Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Last summer, the Tekoa School District was the only organization in Whitman County to offer the Summer Meals program for kids, run by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
This summer, Tekoa has opted out and as of Monday, June 17, no other places in the county have signed on for the program.
The deadline to apply to certify was June 15, said Benito Sanchez, Information Referral Specialist for Within Reach, a subcontractor of OSPI.
Summer Meals is paid for by the United States Department of Agriculture, along with a variety of organizations which sponsor it.
Sanchez said the OSPI will give Within Reach the remaining site information this week.
“We continue to update our list twice each week,” he said. “We’re hoping to have more sites than last year.”
Tekoa, which offered the program last year, has opted to run a program of their own, while Rosalia will go without Summer Meals for the second consecutive year.
Rosalia Superintendent Bill Thurston said the district dropped the program because budget cuts closed the summer school program.
“It all depends on the funding we have,” he said. “Since the state reduced our funding, we can’t afford to have summer school.”
Summer Meals is free for all kids 18 and under, providing protein, fruits, vegetables and milk for breakfast and lunch, depending on the location.
“If school districts aren’t doing summer school it ends up costing them quite a bit of money,” said Donna Parsons, Director of Child Nutrition Services for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. “The break-even point is about 40 kids per day.
Participating districts order the food and supplies and pay staff to prepare the meals. They are then reimbursed a flat rate per meal on a monthly basis.
Other organizations such as churches or boys and girls clubs can offer the service.
Tekoa School District this summer will offer lunch as part of their summer school.
“This way we can stabilize it,” Tekoa Superintendent Connie Kliewer explained.
Lunch is provided for the estimated 25 Tekoa students, from kindergarten to sixth-grade, who attend four days a week to study reading, math and some writing. The session began June 10 and will run through July 13.
The math lessons will be incorporated into the lunch program, Kliewer said, from measuring ingredients to doubling recipes and more.
“To make it a little more real-life math,” Kliewer said. “When you look at fractions, it’s hard to say a quarter of what.”
Kliewer said another purpose of the lunches is to allow Food Services Director Linda Babb to experiment with new dishes to potentially be added to the school menu in the fall.
The endeavor is run by teachers Robin Harp and Adrienne Madison, along with Babb.
Sanchez said the closest certified Summer Meals site to Whitman County is at Pomeroy.
The USDA Summer Meals program began in 1968.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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