Prescott Unified School District’s Food and Nutrition Services considers it a privilege and a very important responsibility to plan, prepare, and serve nutritious meals to all students. While our goal is to always provide a quality product, great service, and a clean dining environment, we also know that we need to serve meals that the students enjoy and also to meet the dietary guidelines for Americans.
We sincerely appreciate your support and participation in our school lunch program and look forward to serving you.
To our PUSD families - School Year 2023-2024
Schools in the last two years were given flexibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed all children to receive school meals at no charge (and off campus!). The flexibilities were granted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the government agency that funds school meals. Many families will see changes in school meals this fall as some of those options have expired, so many schools can’t serve all meals free anymore. Instead, families will do what they did before COVID. Schools will take applications and use family income to qualify kids for free, reduce-price, or paid meals.
My child’s school is going to start charging for meals again, but I can’t afford to pay. Is there a way my child can get meals for free?
Yes. There are still many ways children can get free meals. Children are automatically eligible for free meals if anyone in their household gets SNAP, TANF, or FDPIR benefits. Schools should let you know if your child is automatically eligible.
You can also fill out an application to qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Children experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, runaway youth, or children of migrant workers all qualify for free school meals when their household fills out an application. Children can also qualify for free or reduced-price meals through an application if their household’s income is under a certain limit. Schools will help you understand if you qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on the information you put on their school meal application.
ATTENTION: PUSD will no longer be providing free meals for all students. To qualify for free or reduced meals, please apply online at ezmealapp.com or submit a completed application to your child’s school as soon as possible. The 23-24 meal applications on file expire 9/13/24.
If you have any questions, please contact SFE Director:
928-717-3232 x71136
Marian Shepherd, Food Service Liaison
marian.shepherd@prescottschools.com
928-717-3232 x71135
Sincerely,
PUSD Child Nutrition Team
