The Tecumseh Local School district in New Carlisle is now offering all students grades K-12 free breakfast and lunch.
This comes after the schools qualified for the Ohio Department of Education’s Community Eligibility Provision Lunch Program.
The lunch program is a free meal service for K-12 school districts in low-income areas.
The superintendent for Tecumseh Local Schools, Paula Crew, said hunger often results in a number of setbacks for students.
"Food stability is one of our basic needs as humans and if we don't have that basic need, psychologically and physically, things can happen to us. Things that we see in our students are sometimes lethargic, sometimes tired, sometimes behavior (issues)," she said.
The program previously required at least 40% of students in the district qualify for free or reduced lunch to participate. The district currently sits at 36%.
According to Crew, the program however recently reduced that percentage to 25%, allowing the district to enroll in the program.
“So our students are guaranteed free breakfast and lunch for four years, which I am beyond ecstatic about, to know that they'll have that," she said. "Because for some of our students, the school setting is the only setting in which they have a guaranteed meal.”
Tecumseh Schools will be able to use program through 2028.
Crew said she hopes families in the school system will be stable enough not to rely on the program in the future.
“That's my biggest goal, is that we don't have enough people because that means our families are doing well," she said. "But if not, if it's still at a 25% threshold, then yes will absolutely apply every time.”
In addition to the program, student in Tecumseh Local Schools can also use the Impact Vessel program through the summer.
"It's a nonprofit with volunteers in our school district that actually offers a lunch every day in the park. We have two parks in our community for our students," Crew said. "And it may be something as simple as a peanut butter jelly and a piece of fruit. But they do a wonderful job. So they help sustain those students that are in need throughout the summer."
