All PPS students to receive free meals this year

All PPS students to receive free meals for the 2020-2021 school year
Posted on 08/27/2020
All PPS students to receive free meals for the 2020-2021 school yearBeginning at the start of the 2020-2021 school year, all students in Portsmouth Public Schools can receive free breakfasts and lunches through the division’s participation in the state’s Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program. The CEP, which was implemented as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, allows school divisions with high numbers of students eligible for free and reduced meals to serve breakfast and lunch to all students for free.

“We are thrilled to be able to provide all of our nearly 14,000 students with this opportunity,” said Dr. Elie Bracy, III, superintendent of Portsmouth Public Schools. “Through the CEP, we have been able to ensure that no family in our community needs to worry about paying for their child’s meals during the school year. With the current economic stress that many across the nation are feeling in light on the pandemic, we are hopeful this will help provide our Portsmouth community some relief.”

During the first nine weeks of this school year, the division will be reopening in a virtual setting. However, students will still be able to pick up meals at any one of the division’s 16 elementary and high schools, which have been designated as meal pick up sites. All sites will be serving meals from 7-9 a.m. on school days.

With the CEP in place, children will be required to be identified as Portsmouth Public Schools students in order to receive the free meals. In order to make this possible, the School Nutrition Office will be distributing identification cards to all students. These cards will be distributed as part of the mobile device distribution during the week of Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. The schedule can be accessed here

If families cannot attend one of these distribution times to pick up their child’s ID card, they can also pick it up at any time during the week at the School Nutrition Office in the S.H. Clarke Building (2801 Turnpike Rd, Portsmouth, VA, 23707).
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