Important Information regarding School Meals
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) has established a waiver to allow each state the option of participating in the National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option (SSO). The State of Connecticut has elected to implement this waiver while school is open during the regular school year, effective July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.
All students at Stafford Public Schools are now eligible to receive a free healthy breakfast and lunch at school during the school year. Even with free meals, it is still important to submit a free/reduced-price meal application. The application is available on PaySchools Central, linked here https://www.payschoolscentral.com/. Instructions for accessing and completing the application can be found here.
You may wonder why the application needs to be submitted if the meals are free, the application helps to provide necessary information for P-EBT eligibility, State and Federal funding for school budgets and most importantly, free/reduced meal 30-day rollover for the next school year.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) regarding Free and Reduced-price School meals should answer most of your questions about the program. Please complete and submit the Addendum A to the Food Services Department. A hard copy of the application for free/reduced-price meals to be used as a guide when completing the form online is available here.