Free Meals for All Students

Every Student Attending Northampton Public Schools may have one Free Breakfast and one Free Lunch each day at school.

School Meal Modification Request

If a meal modification is requested for your child/student, please complete the following form and submit the form to your school nurse. Thank you!

Made with School Lunch Video: Click Here to watch video

Fun Tomato Facts

1. 
   

   Tomatoes come in many colors: yellow, pink, purple, black and even white!

2. The largest single tomato plant in the world covers an area of 56.73 meters sq. That’s bigger than an Olympic size swimming pool! 

3. La Tomatina is an annual festival in Spain, where people throw 150,000 tomatoes at each other.

4. The largest ever tomato on record was picked in Oklahoma, USA, in 1986. It weighed over 3.5kg

5. Tomato juice is the official state drink in Ohio.

6. There are about 10,000 varieties of tomatoes worldwide!

7. The first tomatoes in Europe may originally have been yellow. They were first referred to in writing as “pomo d’oro“, meaning “golden apple”.

8. Tomato seedlings have been grown in space.

All Six Northampton Public Schools become CEP (Community Eligibility Provision) for School Year 2024-2025

Effective October 26, 2023 the USDA amended the rules for CEP. This final rule amends the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) regulations by lowering the minimum identified student percentage (ISP) from 40 percent to 25 percent. Lowering the minimum ISP will give states and schools greater flexibility to offer meals to all enrolled students at no cost when financially viable. As a result of this rule, more schools are eligible to participate in CEP and experience the associated benefits, such as increasing students’ access to healthy, no-cost school meals; eliminating unpaid meal charges; reducing stigma; and streamlining program administration and meal service operations.

Community Eligibility Provision is an innovative provision that allows schools to serve free meals to all students while alleviating the administrative burden to collect paper applications. Community eligibility allows for a healthier student body and healthier school meal budget.

What does this mean for Northampton?

  No more paper applications for Free and Reduced Meal Status beginning School Year 2024-2025.

More information available from the USDA at https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/fr-092623

More information available from DESE at https://www.doe.mass.edu/cnp/nprograms/nslp/cep-eligibility.html#:~:text=Community%20Eligibility%20Provision%20is%20a,and%20healthier%20school%20meal%20budget.

Adult Meal Prices School Year 2024-2025

Adult Breakfast:

$3.25 (plus 7% MA Meals Tax) = $3.48

Adult Lunch:

$5.25 (plus 7% MA Meals Tax) = $5.62

Create your My School Bucks account to conveniently view your student’s cafeteria purchases, check their balance, and securely pay for a la carte items.

My School Bucks charges a fee to put money or your student’s account.

To avoid the fees, your student may bring cash or a check to the cashier at the register to make a deposit.

  You may also mail in checks payable to: The City of Northampton

Address:

Freshampton: School Nutrition Department

100 Bridge Road

Florence, MA 01062

Offer vs. Serve Policy for Lunch

A school lunch that is eligible for federal reimbursement must offer 5 food components for each meal served (milk, fruit, vegetables, grains and meat/meat alternatives. Students may decline 2 of the required 5 items offered but must select either a ½ cup fruit or vegetable or a ½ cup combination of fruit/vegetable with their meal. In addition to the fruit or vegetable, the student must select at least 2 additional food components in full amounts offered in order for the meal to count toward the reimbursable offer vs serve meal. The price of the meal will not be determined by the number of components the student chooses. The lunch is priced as a unit whether the student declines 2 items or chooses all 5 items. Field trip bag lunches or special occasion meals in the classroom contain all 5 food components and are exempt from this policy.

Offer vs. Serve for Breakfast

A school breakfast that is eligible for reimbursement shall offer 3 food components (milk, fruit and grains) that consists of a minimum of 4 items. Students may decline 1 food item, but must select at least ½ cup of fruit or fruit combination. After choosing the ½ cup of fruit, students must select the other food components in the full amounts to count toward the reimbursable offer vs. serve meal. The price of the meal will not be determined by the number of components the student chooses. The breakfast is priced as a unit whether the student accepts all 4 items or declines.

Non-Discrimination Statement:

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

1. mail:
   U.S. Department of Agriculture
   Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
   1400 Independence Avenue, SW
   Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
2. fax:
   (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
3. email:
   program.intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider