Students who attend one of the 80 traditional schools and four special centers of the Lee County School District will again be provided free breakfast and lunch this upcoming school year through the Community Eligibility Program.

Food and Nutrition Services Director Kandy Messenger said the provision is through the economic needs of the school district. The number of people in the district who receive benefits through the state helps the school district qualify for the state certification.

“That allows us to hit the threshold of over 50 percent (that are) economically in need in our district. We were able to group all of our schools in groups (allowing) all of our students to participate in the CEP program and receive meals at no cost to them,” Messenger said. “It is needed. Food and security is huge. This is really important that we as a district, and we as a department, work to maintain that certification.”

The district has received this certification since 2017.

Parents do not have to fill out any forms or do anything else to be part of the free breakfast and lunch program.

“That is really important that the parents understand that they do not need to fill out any paperwork to be a part of this,” Messenger said.

Last year the district provided 13 million breakfast and lunch meals to students, which does not include after school snacks and supper programs, also at no cost to families.

Hot and cold options will be available for breakfast. Messenger said they are also striving to have all of their lunch menus for each grade range be very similar.

“If you have students in elementary and middle and high school, their menus will reflect similar (options). As the grades go higher, the options will increase. You’ll have one, or two hot entrees at elementary, a third one might be added for middle and a fourth, or fifth one might be added to high school,” she said of lunch.

The district is committed to having a menu posted this upcoming school year, which will be found at www.leeschools.net.

Last year without the menu it was difficult for both families and the district, she said, adding this was due to supply chain issues.

“Our main distributor was having difficulty, which caused us difficulty. We have been assured things will be better,:” she said. “We are looking forward to them (students) coming back. We are always looking to improve our menus, so I welcome input from families. I want to be known that I am accessible to them.”