More students eating free lunches at school

Jennifer Hoehn, general manager of food services for Sugarcreek schools, shows how students input ID numbers into the checkout computer at Bellbrook's Stephen Bell Elementary lunch line so no child can tell who is in the lunch program.

Lisa Powell/Staff photographer Jennifer Hoehn, general manager of food services for Sugarcreek schools, shows how students input ID numbers into the checkout computer at Bellbrook's Stephen Bell Elementary lunch line so no child can tell who is in the lunch program.

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By Mark Gokavi, Staff Writer Updated 1:14 AM Friday, March 5, 2010

At Stephen Bell Elementary School in Bellbrook, nearly five times more students qualify for a free or reduced lunch than five years earlier. In 2004, 6.08 percent of students qualified for the lunch program. In 2009, that jumped to 29.64 percent.

That dramatic increase is just one example of a trend that cuts across most school districts in the state and area.

The Ohio Department of Education reports that nearly 42 percent of kindergarten through 12th-graders in Ohio qualify for the National School Lunch Program, compared to 33 percent in 2004.

The struggling economy has student poverty on the rise in urban, suburban and rural districts.

At Beavercreek, Fairborn, Northmont and Springboro high schools, percentages have nearly doubled in five years. They’ve more than doubled at Miamisburg and Lebanon high schools, and tripled at Troy and Vandalia-Butler in that time frame. The 2009 rate is 77 percent in the Dayton Public School district.

“It’s a reflection of tough times in Ohio, isn’t it?” said Dan Mecoli, principal at Precious Blood Catholic Elementary School, a private school which saw an increase from 10.32 percent in 2004 to 48 percent in 2009.

In Stephen Bell’s lunch line, students input ID numbers into the checkout computer. No child can tell which classmates are in program. “Instead of using paper rosters, we’ve noticed a lot more parents feeling more comfortable with the process of the kids going through the lunch line,” said Jennifer Hoehn, Sugarcreek Local District’s general manager of food services. “No parent wants their child to go through if they feel that their child is gonna have to deal with being identified.”

To qualify for free lunch, students need to live in households with incomes not above 130 percent of the 2009 federal poverty level, which is $27,560 for a family of four. For reduced-price lunch, incomes can’t be above 185 percent of the poverty line — $40,792 for a family of four.

“Hungry kids can’t learn,” said Madeleine Levin, a senior policy analyst at the Food Research and Action Center. “Kids need to have good nutrition to grow and to learn and to lead productive lives.”

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