EFC-1
POLICY FOR DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR FREE MEALS AND REDUCED PRICE MEALS
The Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District hereby assures the Bureau of School Nutrition Services, State Department of Education that the School District named above will observe the following policy with respect to determining eligibility of children for free or reduced price meals under the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Commodity Distribution Program and Commodity School Program.
In fulfilling its responsibilities, the School District:
A. Agrees to serve free meals to children families whose income is at or below currently applicable guidelines for free meals or to children from Food Stamp (FS) households or Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) assistance units that provide a case number or are directly certified for benefits.
B. Agrees to serve meals at a reduced price to children from families whose income is at or below currently applicable guidelines for reduced price meals.
C. Agrees to claim free and reduced price reimbursement only for meals actually served to eligible children having a correctly approved application or a certification certificate form for meal benefits on file.
D. Agrees that there will be no physical segregation of, or any other discrimination against any child because of his/ her inability to pay the full price of the meal. The names of the children eligible to receive free or reduced price meals shall not be published, posted or announced in any manner and there shall be no overt identification of any such children by use of special tokens or tickets or by any other means. Further assurance is given that child eligible for free or reduced price meals shall not be required to:
1. Work for their meals (this does not preclude working voluntarily)
2. Use a separate dining area.
3. Go through a separate serving line.
4. Enter the dining area through a separate entrance.
5. Eat meals at a different time.
6. Eat a different meal from the meal sold to children paying the full price of such a meal.
E. Agrees that in the operation of child free programs, no child shall be discriminated against because of his or her race, sex, color, age, handicap or national.
F. Agrees that if choices of meals are offered to students as an attempt to increase participation, the same choices must be offered to those children receiving free or reduced price meals.
G. Agrees that if a la carte food service is available in addition to the breakfast/lunch, free or reduced price meal recipients may not be denied the right to purchase these items.
H. Eligibility Procedure
Agrees to develop and send a letter and application for free and reduced price meals to the parent or guardian of each enrolled child at the beginning of every school year. Parents will be requested to complete the application and return it to the determining official (named below) for review. Applications may be filed at any time during the year. If the school system is participating in the Direct Certification process, the certificate received from the Department of Public Welfare by the recipient must be signed and returned to the child's school. No application need be completed in this case. Applications, direct certification forms and documentation of any action taken will be maintained for 3 years after the end of the fiscal year to which they pertain.
If a child transfers from one school to another under the jurisdiction of the same School Food Authority, his/her eligibility for free or reduced price meals will be transferred to and honored by the receiving school. All children from a family will receive the same benefits.
The determining official(s) who will review applications and make determinations of eligibility using the criteria outlined in this policy to determine which children are eligible for free or reduced price meals will be as follows:
Name & Title: Carole Williams, Food Service Director
Name of School: Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District
To protect children’s rights, the determining official should be a person regularly involved in the maintenance of pupil registration or academic records.
Parents or guardians will be notified individually within 10 working days of the acceptance or denial of their applications. Children will be served free or reduced meals immediately upon establishment of their eligibility.
In cases of the application being rejected, the reason will be stated and parents or guardians will be informed of the hearing procedure. NOTE: When an application is denied, a copy of the Hearing Procedure must be submitted to the parent along with the denial notice.
Advanced notification shall be provided to families that receive a reduction or termination of benefits 10 calendar days prior to the actual reduction or termination. The notice shall advise the household of: 1) the change; 2) the reasons for the change; 3) notification of the right to appeal the action within 10 days advance notice period, and 4) instructions on how to appeal. The reasons for ineligibility shall be properly documented and retained on file at the School Food Authority.
I. HEARING PROCEDURE
Agrees to establish and use fair hearing procedure in cases of appeal by parents of the school’s decisions on application.
*The designated hearing official is:
Name, Title & Address:
William Waight, Principal Oakmont Regional High School
Thomas Gundlach, Principal Overlook Middle School
Pelino Masciangioli, Principal John R. Briggs Elementary School
Gail Webb, Principal Westminster Elementary School
Anthony Gasbarro, Principal Meetinghouse School
*NOTE: This person must be someone who was not involved in the original eligibility determination. Further, it is suggested that he/she hold a position superior to that of the determining official.
During the appeal and hearing procedure:
1. Children who have been denied benefits upon application shall not receive continued benefits.
2. Children who have been approved for benefits but are subject to a reduction or termination of benefits later in the same school year shall continue to receive benefits is an appeal of the adverse action has been made within 10 day advance notice period.
