Parents of students at Belle Elementary School (BES) and Bland Middle School (BMS) will see a significant saving in the lunch line as the Maries County R-2 District is now able to offer free breakfast and lunch to every child through the Community Eligibility Program (CEP).

“We are thankful for the addition of the middle school in the Community Eligibility Program,” said Maries R-2 Superintendent Dr. Lenice Basham, who inherited the approval of the program from the efforts of former superintendent Dr. Patrick Call and former secretary Barb Howarth. “Dr. Call and Barb Howarth got the middle school to qualify.”

CEP is a program available through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Since all meals will be free for BES and BMS students, household applications for free and reduced lunches will not be collected from either school.

According to a public release from the district, studies have shown that children who are not hungry perform better in school. By providing school meals to all children at no charge, they are hoping to create a better learning environment for the students.

“We want our students to be able to focus on learning and not hunger pains,” Basham said.

With the qualifications met, the district will be able to offer free breakfast and lunch to students at BES and BMS for the next five years.

“I believe that it will have a positive impact on our students instruction,” Basham said.

The school meets the qualifications of direct certification when more than 40 percent of students enrolled in the building qualify for free or reduced lunch. BES became part of CEP in April 2017. Then in 2018, the district learned they could combine the number of BES families who received state aid with the amount of BMS aid-recipient families to perhaps qualify the middle school for the program. 

The middle school failed to qualify for the program by five students in 2018 — meaning the school was five students short of 40 percent on free or reduced lunch applications. With the qualifying numbers so close, Call and Howarth decided to apply again. Applications for the program were turned in and approved by June 30.

Since BES was included in the successful 2019-20 application for BMS, their five year CEP approval starts over this year and will run through the 2024-25 school year.

Meals available through the program follow U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines for “healthy school meals.”