Pine Plains Central School District Superintendent Brian Timm surprised Board of Education members and attendees of the Jan. 3 meeting with an unexpected announcement. Just before the meeting, he received an email informing him that New York State had awarded a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) to the district: Every child in the three schools, regardless of need, will be eligible to get free breakfast and lunch beginning this month. The program will remain in effect for more than three years, through June 2027.
PPCSD food service director Larry Anthony began work on the grant in October 2023, after an announcement by the New York State Education Department Child Nutrition Knowledge Center that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was relaxing the rules for CEP awards. Previously, 40% of the student body had to participate in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or Medicaid for a school district to qualify. When the USD lowered that threshold to 25%, Anthony immediately started the arduous application process.
“It was nuts,” he said, “I endlessly filled out Excel sheets, created PDF files and looked up data about 2023 student enrollment. I almost gave up. I couldn’t have done it without the support of our IT department and the administration.”
Anthony added that he spent hours on the phone with a representative from the NYSED Office of Child Nutrition, whom he thinks facilitated the final decision to award the grant to the district. “Usually it takes two weeks to hear back,” Anthony said. “I submitted the forms Tuesday night, Jan. 2, and Dr. Timm received the acceptance email 24 hours later!”
Timm, Anthony and school staff will work to implement the program as soon as possible. (The state requires accurate meal counts and other documentation.) “We’ll do this right away, and keep the cafeteria running smoothly,” Timm said.