However, prior to initiating the hearing procedure, the parent or local school official may request a conference to provide an opportunity for the parent and school official to discuss the situation, present information, and obtain an explanation of the data submitted on the application or the decisions rendered. The request for a conference shall not in any way prejudice or diminish the right to a fair hearing.
It is to be noted that children whose applications have been challenged for correctness of information shall continue to receive benefits during this period.
J. VERIFICATION REQUIREMENT
Agrees to comply with the verification procedure in accordance with Program regulations and maintain records as follows: a summary of the verification efforts including selection process; the total number of applications on file by October 31 of the present year; the percentage or number of applications that are/will be verified by December 15. Compliance with these requirements will be monitored by the State Agency as part of its supervisory assistance, monitoring and verification efforts.
K. COLLECTION PROCEDURES
In collecting payments for meals served and in the distribution of tokens, tickets, etc. for free or reduced price meal recipients, school administrators must ensure that there is no overt identification of free or reduced price meal recipients. Care should be taken to prevent such identification at the time the token/ticket is issued as well as in the serving line. Additionally, any collection procedure must have a built-in accounting system to record, at point of service, the number of full price meals, reduced price meals and free meals served daily.
1. Meal payments are collected in the school secretary's office. Payment can be made by children or parents on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The secretary records the payments and knows which children qualify for free or reduced price meals. Identical tickets labeled only with the children's names are distributed in the classrooms. The tickets are collected in the serving line. After the meal service the number of meals served by type is determined by comparing the children's names on the tickets to a list of eligible children's names.
2. Parents pay in advance by the month. Each teacher receives a list of those children who have paid. Those children who receive free meals are marked paid, so no one but the bookkeeper knows which children receives a free meal. Teachers keep daily records of each child served and, for accounting purposes, send these records to the bookkeeper on a daily or weekly basis.
3. Students buy tickets at the cafeteria manager's office, but they do not receive the tickets then. The cafeteria manager sends the purchased tickets as well as tickets for recipients for free and reduced price meals to the classroom each day. The teacher distributes the tickets just before meal time. The tickets are coded for accounting purposes. The tickets are collected in the serving line and a count of the number of meals served by type is made by checking the ticket codes.
4. The homeroom teacher provides each student with an envelope for daily, weekly or monthly payments. Pupils return envelopes with payments if paying full or reduced price or empty if free. The envelopes are collected in the school office and coded tickets are issued to every participating student. The tickets are collected in the serving line and a count of the number of meals served by type is made by checking the ticket codes.
5. Parents are billed for full price or reduced price meals their children are served. All payments are mailed in so that no money is collected in the classrooms. All participating students receive a monthly ticket which is punched each time the student eats. The tickets are coded and as the cashier punches the ticket, he/she notes the code and makes a tally of the types of meals served.
6. Students pay for their meals in the office. A checklist, including the names of all children eating (full price, reduced price and free), is then prepared and sent to the cafeteria. The children pass through the serving line and give their name to the cashier who checks off their names on the checklist. The list is returned to the office for accounting purposes.
7. For all elementary and secondary schools. A numbered coded check list for free, reduced and prepaid. A multi counter is used for all prepaid meals.
NOTE: All students must prepay for meals. This method is recommended only for small schools.
NOTE: Regardless of the ticket system chosen, you must ensure that all students be 1) given the option of purchasing/obtaining daily, weekly or monthly meal tickets in advance and 2) issued identical tickets, etc., differentiated only be a code that cannot be identified as a numerical code. In addition, the policy of issuing tickets out of a private office helps protect students from overt identification. It is also recommended that purchase or pick-up of tickets be permitted at different times throughout the day and week, and that payment for tickets be permitted at locations other than in the classroom or cafeteria.
L. Agrees to establish procedures as outlined above to ensure that there is no identification of recipients of free or reduced price meals.
M. Agrees to maintain proper controls to account for meals served to children who pay for their meals and to account for the number of free or reduced price meal recipients.
N. Agrees to submit to the State Agency for approval any alterations or amendments to the policy prior to implementation. Such changes will be effective only upon approval by the State Agency.
O. Agrees that eligibility criteria are the same for both lunched and breakfasts.
P. Agrees to set a student price for reduced price lunches and breakfasts that will not exceed the maximum allowed by Federal regulation. The State Agency will inform Program Sponsors each year regarding revisions in the maximum charges allowable.
Q. Agrees that there will be no disciplinary action applied to any child which results in the denial of the child’s right to participate in the school’s food service program.
Agreement Number: 14-328-1
ADOPTED: 10/06/94