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The Willamette Career Academy cafeteria looks like any other high school. Round tables fill quickly during breaks and are emptied of students when classes resume.
But this room lacks something you find in almost every other school in Salem. The smell of food cooked in the cafeteria permeates it.
The public career education program, now in its second year, feeds 270 students bused from schools around Marion and Polk counties to attend one of six specialty programs I haven’t been able to.
This is because federal funds are not eligible to cover the cost of school lunches, which schools across the United States rely on to feed their students.
This is what principal Johnny Ferro calls the “innovation tax.”
“The system hasn’t been updated to engage with schools like it does these days,” says Ferro.
Schools across the United States rely on federal funds to provide breakfast and lunch to students. The National School Feeding Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has reimbursed school meals for students since 1946, recognizing that students can participate and learn better in school if they are not hungry during the day. doing.
Public, charter, non-profit private schools, and some childcare centers are eligible to participate.
Without that money, most schools could not afford to provide meals. Especially to students who qualify for free meals based on family income. At Career Academy, that’s the majority of students, Ferro said.
However, Career Academy is run by the Willamette Educational Services District and is not technically considered a school.
Instead, 12 local school districts, including Woodburn, Gervais, Jefferson, and North Marion, work together to provide students with specialized career education not available at their smaller high schools. increase.
High school students can study construction, diesel machinery, cosmetology, health science, manufacturing, or computer science.
They spend half of school at the Salem campus and the other half at a local high school.
Students are typically on the Career Academy campus during lunchtime. According to Ferro, the program will begin the process in May 2021 when he applies to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for reimbursement of school meals.
Aside from not being considered a school, Ferro said the academy’s schedule affects its eligibility. The student spends half of her day in Salem and the other half at her alma mater’s high school, so it’s possible she could “double-dip” between regular school and career dining at her academy.
A similar program within the Salem Kaiser School District, the Center for Career and Technical Education, provides meals to students, but it is a single-district program and students spend the day on campus there.
Ferro said attempts by the Oregon Department of Education to help with the federal application were unsuccessful. Also, career he academy does not have the budget to cover the cost of meals.
The Education Services School District turned to Senator Ron Wyden’s office for assistance. A spokesman confirmed that the senator’s office is working with the USDA to reach a solution.
“The opportunity for young people in Oregon to have a nutritious lunch in school is essential to fighting hunger and being well prepared for learning in the classroom,” Wyden said in an emailed statement. Students at Willamette Career Academy deserve that opportunity, and I will work with federal and state officials to help the school cut through the bureaucracy and get the reimbursement it needs to serve these meals at school. We are working as hard as we can to make it happen.”
For now, Career Academy students can bring their own packed lunches and breakfasts from their home school district on the bus. But Ferro said the lack of hot meals was something many students mentioned in last year’s year-end evaluations. She also said that no hot lunches in school cafeterias means fewer opportunities to build community by sharing meals together.
“They cannot learn at the same pace and cannot be educated in the same way if their basic needs are not met,” she said.
Ferro said she and other Education Services District employees continue to work on the issue. One of her reasons is that other education service districts around Oregon are interested in implementing similar programs.
“We really want our kids to have access to food, but we know we’re not the only program in the state like this,” she said.
Please contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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