Board, staff stress end to pandemic-era free school meals
Board of Education July 15, 2022
PICKENS COUNTY, Ga. — The Pickens County Board of Education heard continued discussions about the school district’s nutrition services, including supply and cost issues affecting school meals.
In a June board meeting School Nutrition Director Beth Thompson informed the board that pandemic-era free meals at Pickens County Schools would be coming to an end after Congress failed to extend the benefit for another year. Despite the rising costs of food, Thompson shared that prices would not be raised for students.
Starting this fall, breakfast will cost students at any Pickens school $1.50. Lunch for students will cost $2.15 at elementary schools, $2.40 at middle and junior high schools, and $2.45 at the high school.
Although paid lunches are returning, Thompson emphasized that applications for free or reduced-price meals will be returning. During the board’s July 14 meeting, board member Tucker Green again stressed the importance of making families aware of the ends to automatically free lunches: “We have a lot of concern about people filling out the forms after getting accustomed to not.” To ensure families are made aware of the change, the board, as well as other staff in attendance, discussed strategies to expand access to the application. Fliers informing families at open houses or in local news media, QR code and online access to applications, and paper copies at school were just some options mentioned as the district prepares for applications to open.
Beginning July 18, 2022, families will be able to submit a free or reduced-price meal application, and students who qualify for reduced-price meals will pay only $0.30 for their breakfast and $0.40 for their lunch.
Supply Issues
Increasing costs were not the only issue Chief Operations Officer Stacy Gilleland brought to the board during his Food Services report. He also noted that School Nutrition Services has seen a decrease in food options from 600 to under 250 due to supply issues. “Everybody’s having the same problem,” Gilleland explained, “It’s not Pickens County.” The board took action to ease some supply issues during their June 2022 meeting by voting to approve a contract with Sysco Food Services of Atlanta that intends to expand grocery access to Fannin County, Gilmer County, and Pickens County.
Board Chair Sue Finley asked if federal health standards, like those placed on calorie content and grain types, would be eased in light of shortage and cost issues. Gilleland explained that those regulations were still in place. “All they’re doing is, if we can’t get something because of a supply issue, they’ll give us a little grace on that, but the expectation is to follow the meal pattern,” School Nutrition Director Beth Thompson added.
Pandemic-era free meals ending at Pickens Schools
Board of Education, Education June 17, 2022
PICKENS COUNTY, Ga. — The Pickens County Board of Education heard from Pickens County School System employees who discussed how the school district is tackling important issues. School Nutrition Director Beth Thompson spoke to the board about how the schools’ are handling shortage and cost-related problems. Notably, Thompson explained the end of automatic free meals, but shared that prices will not increase. Pickens High School Principal Chris Wallace also discussed new plans to improve safety throughout the county.
School Nutrition Director Beth Thompson first discussed the district’s School Wellness Program, noting each school implemented the “wellness policy goals for nutrition education and promotion, physical education, and physical activity goals.”
Nutrition Director Beth Thompson discussed several topics with the board.
Then, explaining how student meals will be handled during the 2022-2023 school year, Thompson told the board: “We are returning to the normal, pre-pandemic national school lunch program, school breakfast program, and this does mean that meals will not automatically be served to kids at no charge.” Despite the return of paid meals, and recent inflation that has caused food costs to increase significantly, Thompson emphasized that the school district will not be raising student meal prices. While each meal costs around four dollars to produce, she said, students will only pay from $2.15 to $2.45, depending on the school they attend. Thompson emphasized the decision to keep prices the same as “the right thing to do.” She also mentioned that families will once again receive applications for free or reduced meal prices and noted a new online application that will be available this year in an attempt to make it more accessible to all families. It was also noted that the end of the pandemic-era free meals was not a local decision, but came from the federal level.
Thompson also recommended the approval of a contract with Sysco Food Services of Atlanta that will help address issues with access to groceries in Gilmer, Fannin, and Pickens County. Later in the meeting, it was unanimously approved by the board.
Pickens High School Principal Chris Wallace also spoke to the board. He took time to explain the safety approach of “prevention, preparedness, and response” and discuss upcoming plans. Wallace told the board, “We’re here for school of course, curriculum, instruction, all of that is really important, but that doesn’t really matter if you can’t keep kids safe.” He said meetings are already being held to discuss safety related topics like communication during emergencies and planning with the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office and School Resource Officers (SROs). Wallace also noted that there is evaluation underway to examine current procedures and improve upon what is lacking. As an example of implementing new safety procedures, Wallace explained a plan for Pickens High School that will stop unsupervised class transitions between buildings. Further, he cited the presence of a trained SRO in each school, helping students create “a habit of vigilance,” and planned training sessions inside Pickens facilities.
Other Business
During the meeting, the board also approved the tentative budget for the fiscal year of 2023, as well as salary schedules. Superintendent Tony Young commented on the salary schedules, saying “This year’s schedules will reflect an increase in pay for all classified staff. Certified staff will receive a $2,000 annual pay increase from the state, which our board will add to at the rate of 10%, which will also become a permanent part of their pay scale moving forward … I would also like to point out that, including the bonuses the board has approved over the last two years, every staff member in this system has received additional pay, which I believe reflects the value this board holds toward its staff.”
The board approved an agreement with Georgia Southern University and updates to sex education curriculum during the meeting. They also recognized the historic achievements of Pickens 4H competitors and heard updates on the county’s summer camp program.
PHS court to be named after Coach Cowart
Board of Education, PHS Basketball November 12, 2021
PICKENS, Ga, — The Pickens BOE had a packed agenda for their Nov. 11, 2021 meeting. After hearing several recognitions, the board then heard food service and construction updates, approved renaming a PHS court after Coach Cowart, and approved the new school calendar, among other items.
Coach Cowart Court
The Pickens County Board of Education unanimously approved the renaming of the PHS court to Coach Cowart Court. Superintendent Young told the board that the PHS court will soon be completely refinished, “As a part of this refinish, I believe it’s a perfect opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of an individual that has done so much for high school basketball in Pickens County.” Young also invited the community to come to the court for a renaming ceremony at a date to be determined. Young then briefly spoke about Coach Cowart’s accomplishments: “32 years as the head coach of the Dragonettes basketball team, spanning from 1969 to 2001; a record of 692 wins and 211 losses; 15 state play-off births; 9 region championships; 1 state championship in 1974; 9 time Region Coach of the Year.” The board gave their own appreciation to Coach Cowart. BOE Vice Chair Tommy Gartrell even noted that he attended PHS during Cowart’s time coaching and teaching.
Pickens County Schools Nutrition Services
School Nutrition Director Beth Thompson also spoke to the board during the meeting. She discussed the food service at Pickens County Schools, “I wanted to share and really update and inform our community and our students, our parents on the current situation that our food service operation is trying to manage and trying to work through at this time.” She first mentioned that the food service at the county’s schools are not immune to global shortages which might last until 2022. However, Thompson says “the good news is that food services has been able to work with our vendors to find comparable products when there’s been outs and substitutes, and so far we’ve been able to follow our menus with limited substitutions.”She then spoke to the school system’s stakeholders, asking people to be understanding of the issue, which is international in scope, “Simply, we may not always be able to follow the published menus as planned … We might have to cut back on a number of choices, or a variety of items offered. We may even run out of a particular item on a given day at your school, but we will always, always have something to feed the children.”
The board also approved the Pickens County School District calendar for the 2022-2023 school year, approved a middle school field trip, and received an update on the new Ag. Facility.