BARRHEAD — Barrhead Family Community Support Services (FCSS) will no longer run the lunch program at Barrhead Elementary School, so the Pembina Hills School Division is taking over.
Trustees passed a motion at their Aug. 30 meeting to approve the addition of a “school lunch provider” position to the division’s non-union terms and conditions for employment.
Sandy McCarthy, who previously acted as program co-ordinator on FCSS’ behalf, is considering whether or not to continue in the role, deputy superintendent of human resources Brett Cooper confirmed in an e-mail.
As noted in a report to the board, the school lunch program at the elementary school operated for more than 20 years through a joint partnership between Pembina Hills and FCSS.
Through this agreement, FCSS provided funding to families who couldn’t afford to provide adequate lunches for their children. This money typically came through grants and community sponsorships.
At one point, food was prepared by FCSS and then sent over to the school, though that transitioned to having local businesses prepare lunches. In more recent years, however, McCarthy had prepared the meals on-site.
Back in the fall when the Barrhead Elks presented McCarthy with a $7,000 donation, she warned that rising food costs were making the program harder to run.
"We do everything we can to keep the cost affordable, but with the rising cost of groceries, it is impossible to keep up,” she said.
In June, the FCSS board notified the school that they would discontinue the program as it wasn’t within their mandate and funding was harder to find.
As such, Supt. Michael Borgfjord said the school will continue to offer the program via a paid position.
“It is going to continue, but the school division’s paying for it,” he added.
The report noted that there are approximately 30 families each month needing full sponsorship and another 155 students who pay for lunch to be provided to them.
Pembina Hills will fund the program via the provincial nutrition grant and a nominal per meal fee that is paid for by the families of the 155 students.
-with files from Barry Kerton
