Warren County School District is on a path to pay a little more to make sure its students are well-fed and ready to learn.

During the height of the pandemic, the district has been able to provide free breakfasts and lunches to all students.

The board is operating under the impression that that option will not be renewed for the 2022-2023 school year.

At Monday’s meeting of the finance committee, members heard a presentation from Melissa Kingen of the Nutrition Group, the district’s food service provider.

Kingen said studies have shown that students who eat breakfast learn better, score higher, and have fewer disciplinary incidents.

She presented several options that vary in costs.

The district’s reimbursements depend in large part on participation. A higher percentage of students eating more meals means less expense.

Not surprisingly, a higher percentage of students ate school meals when over the past two years when they have been free. Kingen said the percentage of students eating school breakfasts went from 28 to 35, and those eating lunches went from 49 to 65.

Compared to this year, when a federal program is funding the meals, the district expects to have to pay something north of $286,000 for meals.

Several schools in the district qualify for the USDA Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) that means all students qualify for free lunches. Other schools do not. Students in those schools can qualify individually based on their family financial situations.

Running with the qualifying schools – the Youngsville and Sheffield schools and Warren Area Elementary Center – would cost an estimated $307,724.

Adding Beaty-Warren Middle School reduces the costs to $286,357.

Bringing Beaty and Eisenhower Elementary School (the only elementary school in the district that does not qualify already) results in estimated costs of $298,411.

The combination of Beaty and Warren Area High School (and not Eisenhower) costs $317,125.

Blanketing the entire district in CEP would cost $365,630.

That higher cost would be somewhat offset – by perhaps up to $30,000 – by avoiding unpaid bills and the efforts to collect those, eliminating mailings related to free- and reduced-cost lunches, and other factors.

“In my eyes it’s not really a gamble to say, ‘let’s feed them all,'” Jeff Dougherty said.

After seeing that no members were expressing any other positions, Arthur Stewart said the committee would move the item forward to the next board meeting with the recommendation for a district-wide CEP.

Facilities

The district is meeting with potential professional services vendors to facilitate the master facility planning process. One of those made a presentation to the board in a closed session prior to Monday’s meetings.

If and when the board selects a vendor, that company will lead the process of creating a master facilities plan, Stewart said.

The central office building had several power surges during the meeting. Public access was lost briefly. The board had to modify its technology systems to continue with the public.