In about-face, Manitowoc schools superintendent James Feil says he’ll work to reinstate free meals provision
MANITOWOC — Manitowoc Public School District Superintendent James Feil is taking steps to potentially reinstate a program that would resume providing free meals to all enrolled students in the district.
Manitowoc school board members expressed tentative agreement during a special board meeting Oct. 24 in reinstating the Community Eligibility Provision, which led to Feil saying he would work with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction toward the possibility of reinstating the program for the remainder of this current academic year.
Feil said he would rather have a board vote on the issue, but there was no vote listed on the agenda. Open meetings laws require government bodies such as the school board to list any actions they might take during a meeting in a publicly available agenda prior to the meeting.
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Board President Stacey Soeldner said she'd rather have Feil "make the call" after hearing the board members express tentative support for the program.
"Right now, I feel very strong about my initial recommendation … I would ask for your support via vote, just because of the politics involved in it," Feil said. "We're making an issue. We're manufacturing an issue in some ways, and this is getting blown out of proportion."
The provision is a federal program that would reimburse the school district for a percentage of meals provided, as long as the school provided them free of cost to the students.
The district applied for the provision in 2022 and was approved for the 2022-2023 school year, and three additional school years after that. However, Feil decided to opt out of the program before the 2023-2024 school year started and returned the district to a paid/reduced-price/free structure.
The system requires families who need financial help with paying for lunch to fill out an application. If the application is approved, the student would then receive hot lunch for free or a reduced price, depending on their family's income.
At full price, assuming they are paying for 180 days worth of breakfasts and lunches, a family could pay $900 to $1,080 per student for the academic year.
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Feil had also given school principals the authority to enroll any student who seemed to struggle financially in free lunches, paid for by the district.
Board member Kerry Trask said the district "must have the most 'Rube Goldberg' form of doing lunch."
"If we did (CEP), we'd be free of all the paperwork, everybody would get fed and the program is already paid for and it's simply a benefit that is coming back to taxpayers in this community," he said. "Yet, we have principals involved and tons of paperwork involved and parents we're trying to keep track of and people that fall between the cracks, etc. Doesn't (CEP) just take care of all this?"
Board member Tony Vlastelica said he agreed with Feil's principle of not taking more than needed, but also said he was looking at what opting out of the program is going to cost in the long run.
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"To me, if this is a cost neutral choice, or if it's even slightly going to cost us more … to me, it's not worth the brain damage to opt out if it's going to create this huge distraction and if it's going to drive up the costs for our staff or other people unnecessarily," he said.
Soeldner said she would support returning to CEP if it would be financially beneficial to the district.
Board member Matthew Phipps remained opposed to the program.
"I believe the parents have the right to make decisions for their children, but you can't have a parental rights discussion without parental responsibilities. Obviously, with rights come responsibilities," he said.
Trask and Matthew Spaulding also verbally supported a return to CEP.
"For those children that do fall thorugh the cracks — our whole intention, or at least my whole intention was to get them fed in the same manner as everybody else with the same tray and the same everything else," Spaulding said. "If that's the cost we have to incur, then that's the cost we have to incur. I don't care how we do it."
Board members Paul "Biff" Hansen and Chris Able also verbally supported reinstating CEP, but both insisted there should be a formal vote by the board.
"This is a policy decision of considerable weight that I believe should be made by the board," Able said.
Feil said reinstating CEP for the current academic year is not a certainty, but officials from Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction have indicated they would help the district navigate the federal obstacles in hopes it can be done.
If reinstating CEP for the current year cannot be done, Feil said he will ensure it is reinstated for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Alisa M. Schafer is a reporter for the Herald Times Reporter in Manitowoc. She can be reached at aschafer@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Manitowoc schools superintendent: He'll restart free lunches and meals
