Summer meals still free
The lunch program at Habersham County Schools will return to pre-COVID parameters for the upcoming school year, with students who do not qualify for free or reduced lunch paying for those meals at a slight increase.
Breakfast would still be free for all students during the school year, and the summer meals are still provided free of charge.
Andrea Thomas, Nutrition Director for Habersham Schools, presented a slight increase to the lunch fees to the Board of Education at their work session Tuesday.
“We haven’t had meal prices at all this year, it’s been great for school nutrition and families in Habersham in general,” said Thomas. “But that is not what we’re looking at for next year.”
The last time parents had to pay for meals was in 2019-20, when the prices for lunch in elementary school were $2 per person. Thomas suggested a raise in those prices – as well as the $2.25 price in middle and high schools – to $2.50 per student.
Teachers, visitors, and other adults previously paid $3.60 for lunch, which she proposed to be moved to $4.
“Those numbers came from looking at what our average food cost was over the whole entire year this year,” said Thomas. “As each month keeps going on that keeps going up so we may need to revisit that.”
Parents who qualify will need to fill out paperwork for the 2022-23 school year to enroll their students in the free-reduced lunch program again.
Goldstar Foods is a new vendor working closely with the area and is a dedicated K-12 food distributor. They are working with Thomas and her team to get them whatever they need for the nearby schools. In total, seven counties are bidding on groceries together.
Habersham County Superintendent Matthew Cooper started Tuesday’s work session by discussing general facility needs for the school system going forward.
Cooper proposed a new roof for the Central office Annex, stating that the building is in “excellent condition and has a great foundation” and that it needs a new roof, which would cost $150,000. The cannery needs a new roof as well, which would cost another $150,000.
Cooper also proposed renovating the annex for a new meeting space at a cost of $100,000. The update would create a unique space about three times the size of the original meeting room, however, the board has yet to decide.
The final phase of the Special Education Renovations would cost $100,000, and the boiler space and psychologists area would be renovated. These renovations would help tie the rooms together for a more interactive space, said Denise Gunn, a staff member for Habersham county schools.
“The special education department is growing,” said Cooper. “We are adding classrooms every year for special needs services, which is apart if the growth plan.”
Other projects discussed included a Baldwin Elementary School parking expansion ($50,000), adding nine more parking spots to the front of the school, and a Hazel Grove playground improvement ($75,000).
Another significant need is the bus stop’s transportation gate, which would be $35,000. The current gate requires physical labor to move, whereas the new gate would be one automatic rolling gate where the old gate is currently.
Updating the gate would not only help the bus drivers and prevent them from moving the gate manually, but it would also help with the ability to watch the entrances and exits. It can lock certain people out with a simple code and is a better safety feature overall.
A flooring and paint update to the South Habersham media center would cost $30,000. The small project’s total is $200,000, and the total for all projects is $890,000 and will be paid out of the reserve fund.
Another item discussed was the future growth plan. This revolves around the Early Learning Center to be done in a year (for Pre-K and Prep) and Clarksville Elementary school.
“This is not a school, it’s a learning center. There’s a difference,” said Cooper. “For example, not a full cafeteria, not a full kitchen. A school must have a regulation sized cafeteria and kitchen.”
Coming with the early learning center are 20 new classrooms, two playgrounds, a small kitchen and cafeteria area, and additional parking for the Early Learning Center and Wilbanks Middle School.The location will be adjacent to Wilbanks, and the food service there will be able to help with the pre-k program.
It was stressed that the learning center was not a school because it did not have a full regulation-sized cafeteria and kitchen, just smaller ones.
In the meeting, the prioritization of elementary school was stressed, specifically Clarksville Elementary. With this growth plan, we would see an eight classroom addition, improvements to parent traffic flow so backing up on 115 was less frequent, and a possible cafeteria expansion.
The Northeast Georgian editor Matthew Osborne contributed to this report.