The Sag Harbor School District administration and school board have opted to remain in the federal school lunch program for one more year to gather data and feedback on how well the new government-approved cafeteria offerings are received by students.
This means the district anticipates receiving federal lunch funding of between $80,000 and $150,000, an amount that varies based on what the students are consuming each day.
Sag Harbor rejoined the federal lunch program this year after becoming one of two Long Island school districts to drop it several years ago in favor of having total control over what was offered in the cafeteria. Jeff Nichols, the superintendent, made the recommendation to stay another year to be able to make a more informed decision based on a whole year of lunch sales, rather than a partial year.
"We'll talk to the kids more, see where they're at," he said, "and if after a year we say this isn't really for us, we could get out. But to opt out and forgo that money based on three or four months seems silly to me."
Sag Harbor also fell short, said Jennifer Buscemi, the school business administrator, of being able to offer free lunch to all students through a federal program known as the Community Eligibility Provision. This program looks at the total percentage of children in a school district whose families receive federal food benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or the Women, Infants, and Children program. If Sag Harbor reached 25 percent, it could offer free lunch to all for a five-year period. However, it stands at 23 percent, even after a thorough review.
With "seven to 10 more students in direct certification, then we would hit the mark," Ms. Buscemi said.