Students in the Eureka Springs School District will once again have to pay for meals after a vote by the district board during its meeting on July 11.

“Meals have been free the past couple of years,” said district superintendent Bryan Pruitt, “and now we’re going back. We did that because it was a state minimum — they made us raise them 15 cents. Since kids have been able to eat for free the past couple of years and parents haven’t had to pay for those meals, I thought we might as well do this in baby steps. Our board realizes we may have to kick in some funds to cover the cost of meals this year.

“Our board is gracious about that and they want to be good stewards and they want to help the kids all they can.”

Pruitt said the change — which was approved at the minimum required increase — became necessary after the U.S. Department of Agriculture made changes to its meal subsidy program.

“They took away their Seamless Summer program where they fed everyone under the age of 18 for free,” Pruitt said. “That’s gone now, as of June 30, so we’re going back to where you’ve got to pay or fill out the free and reduced forms.

“We want everyone to be proactive filling those forms out.”

Pruitt said that, in order to better facilitate that process, the district plans to have forms and staff available at all events leading up to the first day of school.

“We’ll have stations set up at preschool registration, kindergarten registration, open houses — we’re going to have computers set up where they can go online and fill out the forms,” Pruitt said. “There’s also a link on our website as well, if you don’t feel comfortable doing that [at an event]. I want our patrons to know that it’s very confidential. Nobody here knows anything. The data is entered into the state system and they come back and tell us who’s free or reduced and who has to pay.”

Pruitt said getting parents to fill out the forms is important for the district.

“We can’t make anybody do it,” Pruitt said. “All we can do is encourage it, but it’s a such a huge deal for our school district — and everybody else’s, too — because all of our categorical funds from the feds are based on those free and reduced forms.”

Pruitt added that some districts could continue to offer free meals because the number of students who qualify meets the 70 percent threshold to receive funding, something that hasn’t typically happened in Eureka Springs.

“In Eureka, the most we’ve ever had has been 62 percent since I’ve been here,” Pruitt said. “We’ve just never reached that threshold, so it’s very critical and I want to get the word out and we’re going to do that on social media as well.

“It’s very critical that we fill out those forms, because not only does it mean free meals for our kids, but it also affects the funding we get from the federal government. It is really, really important.”

In other business, the board approved a proposed Teacher and Administrator Recruitment and Retention Plan and adopted a resolution approving the salaries of staff who had received 5 percent raises for the 2021-2022 school year, and approved a transfer of $1.7 million to the district’s building fund.

After meeting in executive session, the board also addressed a number of personnel matters, including accepting the resignations of high school English teacher Shannon Courtney and elementary choir teacher Alexis Newman.

The board voted to rehire music and choir teacher Donesa Mann, who had previously stepped down because of family obligations, and to hire high school English teacher Clara Rorick, middle school custodian Nic Xiong, and high school cafeteria manager Angie Armer.

The Eureka Springs school district board’s next meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Monday, Aug. 8, at the school administration building.