community Eligibility Provision for schools beginning this school year.

Schools that meet CEP requirements,  can offer all students free lunch. To meet this requirement, a school building must have at least 40 percent of its students qualify for free lunch.

Larger school districts across the country have taken advantage of this new program. In July, Des Moines Public Schools announced that 35 of its schools will give all students free lunch, and the entire Kansas City and Hickman Mills school districts, both in Missouri, announced all students would eat for free.

This summer, every child in Newton had the opportunity to receive a free lunch courtesy of Newton’s free Summer Lunch Program at Berg Elementary School.

NCSD Food Services Director Cristy Croson said more than 2,300 kid’s lunches and 300 adult lunches were served and they averaged around 60 meals given out per day. This year’s program ran from June 9 until July 31. This was the fourth year the district operated the program.

In a past interview, Croson said they began the program to ensure that students were continuing to be fed over the summer break, and that it was in response to the district’s growing free and reduced lunch rate.

Croson said she would support the district implementing CEP in some of its schools, but it’s currently not feasible.

“I have looked at the all-student free lunch program and at this time our directly certified free students isn’t high enough for us to implement this program without losing several thousands of dollars monthly,” Croson said.

According to IDE, only two  schools —  Berg Elementary and Basics and Beyond Alternative School — in the district are currently qualified to participate. However, IDE also indicated that more than 30 percent of students qualify for free lunch in nearly every school in the district.

The only exception was Newton Senior High School, for which there was no data available.

“If our verified free students increase in the next few years we may offer this program at that time,” Croson said. “If in the future we do decide to implement the program, it would have to be approved by the school board and an application process would also have to be approved.”

The only other schools that are above 30 percent in Jasper County are Colfax-Mingo’s elementary and the middle/high school.

Contact Senior Staff Writer Ty Rushing at (641) 792-3121 ext. 6532 or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.