WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — School for most Triad students starts next week and one school district is making sure all the bases are covered.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools held an important meeting Thursday reminding parents of the new federal lunch laws.
WFMY News 2's Jaelen Gilkey was there to find out how the sign up differs from years past.
Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, schools across the nation have been providing free lunch for all students.
Thanks to help from the USDA, that assistance ends this year.
However, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools are offering a new alternative that is aimed at helping thousands of families.
Alicia Crews, District manager of Chartwell's Dining services said, "One of the biggest changes is that all meals are no longer free. We do have 48 schools who are community eligibility provision schools and in those 48, meals will continue to be free. For those who's students do not attend a CEP school. We'll need you to complete a free/reduced meal application to qualify for free or reduced meals."
Crews said any parent can apply for the free or reduced lunch program.
The district will only need the following information:
- Your child's name and I.D. number
- Your address
- Your income information
There are some students that have already qualified for this program before the year even began.
"We do have a large number of students that actually automatically qualify for free meals based on participation in other state programs such as work first, food stamps, SNAP, or TANF," Crews said.
This school year, Guilford County Schools is also providing free meals for students who qualify for reduce priced lunch.
Angie Henry, Chief Financial Officer of Guilford County Schools said, "The application takes into consideration income as well as family size for the size of your household and determines if your student or students qualify for free meals and we are encouraging all of our families to do that."