School lunch programs across the country look very different from the past in these times of pandemic. | Stock image
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue received a request to continue the use of flexibility in the school nutrition and lunch programs in the 2020-2021 school year by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
“We appreciate USDA’s use of child nutrition program waiver authority, flexibility provided, and work with state agencies, schools and non-school sponsoring organizations to provide meals through various child nutrition programs when schools were unexpectedly closed in the spring,” Cornyn said in a press release from his website. “We also applaud the extension of these flexibilities through the summer months.”
Schools and parents were making plans for the school year, including planning for school meals.
“We ask you and the USDA team to continue utilizing child nutrition program waivers that Congress provided in a manner consistent with existing authorities and program objectives,” Cornyn said in the press release.
He joined 19 other U.S. senators in asking the USDA to allow flexibility in programs, grants or reimbursements to help schools procure, prepare and serve meals following procedures consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) school reopening guidelines. They asked that the USDA support non-school sponsors getting meals to children whether they are in remote learning or in the classroom.
The senators suggested the USDA can continued to provide school systems with flexibility in school meal programs and the Child and Adult Care Food program as it did through the summer, extending it to meal-times, meal patterns, non-congregate feeding, offer vs serve requirements and meal pickup.
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