More Iowa City families qualifying for free and reduced-price meals

IOWA CITY — Sourcing fresh and local food and composting food waste remain priorities of the Iowa City Community School District as student demand for school breakfast and lunch increases.

Federal funding that supports the purchase by schools of food from local farmers was canceled in May. But the district’s commitment to serving locally sourced produce and dairy remains the same, according to the 2024-25 operations annual report presented to the Iowa City school board last month.

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Added to the district last year was a vending machine where students can receive meals on demand that qualify for the federal free or reduced-price school meal program.

The Gazette sat down with Alison Demory, nutrition services director for the Iowa City district, to chat about what’s on the horizon for the 2025-26 school year.

Q: How does the district sustain $58,000 in unpaid meals balance?

A: We’ve seen our free and reduced-price meal numbers go up. Twelve years ago, it was about 32 percent of students. Now, we’re well above 40 percent. We have 10 elementary schools and half are over 50 percent free and reduced-price meals.

What I can tell you is families are truly struggling. I know firsthand when I go to the grocery store, I’m spending more money.

I think families in some cases have to make hard decisions about what bills they’re going to pay. That’s why we see their lunch balances not paid. We will never cut off a student from eating.

Not one of us took this job because we wanted to be bill collectors. We have to balance feeding kids with paying our bills, and that’s not easy.

It’s not just a struggle for me. You could talk to any nutrition services director in the state, and they will tell you the same thing.

We work really hard to encourage families to sign up for free and reduced-price meals. The federal poverty guidelines have increased by nearly 4 percent this upcoming year. Our message to families is when in doubt, apply for benefits because you may qualify under federal income guidelines.

The nutrition services department is self-sustaining. Our revenue has to be more than our expenditures. You can’t spend more than you make.

We have more reserves to use because of really high reimbursements during the COVID-19 pandemic when all kids ate for free.

We get some donations from time to time and apply those to families in need.

When we returned from the pandemic, nobody started with a negative account. We were able to clear the debt and everyone had a fresh start.

Q: Why is it a priority for the district to maintain its partnership with Field to Family — a nonprofit food hub that acts as a distributor for more than 70 local producers — despite lack of federal funding for these initiatives?

A: We place a high value on fresh and local. The food is always good. We can get watermelons and cantaloupes from our prime vendor, but when we get it local from Muscatine, there’s a night and day difference in quality. It’s been picked in the last week.

I think it’s important for our students to know where their food comes from. We serve approximately 9,000 lunches a day. We sometimes have to source food from multiple farmers, but Field to Family helps us do that. They’re working with farmers on what to plant and how much. It’s a great partnership.

The prices are reasonable. It may be a little more in some cases, but you get what you pay for, and my budget allows for that.

Q: Tell me about this vending machine for school meals?

A: It dispenses meals that qualify for reimbursement but also snacks. It was something we tried this year at a couple of our buildings to give kids more access and opportunities outside the typically lunch window.

We sold a little over 1,100 meals between February when we got it up and going and the end of the school year. I hope to continue to build on that.

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Q: Tell me about the nutrition services department sustainability priority?

A: Myself and a lot of my kitchen managers … really work to minimize waste. We try to produce without overproducing food. It’s not an exact science. We’d rather have 20 extra servings than be one serving short.

We compost. We teach kids what to take for it to count as a reimbursable meal, so they’re not just putting food on their plate they don’t plan to eat. Kids have to take at least three of the five food groups, and one has to be a serving of fruit or vegetable.

We try new recipes. Sometimes it’s a swing and a miss. If kids don’t like it, we try to make adjustments. Nobody wins when you feed the trash can.

Q: What’s new for the 2025-26 school year?

A: We added six additional elementary schools that now offer universally free breakfast meals due to their high free- and reduced- percentages.

I think there’s a common misconception that our paying students subsidize our free kids. The reality is we get more from federal reimbursement than we get for a paid meal.

Our goal is to nourish minds. You can’t learn when you come to school hungry.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com