Food Services

The GJSD Food Services Department is committed to serving students nutritious meals in a welcoming environment.

• Cafeteria Menus
• Free School Meals
• Breakfast is Available
• Meal Charging and Prohibition Against Meal Shaming
• Meal Modification Statement
• Nondiscrimination Statement

Summer Food

Nutritious free meals are available for children and teens 18 and younger at many locations throughout the nation throughout the summer while school is out of session. Please visit the USDA website to find a location near you, or text “Summer Meals” to 97779 or call 1-866-348-6479 to find a site nearby.

2024 Summer EBT Information from OTDA

Eligibility

To be automatically eligible for Summer EBT food benefits:

• A child must receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and/or Temporary Assistance (cash) benefits, or be directly certified for free meals through Medicaid, OR
• A child must be determined eligible for free/reduced price school meals by their school.

These children will receive benefits automatically and DO NOT need to apply. Most eligible children will receive their benefits this way. These families will receive a letter this summer letting them know that their child is eligible.

For those households that do need to apply, children may be eligible if they meet two criteria.

• The child must attend a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which our district does, AND
• The household’s income must be at or below the income limits for eligibility for free/reduced price school meals (2024-2025 School Year Income Eligibility Guidelines)

If your household must apply to be considered for benefits, an online application (English and Spanish) will be available by July 1, 2024.

Cafeteria Menus

If you have difficulty accessing the above menus, please send an email to the Communications Office.

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Free School Meals

Parent Letter 2024-25

All Greater Johnstown School District students are eligible to receive FREE school meals (1 breakfast and 1 lunch per day), regardless of family income, through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).

No application is required; however, families should complete this Household Income Eligibility Form (HHIE). The data gathered from this form can qualify students for additional benefits and allows the district to receive additional state and federal funding. The online form only requires an income range and is confidential.

For questions about the HHIE form, please email Food Services Specialist Erin Wright or call (518) 464-3945.

LINQ Connect Information

Students will continue to have individual school meal accounts on LINQ Connect. Parents/Guardians can manage those accounts here: https://linqconnect.com/ and add funds for additional meals and snacks not included in the free breakfasts and lunches. Online deposits can be added to LINQ Connect here https://linqconnect.com/ or checks can be made payable to Greater Johnstown School District, Food Service Program.

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Breakfast is Available

Breakfast is served every school day as follows:

• Pleasant Avenue: 7:30 – 7:45 a.m.
• Warren Street: 7:30 – 7:45 a.m.
• Knox Junior High: 7:15 – 7:45 a.m.
• Johnstown High School: 7:15 – 7:40 a.m.

Note: When there is a two hour delay, breakfast is NOT served.

Research shows that children who eat breakfast:

• show improvement on math, reading and standardized test scores
• establish healthier habits for later in life
• have fewer absences and incidences of tardiness
• are more likely to behave better in school
• consume more calcium, fiber, foliate and protein

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Meal Charging and Prohibition Against Meal Shaming

Districts participating in the National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program must adopt a policy addressing meal charging and prohibiting meal shaming.

It is the District’s goal to provide students with access to nutritious no- or low-cost meals each school day and to ensure that a student whose parent/guardian has unpaid meal charges is not shamed or treated differently than a student whose parent/guardian does not have unpaid meal charges.

Unpaid meal charges place a large financial burden on the District. The purpose of this policy is to ensure compliance with federal requirements for the USDA Child Nutrition Program and to provide oversight and accountability for the collection of outstanding student meal balances to ensure that the student is not stigmatized, distressed, or embarrassed.

The intent of this policy is to establish procedures to address unpaid meal charges throughout the District in a way that does not stigmatize, distress, or embarrass students. The provisions of this policy pertain to regular priced reimbursable school breakfast, lunch and snack meals only. Charging of items outside of the reimbursable meals (a la carte items, adult meals, etc.) is expressly prohibited.

View Board Policy #5660 – Meal Charging and Prohibition Against Meal Shaming

View Board Policy #5600 Wellness

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Meal Modification Statement/Notification

Meal Service to Children with Disabilities

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) aim to provide all participating children, regardless of background, with the nutritious meals they need to be healthy. This includes ensuring children with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from the NSLP and SBP.
Federal regulations require schools and institutions to serve meals at no extra charge to those children whose disability restricts their diet in such a way that they cannot fully participate in the food service program without some modification to the foods offered or the scheduled menu. If you believe your child needs substitutions because of a disability, please get in touch with us for further information. You must request meal modifications from the school and provide the school with a medical statement from a State licensed healthcare professional. This medical statement must contain but is not limited to the following:

• Information about the child’s physical or mental impairment that is sufficient to allow the school to understand how it restricts the child’s diet,
• An explanation of what must be done to accommodate the child’s special dietary need,
• The food or foods to be omitted and recommended alternatives, in the case of a modified meal

If you have questions regarding the need for meal modifications, contact Erika Winney, Food Service Director at 518-762-1875 for further information.

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Nondiscrimination Statement

This explains what to do if you believe you have been treated unfairly.

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

1. Mail:
   U.S. Department of Agriculture
   Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
   1400 Independence Ave., SW
   Washington, DC  20250-9410; or
2. Fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
3. email: program.intake@usda.gov.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

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