It’s critical that our efforts to reopen schools quickly and safely include programs that provide access to free, healthy meals for our most vulnerable students, particularly those whose communities have been hardest hit by the pandemic.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last April that meals throughout America would be free to all students this school year, many schools across the country were still closed to students or operating at partial capacity, and many sectors of the economy were still greatly impacted by the pandemic. The feds were trying to make it easier for districts (and families) to open and bring students back into safe and healthy schools.

The April 2021 statement from the U.S.D.A. included the following:

“Schools nationwide will be allowed to serve meals through USDA’s National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option (SSO), which is typically only available during the summer months. This option maintains the nutrition standards of the standard school meal programs – including a strong emphasis on providing fruits and vegetables, fluid milk, whole grains, and sensible calorie levels, while allowing schools to serve free meals to all children.

“In addition, schools that choose this option will receive higher-than-normal meal reimbursements for every meal they serve, which will support them in serving the most nutritious meals possible while managing increased costs associated with pandemic-related operational and supply chain challenges. This option also affords schools the financial flexibility to further customize their meal service design to fit their local needs.

“Students’ success in the classroom goes hand in hand with their ability to access basic needs like healthy and nutritious meals,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “It’s critical that our efforts to reopen schools quickly and safely include programs that provide access to free, healthy meals for our most vulnerable students, particularly those whose communities have been hardest hit by the pandemic. This program will ensure more students, regardless of their educational setting, can access free, healthy meals as more schools reopen their doors for in-person learning.”

Asked earlier this month about the need-blind dynamic of the program, a RIDE spokesman shared this:

“Meal benefit applications capture income as a snapshot in time for a family and would not adequately capture disruptions in a financial situation related to the pandemic without a significant administrative burden on families and schools. By allowing schools to offer free meals to all students and eliminating the need to collect meal benefit applications, our schools can focus their energy and limited resources on providing better service and more widespread food access to the students that they serve.

“Nutritious meals are foundational to the success of and educational outcomes for students; allowing all students to access nutritious school meals for free is just one way that we have been able to try to mitigate the myriad of negative effects that COVID has had on our school communities.”