PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Portsmouth Public Schools will provide all of its students free breakfasts and lunches for the 2020-2021 school year, according to a release by the school system.
Beginning at the start of the school year, all Portsmouth students can receive free breakfasts and lunches through the division’s participation in the state’s Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program. The CEP, which was implemented as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, allows school divisions with high numbers of students eligible for free and reduced meals to serve breakfast and lunch to all students for free.
“We are thrilled to be able to provide all of our nearly 14,000 students with this opportunity,” said Dr. Elie Bracy, III, superintendent of Portsmouth Public Schools. “Through the CEP, we have been able to ensure that no family in our community needs to worry about paying for their child’s meals during the school year. With the current economic stress that many across the nation are feeling in light on the pandemic, we are hopeful this will help provide our Portsmouth community some relief.”
PPS will re-open with virtual learning for the first nine weeks of the school year. However, students will still be able to pick up meals at any one of the division’s 16 elementary and high schools, which have been designated as meal pick-up sites.
All sites will be serving meals from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on school days.
Students will be required to be identified as PPS students in order to receive the free meals. The School Nutrition Office will distribute identification cards to all students during the mobile device distribution, which will take place from August 31 to September 4. To access the distribution schedule, click here.
If families cannot attend one of these distribution times to pick up their child’s ID card, they can also pick it up at any time during the week at the School Nutrition Office in the S.H. Clarke Building at 2801 Turnpike Road, Portsmouth, VA, 23707.
