Hot Lunches Coming To Menlo Park Schools

The Menlo Park City School District will participate in the National School Lunch Program next year, which means all students will soon be offered hot lunches at district schools.

The district currently participates in the state meal program, which offers cold meals to students who qualify for free or reduced-cost meals based on their parents' annual income.

But under the new national program, all students will be allowed to purchase hot lunches, and those who qualify will be offered the new menu options at little or no cost, according to the district's Chief Business Officer Diane White.

White said the district is still negotiating details, but expects the lunches to be available for less than $5 at full cost.

The National School Lunch Program was implemented in 1946 under President Harry Truman. It currently provides meals to more than 101,000 school districts across the nation, and served more than 31 million students in 2009, according to the program's website. The program's lunches must adhere to nutritional guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), guaranteeing that students will be offered healthy choices at the lunch line, according to its website. 

White said there are currently about 100 district students who are eligible to receive free or reduced meals, and not all of them participate in the program. The district is reimbursed about 21 cents from the state every time a free or reduced meal is served to a student, said White.

Under the new national program, the federal government will payback the district almost $2 more than the state does, offering the district $2.72 per free meal, and $2.32 per reduced cost meal, White said.  She was not yet certain the cost differential to the district between the national program and what it already pays for state services.

White said ordering the new lunches must be done in advance, and parents will likely be able to that online. She was not sure yet how far in advance the ordering will need to take place, but said students would not be able to purchase the day's meal during that lunch time.

She said the decision to change to the national program came with the help of the district's Parent Teacher Organization, which will offer volunteers to help serve the lunches.

"The PTO has been wonderful," White said. "We couldn't do this without them."

She said it is likely that the transition to serving hot lunches will require the district to switch vendors from its current meal source, the , because she doesn't believe RCSD has the capability to provide hot lunches. It is not yet known what vendor will supply the new meals, but the district plans to put the service out to collect competitive bids from food providers.

"There are still quite a few hoops to jump through," said White, of the transition before it is implemented.