COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — Leaders at a school in Cocke County face two big challenges on the first day of classes: educating hundreds of students and making sure every one of them receives a meal.
The Newport City School System announced that school breakfast and lunch will be free to all Newport Grammar School students for the 2024-2025 school year. The school's application to participate in the Federal Community Eligibility Provision program was recently approved for the upcoming academic year, NGS said.
"Under the program, students will be eligible for one (1) complete breakfast and one (1) complete lunch each school day," the school said.
Almost every one in four children in Cocke County, or 27%, is at risk of missing meals. These students are labeled "food insecure" by the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.
"There's a lot of kids in this school and surrounding schools who don't know where their next meal comes from," said a mother of a student at NGS. "I checked, I spent $1,200 on school lunches for my two kids"
On the first day of classes at NGS, around 92% of students took advantage of the newly offered free lunches.
"Food Service Supervisor Christina Leas is credited for her hard work leading the application process and coordinating with consultants from the Tennessee Department of Education's Child Nutrition Programs," NGS said.
Leas reflected on the 2023 school year, remembering that 40% of students at the school brought their food from home.
"They don't really have a lot in their lunch sack or it's not nutritious," Leas said. "Most of the time they access the share table."
The district has provided free breakfast to all students for years, but the new CEP eligibility allows the school system to provide free lunches to all 700 students as well, NGS said.
"Being able to feed them is just one hurdle that can help them not worry about their meal," said Dustin Morrow, the principal of the school. "They're gonna eat and they're gonna get in class and get a high-quality education."
NGS said the approved funding is valid for the 2024-2025 school year but can be extended for up to three additional years if operating costs "prove sustainable."
According to the superintendent at Newport Grammar School, their test scores defy the odds.
"Considering our poverty level is as high as it is, we shouldn't be performing this well," said Justin Norton, the Director of Newport City Schools.
The school system said it qualified for the federal grant due to a high number of students with TennCare, listing the cost of feeding 700 students all year as close to $200,000.