School Nutrition
Welcome back, students and families!
We are excited to let you know that Billerica Public Schools will continue to receive FREE school meals in School Year 2024-2025, and in all future years. This means that breakfast and lunch will continue to be served at no cost to all students. Billerica Public School is pleased to announce our districtwide participates in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), you are not required to complete the household Application for Free and Reduced Price Meals. School districts are still required to conduct Direct Certification and notify households of the results when applicable. Direct Certification notification letters will be sent to the parent email on file.
If you are interested in receiving monthly financial assistance to purchase groceries, please consider applying for SNAP, the federal nutrition program that supports eligible residents. More SNAP information can be found at gettingsnap.org or by calling Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline at 1-800-645-8333.
Your student can receive 1 FREE complete breakfast and 1 FREE complete lunch each school day.
Students will use their individual PIN for all transactions and are required to select an entire meal, examples are outlined below. As part of both the National School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program, our district is required to follow USDA meal pattern requirements for complete meals for breakfast (https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/nutrition-standards/sbp-meal-pattern) and lunch (https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/nutrition-standards/nslp-meal-pattern).
Breakfast: At least 3 of the 4 offering food groups - includes 1 cup of fruits, 2 ounces of whole grains (OR 1 serving of whole grains and 1 serving of meat or meat alternatives), and 1 cup of milk.
Breakfast Example 1: Cereal, 1 cup of fruit, 8oz milk
Breakfast Example 2: Scrambled eggs with whole wheat toast, 1 cup of fruit, 8oz milk
Lunch: At least 3 of the 5 offering food groups – dairy, meat/meat alternative, grain, fruit, and vegetable. One MUST be a serving of fruits/vegetables.
Lunch Example 1: Pizza, side salad, 8oz milk
Lunch Example 2: Chicken Tacos, Spanish-style rice, black beans
Lunch Example 3: Macaroni & Cheese, broccoli and fresh fruit
It is our privilege to provide breakfast and lunch to your children, supporting them with nourishing and healthy meals to power through the school day! We can’t wait to see them in the coming weeks. By participating in the School Meal Program, you not only ensure nutritious meals for your children, you support our program and our school community. Please reach out with any questions or concerns that you may have.
Best,
April M. Laskey, SNS
Director of School Nutrition
Billerica Public Schools
alaskey@billericak12.com
978-528-8782
INFORMATION - LINKS
At Billerica Public Schools we know that good nutrition AND learning go hand in hand.
The Billerica Schools Nutrition Services program provides students with wholesome, nutritious, and delicious meals that meet the USDA dietary guidelines for all Americans. Breakfast, lunch, and healthy snacks are offered in each café. Menus are emailed home monthly and posted online along with nutritional and other valuable information. Students are offered 5 components at lunch: grains, meat or a meat alternate (protein), fruits, vegetables, and milk. As required by the USDA, students must take at least 3 components as part of their lunch and one of those components must be a fruit or vegetable. Students are encouraged to take all 5 components. (For breakfast, students must take 3 food items.)
BPS Lunch Menus 24-25 (new tab)
Nutritional & Ingredient Information 24-25 (new tab)
Resources for a Healthy Lifestyle