USDA EXTENDS FREE MEALS FOR CHILDREN THROUGH DECEMBER 31ST

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has extended flexibility in school food service programs through the end of December, which means all school-age students at the eligible schools below will receive free meals (both breakfast and lunch) regardless if they qualify for benefits.

The USDA is federally funding this program, which is an extension of the Summer Feeding Program.  During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, from March to May, Walton County distributed 236,982 meals to approximately 4,500 children a week during an eight-week period.  Now with the extension of this program, over 80,000 school sites have applied and been accepted, including Walton County.  The USDA hopes this unprecedented move will help ensure no matter what situation, children will have access to nutritious food as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic as parents may be affected with work interruptions and increased financial hardships.

Participating Schools:

Bay        

Dune Lakes Elementary

Emerald Coast Middle                                   

Freeport Elementary

Freeport High

Freeport Middle              

Maude Saunders Elementary

Mossy Head

Paxton

South Walton High

Van R. Butler Elementary             

Walton Academy

Walton High

WISE/In”10”sity

Walton Middle

West DeFuniak Elementary                                             

Free meals begin for students Monday, September 21, 2020 for both brick and mortar schools and Innovative Learning Digital Academy (ILDA) students. For brick and mortar, students are required to scan lunch cards, or Point of Sale operators must enter student numbers at point of service.  Even though the meals are free, tracking meal service counts will allow us to file for claim reimbursements.  In addition to free breakfast and lunch, schools may still have a la carte items, such as ice cream, for a small fee.  ILDA students must reserve their food online by Friday to secure items for five breakfasts and five lunches per student for the following week.  Reservation forms are found on our district’s ILDA webpage.  ILDA students may have their packaged weekly meals picked up by parents at a school sites. 

It is still EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, and families MUST continue to apply for free or reduced-price meal benefits even though meals are free through December. Because these forms impact educational funding and because the program will end in December, having an application on file for the current school year will help our district and eliminate families’ benefit disruptions in January. If your child has a current positive balance, please know we will hold your balance until January as well.

The Walton County School District (WCSD) is very excited about this opportunity in providing such a great benefit to our children, and we encourage all students to participate!  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your school or the district’s Food Service department at 850.892.1100 ext. 1361.

FORWARDED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM FDOE

The United States Census occurs every ten years and has a powerful impact on the future of Florida communities and their voice in Congress. The United States Census Bureau has announced that they will complete counting throughout the United States on September 30th. It is critical that the Florida education community take this brief survey as it directly benefits Florida students and families and informs the amount of federal funding distributed to states for programs that impact schools, students, and families.

Data from the 2020 Census will impact federal funding for programs that supports students in low-income areas of the state, services for students with disabilities, career and technical education programs, adult education, and many other programs important to the education of students in Florida. Census data informs federal funding for sanitization and personal protection equipment (PPE), cleaning supplies and other materials needed to help combat COVID-19 in schools.

We hope you encourage your education families, neighbors, and communities to participate in the census by sharing this message.

To complete the census online, visit http://www.2020census.gov.

To complete the census via phone:

English: 1-844-330-2020

Spanish (7 - days a week, 7am - 2am): 844-468-2020

Haitian-Creole (Monday – Friday, 8am -10pm): 844-477-2020

Thank you!

Commissioner Richard Corcoran

Student Intent Form Update

The WCSD would like to thank all parents who completed the Student Intent Form which was provided as an online survey during the month of July. We appreciate your declaration of your child’s educational intent for the fall semester. This notification enables us to better prepare to welcome your child on Monday, August 17th.

For parents who did not complete a Student Intent Form, the WCSD will prepare and firmly assume your child will attend a brick and mortar classroom. As a district, we have received 9,000 Student Intent Forms; however, we are still lacking approximately 1,700 forms. These intent forms also allow the district to create bus routes that will place 48 students or less on a bus, so to date, the district has only planned routes for those parents who have requested their child be a bus rider via our intent forms.

For parents who have completed forms, approximately 900 parents have indicated that their child will attend Walton Virtual School (WVS); however, only 250 of those 900 families have followed up with WVS. To attend WVS, families must withdraw from their current school and enroll in WVS. If parents have not enrolled in WVS by Wednesday, August 12th, WCSD will also prepare and firmly assume those children will attend the district’s other distance learning option, the Innovative Learning Digital Academy (ILDA). The benefits of ILDA is that students can remain enrolled in their current school.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us. Questions can be text to our district at any time at 850.204.9667. To follow up with WVS, please email [email protected], and/or any school can be reached by calling 850.892.1100. Thank you for supporting us as we prepare to welcome all students back on Monday, August 17th.