Free/Reduced Price Lunch Questions
1. My North Raleigh rim school is under-enrolled. Many of our base population have aged-out or have left for magnets or charter/private schools. Our high growth node is a high F&R node. Our overall F&R rate is ever increasing and is now 45%, causing many new families to choose other options. What will you do to help N. Raleigh rim schools?
Solutions for rising F&R percentages are one of the items that are reviewed each year. Solutions will vary among schools depending on available seating at other schools.
2. The F&R numbers listed in the N and O vs. what our cafeteria manager’s numbers differs by 10% points. How does WCPSS obtain the F&R #? (what about the report in N & O)?
The school system gets the F&R percentage from the Child Nutrition Services office. Literally hours have gone into being sure that the numbers that CNS has and the Office of Growth Management uses are comparable. The data used by the school system is generally reflective of the situation at each school around October 1. The percentages will continue to change during the year but the system uses a snapshot in time for enrollment and other system wide data points.
3. I would like to get further information on F&R lunches and the role they play in student assignment.
The question doesn’t tell what further information you want. The percentages of F&R in a school are one of the factors used in the reassignment process. The goal is to prevent there being high concentrations of high needs (socioeconomic) in a school.
4. Doesn’t meeting F&R requirements change the whole idea of neighborhood schools?
It could because not all neighborhoods or areas immediately around a school reflect economic diversity. “Neighborhood schools” is not a term that the school system uses in changing school assignments.
5. If you want a bigger F&R percentage of students in year-round schools, then why not build or convert schools within the beltline to year-round calendars? That way you could get more outer beltline kids to come into the beltline just like you do with magnet schools.
Several efforts have been made to convert schools to year-round schools (both in and outside the beltline). These efforts have not been successful.