The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

August 23, 2012

No more free breakfast at school

By Joy Leiker Herald Staff Writer

SHARPSVILLE — Sharpsville Area School Board has eliminated the free breakfast program for students.

When classes resume Sept. 4, students will be required to pay 25 cents for a morning meal in the cafeteria. Students who qualify for the federal free- and reduced-lunch program will pay 15 cents.

The school board voted this week to begin charging for breakfast and to increase lunch prices.

And though it’s just a quarter, and breakfast certainly is the cheapest meal the school serves each day, it’s not a change the board made lightly.

In previous years as expenses required the district to hike lunch prices, the board opted to keep breakfast free for all.

In 2011-12, the district served 63,034 breakfasts, or about 358 each day of school, said Business Manager Jaime Roberts. That means more than a quarter of the district’s 1,326 students last year participated in the breakfast program on a given day.

Roberts said rising food prices are a part of the need to increase prices. But just as key are new federal food rules that will require the district to provide larger serving sizes and more fresh fruits and vegetables.

All of those changes bring higher costs. And because school cafeteria budgets are separate from the district’s general fund, they must be self sustaining. After shopping for the lowest food and milk prices and cutting staff expenses, both of which the board said it has already done, the last option is to pass the increases along to families.

The result is students will pay for breakfast, and their lunch prices also will rise. Lunch at the elementary school increased a nickel, to $1.90, and a dime at the middle and high schools, to $2.15.

Board member Deneen Joseph asked what the change will mean for families who have grown accustomed to free breakfasts, and who quickly will have cafeteria accounts in the red. “What are we going to do if accounts become delinquient?”

Food service director Marie Popatak said, “We don’t turn away anybody.”

The district is working to get the word out about the changes before the start of the school year. Popatak and Roberts have created a newsletter that will be mailed to every household, and the district also will use its telephone alert system to notify parents of the cost of breakfast.

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