The school district’s free and reduced lunch program was unanimously extended to March 3 by the Board of Education at its latest meeting January 3.

Extending the free and reduced lunch program first came up as a topic in October, ahead of federal funding for the program expiring.

As previously reported in The Newtown Bee, if the district chose to end the program when federal funding ran out, the program would have ended on November 30. Instead, at the school board’s October 19 meeting, the board voted to extend the program to January 20, using money from the district’s dining fund, which is regulated and can only be used to fund food or improvements for the school district’s food services.

At the school board’s December 20 meeting, the program came up again, with a focus on potentially extending it beyond January 20.

Following an explanation from school Director of Business & Finance Tanja Vadas at the January 3 meeting, Board of Education member Jennifer Larkin said extending the program to the start of March will provide more relief for families.

“I know I am in support of this, so I am glad we are revisiting this,” said Larkin.

Vadas shared after the meeting that extending the program to January 20 cost the district roughly $56,000, and in total extending the program to March 3 costs roughly $164,000. She said extending the program is good for the community, and the extension still leaves the fund balance in a “healthy position.”

An announcement to families from the school district regarding extending the free and reduced lunch program to March 3 is expected in the coming days.

Extending the program was unanimously approved by the board, and there was discussion at the meeting of this being the final extension for the free and reduced lunch program.

Superintendent of Schools Chris Melillo also shared an update on the district’s Strategic Plan Committee work at the January 3 meeting.

The Strategic Plan Committee is being facilitated by Richard Lemons of Partners For Education Leadership, as previously reported in The Newtown Bee.

Melillo previously explained to the school board that, “Our Strategic Plan Committee is working within the guidelines of the board to engage stakeholders, conduct a needs assessment of the district, refine or craft essential artifacts in telling the improvement story of Newtown Public Schools and identifying a small number of priorities for the coming years.”

Melillo told the board January 3 the committee’s next meeting is set for January 9. Dates have been chosen to engage stakeholders in focus groups for late January and early February, and the focus groups will be held virtually. In-person smaller group meetings may be held following the original focus group meetings.

“We’ll be working on sending out invites to the entire community,” Melillo said about the upcoming focus group meetings.

Also at the January 3 meeting, the school board unanimously approved a Spanish 5 curriculum and Spanish 6 curriculum. It heard a presentation on a weight training curriculum for Newtown High School, and Assistant Superintendent of Schools Anne Uberti offered a follow-up to an October student performance presentation by answering submitted board member questions.

Education Editor Eliza Van can be reached at eliza@thebee.com.