All students in Oak Ridge Schools will be offered school breakfast and lunch meals at no cost to the student or family beginning with the 2025-26 school year, the district announced today. All Oak Ridge Schools will participate in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) this year, offering meals at no cost to all Oak Ridge Schools students for the first time aside from the years where COVID made the program universally available.

In January 2025, the district announced that five of its eight schools would participate, but this is the first year that all schools will participate in the program.

CEP is a key provision of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010, which allows schools and school districts in low-income areas to eliminate school meal applications and serve breakfast and lunch at no charge to all enrolled students. By offering all students a nutritious breakfast and lunch at no cost, CEP helps ensure more students come to class well-nourished and ready to learn.

“While there is a cost to the district to roll this out to all schools, it aligns with our Core Value of putting our students first and investing in their well-being whenever possible,” said Dr. Bruce Borchers, Superintendent of Oak Ridge Schools. “While the federal landscape is changing, and the long-term cost and eligibility to continue this program in future years is subject to change, we will continue to offer this to our schools for as long as we are able to financially support it.”

“Children need healthy meals to learn,” said Kristina Barnard, District Manager of Southwest Food Service Excellence (SFE), the contracted food service provider for Oak Ridge Schools. “We appreciate Oak Ridge Schools’ dedication to doing what’s best for students and are thrilled to offer this incredible benefit to our students and families this year.”

Breakfast and lunch meals will follow the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines for healthy school meals. In the operation of child feeding programs, no child will be discriminated against because of race, sex, color, national origin, age or disability.

Parents or guardians who need further information may contact Marcia Wade, School Nutrition Supervisor at [email protected] or 865-425-9028.