Santa Clarita Valley Food Services Agency officials, who collaborate with four local school districts, will continue to provide breakfast and lunch to students during virtual learning, the organization said this week.
Robert Lewis, the chief operating officer for the SCVFSA, said that although students at all 38 of the schools the agency serves food to would be working from home, the agency was working to provide them with meals.
“Hungry children can’t learn,” said Lewis.
The program had been handing out sack meals to students during the onset of the pandemic from March to August. For the coming school year, using a drive-thru system at the child’s respective school, families can pick up a sack lunch and a frozen breakfast that comes with instructions.
Parents will be charged based on the program their student has qualified for: whether it is free, reduced price or paid.
The program until Friday is set to take place at the home schools between 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. But Lewis said, because of the student’s school schedules, they would be changing that time this coming Monday from noon to 1 p.m..
Those on the free or reduced lunch programs pick up their food in the same way that parents paying pick up the meals, leaving nothing to be embarrassed about, Lewis said.
Additionally, as of this summer, 11 schools within the school districts had been made eligible for a Community Eligibility Provision or “CEP” and will be serving their breakfast and lunch at “no cost to the student” this year.
Students must be enrolled at the following schools to qualify:
J. Michael McGrath
Newhall Elementary
Old Orchard
Peachland
Wiley Canyon
Rio Vista
Cedarcreek
Canyon Springs
Mint Canyon
Valley View
Leona Cox
All 11 schools that qualify for CEP are Title I schools with 50% of more of their student population on free or reduced lunch programs, Lewis said.
In addition to the new systems already mentioned, Lewis said the SCVFSA was pushing towards a goal of going cashless. Parents should come to their schools to pick up their meal with their student’s ID number ready, at which time the lunch workers will be able to log the pickup in the students’ accounts in the computer system.
For more information about the menu being offered by the SCVFSA to the students in the Saugus Union School District, the Sulphur Springs Union School District, the Newhall School District and/or the Castaic Union School District, visit https://www.schooldaycafe.org/.
