The Twin Rivers School District is considering changes to its school lunch pricing, and a possible shift to a four-day school week.
Both items were discussed Monday, during the board’s monthly meeting.
Chartwells district manager Zackary Thayer addressed the board concerning the Community Eligibility Provision program, CEP is a free meal service option that has been made available to schools in low-income areas without collecting the usual applications.
“With the waivers going away, you will be going back to a national lunch program,” said Thayer.
“We don’t really know what the reimbursement rate will be because the state will not release them until July, so my best forecast is taking the 18-19 rates pre-COVID and I added 3%. I think this is fairly conservative. It could be 5% or 6%, and at that rate, I think you guys will actually end up with a multiple six-figure financial deficit.”
According to Thayer, the current state price for a paid lunch is $3.72, so the difference would need to be subsidized, “If we don’t meet the threshold of what’s required by the state for a paid lunch for both adults and students, they could require that to come out of the general fund.”
“I believe if you stay CEP, you are absolutely setting yourself up to stay in a six-figure deficit. If you go back to a traditional NSLP (national school lunch program), we can do our best to manage the expenses to match the revenue,” stated Thayer.
The matter pertaining to school lunch prices and subsidies will be addressed further during the next scheduled board meeting.
The discussion of the possible transition to a four-day school week was also addressed during the meeting.
Many issues were raised during the discussion. Some teacher concerns mentioned were pacing of curriculum and attendance, while parent concerns discussed included a lack of childcare, as well as guidance for at-risk youth in the school district.
“I am here as a parent and I have significant concern because this is great but the world doesn’t function on a four-day week,” said parent Jennifer Morse, “As a working parent, that would be great if our community had widespread community care for children. We have no childcare options for our community and I would say a pretty significant portion of our community lives under the poverty level, so what happens to those at-risk children?”
The district would be set to save only about 1-2% in general, “but the fuel bill alone now with the price of gas and diesel so high is outrageous so just knocking 20% of that off would be a pretty significant change in savings,” stated Keith Parker board president.
It was suggested that other options would be investigated in reference to available childcare or programs such as the Boys and Girls Club.
One teacher stated during the meeting, “I think if you offer solutions, parents will be more receptive.”
The four-day school discussion will be addressed again at a later date, but is being seriously considered, according to school officials, as Malden School has also recently implemented this schedule.
The board also voted and approved current expenditures, and addressed during the meeting the salary schedule, which was approved to remain as is until it can be re-examined after July.
A new curriculum program pertaining to language arts was also approved and stated to be in line with Missouri Mastery Achievement Program (MAP) testing.
The June board meeting has been set for June 16, at 6 p.m. in the Twin Rivers High School.