Free Lunch and Breakfast in 2024-2025: Community Eligibility Program Grant
All students eat breakfast and lunch free for the 2024-2025 school year! The Comsewogue UFSD Food Services department is asking that all parents/guardians of Comsewogue students complete the 2024-2025 CEP Household Income Eligibility Form and submit as soon as possible. This information helps Comsewogue UFSD to continue to obtain certain federal funds and state grants that enhance student programs for the district. In addition, there are benefits that your children may qualify for such as discounted ACT/SAT test fees. Please return the Household Income Eligibility Form to us in any way that is convenient for you. You can drop it off at your child’s school, drop it off in person to the Administration building or return by mail to the address below:
Food Services Department
Comsewogue UFSD
200 Jayne Boulevard, Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776
Attention: Deborah Rhodes, School Lunch Manager
Meal Pricing for 2024-2025 (Cost for Second Meal)
Elementary Lunch: $3.00
Secondary Lunch: $3.25
Breakfast: $1.80 (Breakfast is served daily in each school)
1/2 pint of Milk: $0.50
Please check your child's school for serving times. Please note: if your child is eligible to receive free/reduced lunch, they are also eligible to receive free/reduced breakfast.
Please see related document files and subpages for:
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Comsewogue Wellness Policy
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Applications for Community Eligibility Program Grant
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Monthly Menus and Nutrition Information
A Message to the Community
This fall, once again our school dining program will adhere to the new federal nutrition standards for school meals. These standards were interpreted from the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) and adopted into law. These new standards will remain in effect , while others are slated to go into effect in future years. In addition new Smart Snack regulations will be in place.
The purpose of the HHFKA is to ensure that meals are healthy and well-balanced. They provide students all of the nutrition they need to succeed at school. Many of the components of the HHFKA final ruling have already been in place in our school cafeterias for some time, such as:
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Whole grain offerings
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Variety of fresh fruits and vegetables
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Focus on lean protein choices
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Smart Snack options
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Fat-free and low-fat milk
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Reduced sodium content
The most noticeable change you will see is in portion sizes. School lunches will have:
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Age-appropriate calorie limits
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Larger servings of vegetables and fruits & students must choose either a fruit or vegetable with their meal
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Increased vegetable protein offerings, such as beans
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Smaller servings of proteins and carbohydrates
Changing Habits at Home
Many of the parents in our community have already made these same changes in the foods they serve at home. However, some children will take some time to adjust to the increase in fruits and vegetables and decrease in protein and carbohydrate portion sizes.
There are also things parents can do at home this fall, in preparation for the new school year, to help ease this transition for your children:
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Encourage your children to try different vegetables and fruits
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“Make at least half your grains whole”
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Change up your meal plate to follow the USDA’s MyPlate (see link below)
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Try out some bean dishes (make Mondays “meatless,” add beans to tacos, mix in with whole grain rice or toss with whole wheat pasta)
In addition to the above efforts, we will continue to focus on additional nutrition initiatives, such as increasing our offering of locally sourced products. We'll also work to remove high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors from many of the foods we serve.
Menus are based on the regulations outlined in these documents. We will be in full compliance with the HHFKA final version Meal Pattern. As additional information comes along, we will alert our school community via the District website, or through letters sent home.
Sincerely,
Deborah Rhodes
School Lunch Manager
631-474-9578
[email protected]