VALDOSTA — Lowndes County Schools will pilot a program this year where two schools will provide breakfast and lunch at no cost to all of its students.

Clyattville Elementary School and Moulton-Branch Elementary School qualified for the Community Eligibility Provision based on the number of directly certified students, said Donna Hendley, county schools school nutrition director.

A directly certified student is one whose family receives Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

Schools have to have more than 40 percent of directly certified students.

“Clyattville and Moulton-Branch were chosen because of their high percentage of directly certified students,” Hendley said. “Although there were two other schools that had over 40 percent identified, it was not feasible to extend the program to those two schools.”

The two other schools were Lake Park Elementary and Lowndes Middle School, which Hendley said she would like to see have CEP eventually.

County schools will revisit their eligibility status April 1, 2019.

One big indicator of whether the program stays at the two schools is student participation in the program.

A high percentage of students eat lunch at Clyattville and Moulton-Branch, Hendley said, but breakfast participation will need to increase.

“Breakfast is where we’ll have to work on the participation,” Hendley said. “The principals and the staff have assured me that they’re going to help out.”

She hopes to see the program take off in its pilot year because of how beneficial it is to all parties involved — students, parents and school administration.

For the students, there will be less of a wait in cashier lines, and there will be no stigma for students who normally receive free or reduced lunch because everyone will receive meals at no cost.

Parents will no longer deal with the hassle of turning in applications for free or reduced lunch or making sure money is in lunch accounts, and the administration does not have to worry about paperwork costs.

Clyattville and Moulton-Branch will begin using the CEP program this school year. 

Katelyn Umholtz is a reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256.