GLOCESTER – Students at Ponaganset High School and Middle School will see an increase in the cost of meals when they return next week, following a decision by the Foster Glocester Regional School Committee this month to raise prices on both breakfast and lunch.
The change will bring the cost of breakfast to $1.50 and lunch to $3.25.
The decision to increase the fee follows a year where the school meals program, operated by vendor Sodexo, ran a deficit of $36,000.
“That’s just from one year,” said Committee member Shelley Pezza at the committee’s August meeting. “That’s pretty significant.”
Pezza questioned if the 25 cent increase proposed by Sodexo District Manage Ashley Plante would be enough to ensure the district stays out of the red this year.
“Obviously we’re not looking to make money, but is this going to cover the cost?” asked Pezza. “Is 25 cents realistic? Should it be a little bit more? What is needed?”
“We would really have to examine it to truly define it per our budget,” Plante responded. “I feel like it could be, but I don’t have the straight black and white data for you tonight.”
“That’s not good enough for me,” Pezza replied.
The vendor served 60,000 lunches to students last year, and Committee member Marc Rizzo noted that if numbers this year are similar, the 25 cent increase would only make up part of the shortfall.
But Plante said that Sodexo plans to implement other cost saving measures, such working to increase participation in the program while reducing waste.
“We had a changeover in leadership in our high school,” Plante said. “We are very confident that our waste measures are going to be limited this year. We’re really going to try to utilize as much as possible and have minimal waste.”
District Business Manager Ann Gaudreau said that a lunch equity tool from the USDA suggested a 15 cent or 17 cent increase to account for inflation and commodity.
“We are going above that,” Gaudreau said. “This is the first year that we’ve had a deficit. In total, our school lunch program is not in a deficit. We have the money to cover it. We just have to make sure that we don’t continue to fall deeper into the hole.”
“We are above that requirement of the USDA,” agreed Plante.
Committee member Aaron Dupuis asked how the change will affect students receiving free and reduced lunch.
“It does not impact them at all,” Plante replied. “The free meals will still be able to eat their meals at no cost.”
Plante noted that students who qualify for reduced cost meals also eat for free, with the expense reimbursed by state.
“Those prices are set by the state,” added Gaudreau.
Committee member Amy Ferreira had a suggestion for increasing participation in the program.
“As far as variety goes, I feel like that’s the feedback I’m hearing from students – that it’s just the same thing over and over and over again,” said Ferreira. “I think that if you’re going to target that participation piece …maybe looking into more variety.”
Plante said variety is part of the plan.
“We’re trying to do more limited time offers and promotions,” she said.
Rossi noted that that raising the price more than 25 cents could actually decrease participation.
“I think that we should revisit it halfway through the year to see how we’re doing if that’s ok with the committee,” said Pezza.
Committee members unanimously approved the increase and Gaudreau said she will provide a report on the program in six months.
School lunches are nothing like when I was a “kid”….it’s more like prison food now. They don’t cook, they heat up.