Don’t let online students go hungry
Marcus Jackson spends his days making sure children in Oklahoma City have a safe place to land.
TL;DR
- Millions of students attending full-time virtual public schools are denied access to free or reduced-price meals because they lack a "congregate setting."
- The National School Lunch Program, established decades before online schools, does not accommodate students learning remotely.
- Parents are often unaware that enrolling their children in online school can lead to the loss of essential meal benefits.
- Federal waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed for flexible meal distribution, but these ended, reverting to stricter program rules.
- Congress and the Department of Agriculture can implement permanent solutions like parent pickup and delivery options to ensure all eligible students receive meals.
- The initiative argues that a child's right to food should not be dependent on their physical school attendance.