From staff reports

PARKERSBURG – Wood County Schools students will receive free breakfast and lunch at all schools beginning this fall.

The Wood County Board of Education recently approved Wood County Schools participation in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). The CEP was enacted as a result of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and provides universal meal service to children in high-poverty areas.

This is the fourth year for the option. Wood County Schools in recent years has offered free breakfast at all schools but free lunch only at Title I schools.

The CEP serves as an alternative to collecting, approving, and verifying household eligibility application for free- and reduced-price eligible students in high-poverty schools. If at least 40 percent of a school’s students are directly certified for free meal benefits, the entire school qualifies for the option.

“I am proud that Wood County Schools will be participating in the CEP program to help meet a crucial need for many students in our county,’ said Superintendent William Hosaflook. “We know academic achievement increases when our students are well-fed and ready to learn, and we must provide secure and reliable access to nutritious meals so all students have a chance to achieve at the highest level possible.”

Wood County will have all 27 schools participating in the CEP. The program will allow the school system to feed nearly 12,000 students each day.

The 2017 Feeding America: Map the Meal Gap data reports high levels of food insecurity and hunger across the country. In West Virginia, more than 14 percent of residents, and over 79,000 children, live in food insecure households.

For more information, contact Hollie Best, child nutrition director, at 1-304-420-9631 extension 101.