Two-year-old Louie Bauer and dad Jonathan get a lunch and breakfast sack, as his big brother Abel, and sister Mila wait their turn in the bus door near Emerson Elementary as part of the Snohomish School District’s continued meal services while classrooms are closed. Abel and Mila said they both miss their school classes and friends. Details and meal routes for Snohomish are online at www.sno.wednet.edu/covid19meals
Jim Scolman
SNOHOMISH — A school meal will cost 25 cents more this fall, making lunch prices $3 a day at elementary schools and $3.25 a day at the high schools. Breakfasts will be $1.50 at elementary schools and $1.75 at high schools.
There is no price increase for students getting reduced-price meals.
The district’s meal prices last increased in 2014. Snohomish’s contracted meal service provider sets the prices for á la carte items in the cafeteria.
The school board earlier this month approved the meal price increases as well as giving a one-year extension on the contract with its meal service provider, Chartwells.
Next year, Chartwells plans to let high school students vote on options to set the menu. They’d vote every 60 days or so to rotate the menu.
This school year, Chartwells brought in an executive chef to work with student needs.
School meals today are prepared with more fresh foods and less from canned goods, said Marty Grasa, the district’s food service director.
For comparison, Snohomish’s future rate for lunches will match what Everett and Monroe students pay now. Monroe’s breakfast prices are a little higher.
School districts, meanwhile, continue to feed kids while classrooms are closed.
Snohomish Schools is delivering lunches every day at bus stops and also positions a food truck at the Snohomish Boys & Girls Club, the Aquatic Center and the High School.
Details and meal routes are online at www.sno.wednet.edu/covid19meals
Free and reduced meal eligibility
The district mails out information each August.
Families that find themselves newly hit with income loss during the year can reach the district’s assistant for homeless students, Jami Cross. Her number is 360-563-7314. The turnaround time to apply and get signed up for free or reduced lunches can be as quick as a day, district finance director Tom Laufmann said.
Principals also can apply on behalf of a student.
