Nine HCSD Schools Qualify for Universal Free Meals

We are pleased to announce that nine schools in the Harrison County School District have qualified for a federal program that provides ALL students at those schools FREE meals for the next four years! Starting in the 2023-24 school year, the following schools will participate in the USDA’s Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program: 
-Bel-Aire Elementary                                
-Crossroads Elementary                 
-D’Iberville Elementary                  
-D’Iberville Middle 
-Harrison Central High
-North Gulfport Elementary & Middle  
-Pineville Elementary
-River Oaks Elementary               
-Three Rivers Elementary
 
Schools that have qualified for this four-year program will serve breakfast and lunch to all children at no charge and will eliminate the requirement of meal applications. This new approach to providing school meals reduces burdens for both households and school administrators to help ensure all students receive nutritious meals while attending school.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE: While meal applications are not required at the nine qualified schools, they are encouraged since free & reduced data will continue to be used for other programs that benefit students.
 
Certain HCSD schools were not eligible for the CEP program. Eligibility is based on the number of households within a school that participate in assistance programs such as SNAP, TANF, and FDPIR or are considered Homeless, Migrant, Runaway, or Foster. Data collected by the State of Mississippi, The Department of Health & Human Services, and the Harrison County School District over the last six years has been carefully analyzed to ensure that only eligible schools receive these federal benefits and the program is financially sustainable for the school district. Data will be evaluated annually to determine if additional schools become eligible.
 
Please contact the HCSD Department of Child Nutrition at (228) 539-6516 if you should have any additional questions.