Free Student Meals – FAQs
All Delaware Academy students may now receive school meals at no charge. This has been made possible through the USDA’s expanded Community Eligibility Provision, which allows eligible schools participating in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs to offer school meals at no charge to all students.
Who is eligible?
All students, in all grades, that are enrolled in the Delaware Academy CSD at Delhi are eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch meals.
What do we have to do to?
No action is required on your part at this time. All student meals will be offered for free. However, in order for the district to demonstrate its eligibility for the program in the future, families will still be encouraged to submit the Household Income Form.
How is this being funded?
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently expanded access to the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP allows eligible schools participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to offer school meals at no charge to all students. Because our school district met the new participation guidelines and was already participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, we were approved to begin offering all our students free breakfast and lunch meals through the CEP.
What is CEP?
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a non-pricing (free) meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas, administered through the US Department of Agriculture. CEP allows the nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications. Instead, schools that adopt CEP are reimbursed using a formula based on the percentage of students already determined to be eligible for free meals based on their participation in other specific means-tested programs. School districts that meet the requirements are eligible to participate in the CEP option. More information is available at https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/community-eligibility-provision.
Disclosure Statement
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity. Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at:
https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
email:
Program.Intake@usda.gov
This institution is an equal opportunity provider