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Mostly Cloudy Free and reduced lunch numbers up
School districts address increase
An increase to the number of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches in the Hewlett-Woodmere and Lawrence school districts has sparked concerns and revisions to daily operations.
Lawrence Superintendent Gary Schall said that 72 percent of students in the district receive free or reduced-price lunches. “Research has shown a dramatic correlation between the chronic stress of living in poverty and cognitive ability,” he said.
Many schools have seen an uptick in the number of students applying for free and reduced lunches after the U.S. Department of Agriculture changed the family income requirements in 2014 to make the program available to more children in need.
In 2012-13, for example, the income eligibility requirement for a family of two to receive free lunch was $19,669, or $379 a week. In 2015-16, the income requirement for a family of two was changed to $20,709, or $399 a week. By increasing the family income requirement, the federal government opened the program to more families.
In 2014, New York state received more than $231.8 million in federal USDA funds for the free and reduced lunch program, according to the state Education Department.
With the possibility that more than two-thirds of district students could face learning issues, adjustments were made in the instructional approach to integrate research-based methods such as Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov, and Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can Do About It, by Eric Jensen. Teachers and administrators worked together to adopt these approaches to their curriculum.
Schall said that these techniques help students overcome learning obstacles they may face as a result of poverty. “Our teachers and administrators have worked diligently over years to develop this methodology and are fully committed to it,” Schall said, noting that the test scores for students in poverty in the district are “far exceeding” students in similar economic situations on Long Island.
About 20 percent of students in Hewlett-Woodmere qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, officials said. Through the Direct Certification program, the state provides the district with information about the students who qualify for specific benefits. The district’s food service director, Michelle Rosenthal, contacts eligible families to inform them of the assistance available. Other families may send applications for free or reduced-price lunches, according to district officials. Applications for the lunches are mailed before the beginning of each school year.
The district covers the cost of meals for eligible students. Some schools have seen an increase in the number of students eligible for the program within the last several years, district officials said, and declined to name specific schools.
“Throughout the past 10 years, the district’s percentage of students qualifying for free and reduced-price lunch has increased from 8.6 percent in 2007 to more than 20 percent in 2017,” Dr. Ralph Marino, superintendent of Hewlett-Woodmere schools, said. “We are fortunate to have the resources available to support students in poverty. We will be completing a comprehensive demographic study this year that will further assist us in planning for future needs.”
In Lawrence, registration for free and reduced-price lunches is conducted confidentially with a social worker, Schall explained. He said that students pay for lunch by swiping an ID card so “no one can tell if the student is on free and reduced lunch.”
The federal Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service agency regulates the income eligibility guidelines for families and individuals. The guidelines are used by schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program, School the Breakfast Program, the Special Milk Program for Children, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Summer Food Service Program.
Currently, a family of four with an annual income of $44,955 in the continental United States is eligible for reduced price meals. A family of four in the continental United States with an annual income of $31,590 is eligible for free meals.
Though the changing demographics in Hewlett-Woodmere present a challenge for teachers, who now must educate a student population possibly new to the country and unfamiliar with English, Ric Stark, president of the Hewlett-Woodmere Faculty Association, said that having a diverse student population benefits everyone.
“Increased diversity in our schools exposes our kids to a much wider variety of cultures and prepares all our students to function in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world,” Stark said. New state and federal requirements hold the English language learners to the same educational standards as other students.
Have an opinion about increased need for free and reduced lunch in the Five Towns? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.
