Dear Osprey Students and Families,
Thanks to the hard work of our Director of Finance Christine Imming and Main Office Manager Bridget Stowers, we are excited to share that AHS has partnered with the National School Lunch Program to improve and expand our food service offerings for the 2020-21 school year. This partnership, alongside the Colorado Department of Education’s Emergency Feeding Program, which is funded by the
CARES Act through the end of 2020
, will better support our students at a time when many families are experiencing financial hardship and food insecurity. It will also positively impact our food service program for all AHS students!
CHANGES IN FOOD SERVICE FOR ALL STUDENTS
Breakfast
We now have breakfast available, consisting of cereal, milk and fruit cup. Look for the breakfast cart in the upper parking lot in the mornings. Breakfast does not need to be ordered ahead of time and is available to all students, free of charge through 12/31.
Lunch
We have added milk and fruit to the tasty catered lunches provided by our local vendors (Zia, Singletrack Cafe and East by Southwest) and we now have extra sack lunches available for those who forget to order or bring lunch. As usual, catered lunch must be ordered online by 9:30am. Sack lunches will be available free of charge through 12/31 via the lunch cart that travels from pod to pod and they do not need to be ordered ahead of time; they include a PB&J sandwich, orange, cheese stick and milk.
Food Service Costs
AHS is participating in the Emergency Feeding Program in partnership with the National School Lunch Program, which makes it possible for us to offer all students one free breakfast and one free lunch daily on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, whether or not they qualify for free or reduced lunch through the end of 2020.
We will not charge any families for student meals through the end of 2020, when the Emergency Feeding Program ends--whether or not they qualify for free or reduced lunch. The exception is if a student orders two lunches in a day, in which case we will charge $7 for the second lunch.
AHS is reimbursed through the Emergency Feeding Program at a rate of $4 per catered lunch; the cost to us as a school is $7 per lunch. This means that for every catered lunch an AHS student orders, AHS pays $3 from our limited school budget.
If your family is able to make a donation to AHS to cover the cost of catered lunches that your student receives, it will help our school better stretch our limited funding. Please consider making donations through the donate button on the AHS website and indicate it is in support of our meal service program.
QUALIFYING FOR FREE/REDUCED LUNCH
We are asking all AHS families to complete this brief Meal Application form by Wednesday 9/23. Please complete it even if you think that you will not qualify as it helps with our state reporting and funding. It should take you no longer than a few minutes and applications are processed very quickly.
At AHS, we support families who qualify for Free/Reduced Lunch in a variety of ways:
Food Assistance
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After the Emergency Feeding Program ends on 12/31, students who qualify may order one lunch per day through the AHS website at no cost or reduced cost ($4) . If your student orders a second lunch, their lunch account will be charged $7.
- We will continue to provide free breakfast and sack lunches to those who qualify after the Emergency Feeding Program ends.
Fee Waivers
- Your family will not be responsible for paying the $100 annual Technology Fee or course fees associated with any academic class.
- The fee for Summer School online courses is reduced from $100 to $25 for students who receive free or reduced lunch.
College Application Assistance
- Our college counselor will help students who qualify receive fee waivers for both the ACT and SAT exams, college application fees and college deposit fees
- The college counselor will recommend specific scholarship and summer programs to students who qualify.
- Students should never pay for anything related to college before checking with the college counselor.
Transportation
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Qualifying students can receive a transit sticker from Dusty and affix it to their school ID. This allows them to ride Durango Public Transit for free for a calendar year.
We are committed to connecting families with resources beyond what we can provide at school as well. Families can always reach out to our school counselor, Erin Skyles at erin.skyles@animashighschool.com, if they are seeking information about access to food, housing, etc. We encourage families in need to explore the following resources:
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Through the Emergency Feeding Program, Durango 9R School District is supplying free meals to children ages 0-18 for days when students don’t attend school in person. These meals are available to AHS students, even though AHS is not part of the 9R District. Learn more about pick up locations and times and sign up here.
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Families eligible for free or reduced lunch may access $279 per eligible child in benefits to buy food, regardless of immigration status through Colorado’s Pandemic EBT program. Some families who received SNAP benefits in March, April, or May got these benefits on their EBT cards automatically. All other eligible families need to apply online before 9/23. Find out more and apply here.
We recognize that good nutrition is key to learning and we are excited to offer these new improvements to our meal service program, alongside our ongoing partnerships with locally-owned restaurants. Please let us know what you think and reach out with any questions you may have moving forward.
