District updates testing calendar and previews changes to school meals

Justin Hogue, the district’s director of testing and communications, told the Preston County Schools Board on Feb. 23 that the district’s spring testing calendar includes the Golden Horseshoe essay (online portion on March 17), NAEP visits in March, the ELPA21 window for English-learners to March 20, and a high-school SAT day set for April 14. He said principals and building coordinators will be trained before the March 13 professional-development day so teachers can schedule required writing windows and avoid delays in score reporting.

Hogue also provided a detailed update on school meals and child-nutrition finances. “We get about 60 to 70,000 visits per month, on average, to our Facebook account,” he said while describing how the district tracks participation and communications. He reported roughly 60 percent participation in lunch and about 40 percent in breakfast, noting nontraditional instruction (NTI) days reduce averages and will be reanalyzed. Year-to-date reimbursements are up by $10,649.01 compared with the same time last year, in part because roughly 19 additional students qualified at the free rate and the reimbursement rate rose about $0.50 on average.

Hogue stressed the district is not state-funded for meals: “So schools, we are not funded by the state for our meals. The only funding that we get in terms of the child nutrition program is that lump pot of money for service personnel,” he said, explaining federal rules limit how meal programs are funded and why menu and staffing choices are made.

Looking to the summer, Hogue described two planned congregate feeding sites and a proposed noncongregate option in which parents could pick up packaged, freshly prepared or frozen two-week meal supplies. He said the district will put dairy and summer feeding services out for bid and expects current projections to allow summer feeding to break even. Hogue also said the district participates in a cooperative procurement for its food vendor; the incumbent vendor notified the district of a proposed 1 percent price increase for next year, down from an anticipated 3 percent.

Board members asked about potential delays in score reporting from hand-scored writing samples and about what the noncongregate summer-feeding model would require. Hogue said the district will survey parents about noncongregate needs and will provide samples of vendor products for board review once bids are received.

Hogue flagged pending state-level nutrition legislation being debated in the Senate that would cap sugar or otherwise restrict ingredient use in school foods — a change that could remove flavored milk as an option for many students. He said he has been in contact with state senators and delegates about the potential fiscal and participation effects of that bill and will continue to monitor developments.

The board received the update and did not take additional action on testing or meal policy at the meeting.