Shelly Cox

EDUC 650
10.42.B

A specific leadership initiative that Ohio County Schools has instituted to positively

affect student achievement is the free meal program. All students in Ohio County Schools

receive one free breakfast and one free lunch daily. The program is funded by the United

States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). As stated on

the USDA website, “The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a non-pricing meal service

option for schools and school districts in low-income areas. CEP allows the nation’s highest

poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students

without collecting household applications. Instead, schools that adopt CEP are reimbursed

using a formula based on the percentage of students categorically eligible for free meals based

on their participation in other specific means-tested programs, such as the Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).”

For a school to be eligible for the CEP, a student population of 40% or greater must

meet the low income guidelines as established by the USDA. The program is a 4 year program

that began in 2015. The current school year will be the 4th year of implementation in Ohio

County Schools. Each year of the program, the district must submit income data by April 15 th

and a completed application by May 1st. The way the program works is the school district pays

for meal products upfront and submits for reimbursement through the USDA. The USDA

reimburses a percentage of the cost based on the percentage of needy students. In 2017, Ohio

County Schools had 5420 students enrolled with 3664 students classified as needy, with a total
of 67.6% of students meeting eligibility for free meals. Ohio County Schools began the CEP

program in the 2015-2016 academic year with 3 elementary and 2 middle schools enrolled. In

2016-2017, the program was implemented in all 13 schools in the district.

Ohio County Schools has policies in place in regards to Child Nutrition. Policy 5011

pertains directly to the USDA Community Eligibility Provision. The policy was last updated in

February of 2017. Policy 2019 describes the requirement of annual application renewal and

approval. Ohio County Schools meets the requirements and follows the guidelines of the

Federal Government, WV Board of Education, National School Lunch Act of 1966, School

Breakfast Program, and the Special Milk Program.

A significant amount of communication and collaboration between the Child Nutrition

Director, Renee Griffin, the Business Manager and Treasurer, Steve Bieniek, the Assistant

Superintendent, Rick Jones, and the Superintendent, Kimberly Miller occurred to bring this

program to a genuine initiation in the county. The leaders followed a horizontal direction of

communication. Some diagonal and vertical communication occurred in this process as well

with the collaboration of the different hierarchical levels of leaders. These leaders had to meet

and present in front of the Ohio County Board of Education to seek the approval of the board

members prior to the application process. Renee Griffin, the Child Nutrition Director had to do

extensive research at the local, state, and national level to see what the requirements were for

eligibility. She also had to research meal items and cost that would meet the guidelines. Griffin

then had to communicate with Steve Bieniek, the Business Manager and Treasurer for the

district to determine if the program would be financially feasible. Ohio County Schools

operates on a tight budget, as do most school systems in the state of West Virginia. Bieniek
had to determine whether the out of pocket cost and the overall cost to pay for the percentage

of the meals would be something the school system budget could handle. Once these two

collaborated, they met and discussed with the Assistant Superintendent Jones and

Superintendent Miller and received their approval. The four then met with the board of

education members and presented their research. The board of education approved and gave

permission for Ohio County Schools to apply for the CEP program. All leaders involved followed

an Analytical Model of Decision Making. The leaders followed the seven step process when

reaching the decision to adapt the free breakfast and lunch initiative. Step 1 was identified by

Superintendent Miller, and step 2 was analyzed by both Superintendent Miller and Assistant

Superintendent Jones. Steps 3 through 5 were completed with thorough research and analysis

conducted by both Griffin and Bieniek to determine if the initiative would be beneficial for the

students and the school district. Steps 6 and 7 involved all the leaders involved with the CEP

program.

The Child Nutrition Department at Ohio County Schools has over forty employees that

work hard to ensure the children in the district’s schools are fed nutritious meals each day.

Ohio County Schools take part in the National School Breakfast and the National School Lunch

Program which promote healthy food choices. Students are served the proper amount of

calories for their age and the amounts of fat, saturated fat, trans fat, and fiber are kept within

guidelines set forth from USDA. A wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables are also offered on

a regular basis to ensure adequate vitamin and mineral intake as well. The CEP program

positively impacts student achievement because students are more attentive and healthy by

eating nutritious, well-balanced meals. The initiative began with only select schools receiving
the free meal program due to high volume of low income students. The program exposed such

an impact on student achievement and wellbeing that the county leaders decided to implement

it for all students in all 13 of the county schools. The Administrative Model was the approach

taken when making this decision. The leaders followed all of the district phases of this model

when making the decision to incorporate the initiative district wide.

Everyone in the school system benefits from the free meal program. Firstly, the

students are directly impacted. There is no stigma involved with being able to afford a meal, all

students have access to a breakfast and a lunch. Parents do not have to fill out paperwork or

worry about packing lunches and paying lunch bills. Teachers have more attentive and

healthier students to teach to, students are nourished and ready to learn. Students are more

apt to attend school regularly with a healthy diet offered. Administrators see a reduced load of

paperwork and administrative costs. There is less need to track meal charges. Only students at

the high school are charged for a second breakfast or lunch meal. The child nutrition program

has gained integrity with students, staff, administrators, and community members. The

program has been so well received that administration has decided to continue the free

breakfast and lunch meals after the CEP program comes to an end. Superintendent Miller

mentioned this to all staff at a county-wide meeting that occurred at the beginning of this

school year.

I have many views on this initiative. As a parent, I feel that the free breakfast and lunch

is wonderful for my children, as well as their peers. With crazy schedules, I am certain that my

children are fed well balanced and nutritious meals twice per day. Both of my children are very

active and attend sports and other activities directly after school. With both my husband and I
being teachers, our income isn’t low enough to qualify for free and reduced meals that most

school systems provide. Prior to the inception of this initiative, we sometimes struggled to pay

the meal bills that were often over $100 per month; therefore, not having this expense has

been a relief on our household budget. As an educator, I have noticed the difference in my

students. Students are less likely to be embarrassed to eat school food, and more students

consume the food regularly. Students are more attentive in class and I’ve noticed students are

more apt to be in attendance at school. The students seem to like to food choices offered,

especially the breakfast. As a member of the community, I do have some questions and

concerns. When the CEP program comes to a conclusion at the culmination of the current

school year, how are they going to continue to afford to offer the program to students? With a

tight budget, the school system will have to make cuts somewhere, but where will those cuts

occur? What makes the free meal program more important that what will be cut from the

budget? I am certain that student performance data will be used to determine the need to

offer the free meal program as it has already positively impacted student performance. No

matter the stance I take on this initiative, it can be proven that providing our students with

nutritious meals twice per day has positively impacted student learning, attendance, and

acceptance among peers.