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FROM STAFF REPORTS

HOOVER – Hoover City Schools has announced its policy for free and reduced-price meals for children served in schools under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.

Beginning in August, all HCS students will be charged for school breakfast and lunch unless their household qualifies for free or reduced-price meals.

Families must apply for free or reduced-price meals no later than Aug. 31.

Hoover City Schools offers healthy meals every school day.

Breakfast costs $1.75 at elementary schools and $2 at secondary schools, while lunch costs $2.50 at elementary schools and $3 at secondary schools.

Children may qualify for free meals or reduced-price meals (30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch).

Local school officials have adopted the following household size and income criteria for determining eligibility.

All children in households receiving benefits from Alabama SNAP, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) or Alabama TANF are eligible for free meals.

All children in the households receiving benefits from Medicaid are eligible for free or reduced meals.

Foster children that are under the legal responsibility of a foster care agency or court are eligible for free meals.

Children participating in their school’s Head Start program are eligible for free meals.

Children who meet the definition of homeless, runaway or migrant are eligible for free meals.

Children who are directly certified are eligible to receive free meals.

When known to Hoover City Schools, households will be notified of their children’s eligibility for free meals based on their participation (or a household member’s participation) in the: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR); or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), if the state program meets federal standards.

When known to Hoover City Schools, households will be notified of any child’s eligibility for free meals based on the individual child’s designation as Other Source Categorically Eligible, as defined by law.

Children are determined Other Source Categorically Eligible if they are: homeless, migrant, runaway, a foster child or enrolled in Head Start or an eligible pre-kindergarten program (see: SP 40-2013: Q&As Regarding the Participation of Head Start Programs in Child Nutrition Programs.

If you believe children in your household qualify as homeless, migrant or runaway and haven’t been told your children will get free meals, call the Student Services Director at 205-439-1016.

Families with more than one child should use one Free and Reduced Price School Meals Application for all students in the household.

Applications that are not complete cannot be approved, so be sure to fill out all required information.

Return the completed application to: Hoover Board of Education, 2810 Metropolitan Way, Hoover, AL 35243.

If you received a letter this school year saying your children are already approved for free meals, you do not need to fill out an application, but read the letter you got carefully and follow the instructions.

If any children in your household were missing from your eligibility notification, contact the HCS Child Nutrition Program at 205-439-1061 immediately.

Those who apply are encouraged to complete an online application instead of a paper application, if possible.

The online application has the same requirements and will ask for the same information as the paper application.

Visit Myschoolapps.com to begin or to learn more about the online application process.

Contact the HCS Child Nutrition Program at 205-439-1061 with any questions about the online application.

Even if your child’s application was approved last year, you need to fill out a new one.

A child’s application is only good for that school year and for the first few days of this school year, through Sept. 22.

You must send in a new application unless the school told you that your child is eligible for the new school year.

If you do not send in a new application that is approved by the school or you have not been notified that your child is eligible for free meals, your child will be charged the full price for meals.

Children in households participating in WIC may be eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Send in an application.

The information applicants give will be checked. In accordance with program regulations, school officials will verify the income of some households at some time during the school year.

Selected households will be requested to provide income documentation in order to continue to receive free and reduced-price meals.

If you don’t qualify now, you may apply later, at any time during the school year. For example, children with a parent or guardian who becomes unemployed may become eligible for free and reduced-price meals if the household income drops below the income limit.

If you disagree with the school’s decision about your application, talk to school officials or ask for a hearing by calling or writing to: Chief Financial Officer 205-439-1000.

You, your children or other household members do not have to be U.S. citizens to apply for free or reduced-price meals.

If your income is not always the same, list the amount that you normally receive. For example, if you normally make $1,000 each month, but you missed some work last month and only made $900, put down that you made $1,000 per month.

If you normally get overtime, include it, but do not include it if you only work overtime sometimes.

If you have lost a job or had your hours or wages reduced, use your current income.

Household members may not receive some types of income we ask you to report on the application, or may not receive income at all. Whenever this happens, write a 0 in the field. However, if any income fields are left empty or blank, those will also be counted as zeroes. Be careful when leaving income fields blank, as we will assume you meant to do so.

Only the last four digits of the social security number of the household’s primary wage earner or another adult household member (or an indication of “none”) is required.

Households notified of their children’s eligibility must contact HCS Child Nutrition Program at 205-439-1061 if they choose to decline the free meal benefits.

If children or households receive benefits under Assistance Programs or Other Source Categorically Eligible Programs and are not listed on the notice of eligibility and are not notified by the school of their free meal benefits, the parent or guardian should contact the school or should submit an income application.

For those who are in the military, your basic pay and cash bonuses must be reported as income.

If you get any cash value allowances for off-base housing, food or clothing, it must also be included as income.

However, if your housing is part of the Military Housing Privatization Initiative, do not include your housing allowance as income.

Any additional combat pay resulting from deployment is also excluded from income.

If there isn’t enough space on the application for your family, list any additional household members on a separate piece of paper and attach it to your application.

Contact HCS Child Nutrition Program at 205-439-1061 to receive a second application.

Families how need more help may find out how to apply for Alabama SNAP or other assistance benefits by contacting their local assistance office or calling 800-382-0499.