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By EDWARD HUSAR Herald-Whig Staff Writer The Quincy School Board decided Tuesday to reject a proposal to letall students at five Quincy schools receive free breakfasts andlunches next school year, regardless of their family's incomelevel. The proposal -- put forth last month by Jean Kinder, the district'sfood service director -- would have allowed the district to tapinto a new option under the national school lunch program thatallows entire buildings with high poverty levels to become eligiblefor free meals paid by the federal government. However, the proposal received no support from the five schoolboard members attending Tuesday's special meeting at the Board ofEducation headquarters, 1416 Maine -- Jeff Mays, Scott Stone, TomDickerson, Melvin "Bud" Niekamp and Board President Bill Daniels.No one was willing to make a motion to approve the program, so"this issue is dead," Daniels said. Board members Stephanie Erwin and Steve Krause were absent. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of support for pursuing this,"Daniels said. "There's a feeling, "Why should we be providing afree or reduced lunch to someone who can afford it?' That doesn'tsit right with a lot of people." Mays and Stone said they wouldn't support the program because itwould amount to expanding "entitlements" to people who otherwisewouldn't be eligible. "We're having a major national discussion right now, and it's goingto culminate in a Nov. 6 (election) about the direction that thiscountry is going to go," Mays said. "And expanding entitlements -- and that's basically what this is,from my standpoint -- just doesn't seem to make sense at thispoint. I would rather see this discussion play out on the federalscene. It's also happening on the state scene. We just finished abudget last Friday in the state of Illinois, and I think there was$12 million or $13 million that was cut from the free and reducedlunch program at the state level." The proposed free lunch option for Quincy would have expandedbenefits to people who otherwise would not be eligible "at the costof the federal taxpayer," Mays said. "I'd just as soon not do thatat this time." Stone echoed those sentiments. "I think we need to, as adults, teach our children responsibility,"he said. "That's incumbent on us adults as parents, as teachers, asleaders of this district, and providing more entitlements doesn'tteach personal responsibility." The proposal put forth by Kinder -- and endorsed by the board'sFinance Committee -- would have provided free lunches andbreakfasts to all children at Adams, Berrian, Dewey and Washingtonelementary schools along with the Early Childhood and FamilyCenter. Those five schools would qualify for all-free lunches forthe next four years under the federal "Healthy, Hunger-Free KidsAct of 2010," which offers an alternative to using household incomeas an eligibility guideline for free and reduced-price meals. Ordinarily, only certain students qualify for free meals if theirfamily's income is below federal guidelines. Other students payeither full price or a reduced price for meals depending on thefamily's income level. Under the act's "community eligibility option," school districtsare allowed to bundle schools with high poverty levels and lowerpoverty levels into a joint application to make all students inthose schools eligible for free meals. Kinder told the Finance Committee the option has several advantagesfor the Quincy School District. For one thing, she said, it meansthe district will receive about $39,000 more federal free lunchreimbursement for the five participating schools. But it alsobenefits local families by reducing their costs, and the fiveschools would no longer have to collect money for breakfast andlunch, which will save some staffing time. During Tuesday's meeting, Assistant Superintendent TrishSullivan-Viniard asked if might be practical to seek the free-lunchoption for just Washington, Berrian and the Early Childhood Centersince all three of those schools "have extremely high poverty"levels. Kinder said this would be doable. She said "it's really hard totell" how many families might actually be eligible for free orreduced meals but haven't been filling out the necessary paperworkto apply. She noted that only about five families at Washingtondon't qualify for free or reduced lunches. In other action Tuesday, the board awarded a contract to CentralStates Busing to lease 22 school buses for $311,743 per year forfive years. The board tabled action on this last month so some language couldbe inserted into the contract to allow the district to cancel thelease arrangement if the state severely cuts transportation fundingor no longer requires school districts to transport students. -- ehusar@whig.com/221-3378. I am an expert from structuralblindrivet.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Stainless Steel Blind Rivet , Copper Blind Rivet Manufacturer, Stainless Steel Blind Rivet,and more.
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