Child nutrition director outlines $3M+ summer feeding operation; board agrees to move stipend proposals to full board

Lucretia Hersey, director of child nutrition, gave a detailed briefing to the committee of the whole on the district’s summer feeding operations, program eligibility, site selection and the federal compliance requirements that govern the Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option.

Hersey walked trustees through eligibility (all children 0–18; some exceptions for older exceptional students), site mapping rules, procurement timelines, bid processes, LDOE site approvals and extensive documentation and monitoring obligations required by federal and state reviewers. She said summer operations cover multiple parishes and estimated that summer feeding revenue for June 2026 reached about $3.1 million so far; she projected that net summer program revenues after expenses could be conservatively between $1.6 million and $1.8 million that would roll into the district’s lunch fund for equipment and cafeteria improvements.

The director asked for authorization to pay summer feeding stipends of up to $500 for core central‑office staff (not exceeding 10 people) and proposed that the board authorize the superintendent to approve stipends as appropriate; the committee moved that recommendation to the full board. Trustees also moved a recommendation to the full board for a director stipend to reflect expanded summer responsibilities, and members discussed sequencing and amounts before deferring the final dollar decision to the full board.

Hersey emphasized the labor‑intensive nature of the program: planning starts in January, bids and ordering must be scheduled weeks in advance, and the program requires extensive training, site reviews and documentation. She asked trustees to consider summer feeding as both a service to the community and a way to stabilize lunch‑fund finances.