Metro Nashville Public Schools is once again offering free meals to local children.
The district announced it will offer no-cost breakfast and lunch to all children 18 and under on its website Wednesday. The announcement was the latest of several free meals offers provided by the district over the past few months.
“Nutritious meals are essential to effective learning, growth, and development,” said Dr. Adrienne Battle, Director of Metro Schools, in a news release. “We are grateful that the USDA has removed barriers to accessing meals to allow more students and children throughout Nashville to more easily receive breakfast and lunch.”
MNPS offered free breakfast and lunch meals to children following closures brought on by the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. The district continued to offer free meals to children 18 and under provided at school locations and bus stops around the district throughout the summer, which were funded by the Summer Food Service Program, until its completion in August.
Since then, MNPS has returned to class virtually, but some students have been unable to receive free lunch as rules for the traditional National School Lunch Program went into effect.
The district said in the press release that the Seamless Summer Options program is aimed to allow families to pick any site and provide less information to obtain the free meals. MNPS will reevaluate bus routes and times for meal deliveries now that new guidelines have been implemented in an effort to maximize resources and opportunities for families to receive meals.
Metro Schools said the new waivers should allow students to keep receiving free meals while MNPS reevaluates the steps needed to return to in-person classes amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.