Beginning Monday, Aug. 10, Orange County Public Schools’ Food and Nutrition Services Department will provide meals for students utilizing the LaunchED@Home (LE@H) instructional model with a Curbside Meals Program. This ensures those students who rely on nutritious meals to be able to continue doing so, even when they are not in the building for their lessons.
Details of the program:
• The meals will be available at all 202 OCPS schools for LE@H students.
• Students will use their current meal benefit status (free, reduced or paid) to participate.
• The entire week of meals can be picked up every Monday starting 30 minutes after dismissal for an hour and a half. (Schedule is subject to change based o participation)
• Students picking up meals must provide a student ID, and if parents are coming through the lines, they must provide their student’s name and ID number.
• For ease and efficiency in the pick-up line, parents are encouraged to have the student name and ID number written on paper in large font.
When face-to-face instruction begins Aug. 21, schools will make decisions about the process for serving breakfast and/or lunch to students in the school building. Curbside meals will continue for students utilizing LE@H.
The OCPS school meals program is offered through the USDA Child Nutrition Program under the Florida Department of Agriculture. Schools in the Community Eligibility Program (CEP), which per USDA regulations allows schools with high numbers of families in poverty who are already qualified to receive federal aid to automatically offer school meals to all students at no charge. Curbside Meals are included in this direct certification and at CEP schools there will be no charge for these meals and there is no free or reduced meal application needed at these schools.
At non-CEP schools, families will be charged the regular school meal price (which ranges from $1.35 to $2.75), unless parents apply and are approved for free or reduced priced meals. Parents are encouraged to fill out an application for free or reduced priced meals if their income has changed. The deadline for new applications, and the expiration of last year’s benefits, is Sept. 23. Please go to myschoolapps.com to complete your application.
Additional information about the Curbside Meals program, including a list of CEP schools, is listed on the Food and Nutrition Services pages on the OCPS website.