During its Sept. 13 meeting, the Westfield Washington Schools board of trustees approved overnight field trips and new meal prices.
What happened: During the meeting, board member Mike Hall announced some planned field trips for Westfield Middle School and Westfield High School that would take place June of 2024 and Sept. 29 of this year. The board unanimously approved the field trips.
What it means: All eighth graders, approximately 180 students, at Westfield Middle School will be taken on an annual trip to Washington, D.C., at the end of the school year by buses chartered by the school district. They would be chaperoned by schoolteachers, some of whom have made the trips for several years. In addition, the Westfield High School Sham-Rock-Botics group will have a trip Sept. 29 to Fort Wayne for team-building activities and to prepare for their upcoming competition.
What happened: Hall announced price changes to the state’s free lunch program. The board unanimously approved the new prices.
What it means: Hall said the school district is required to complete a paid lunch equity tool. It allows the state to calculate the average weighted prices of the school district’s lunch prices.
Based on those calculations, the price should be $3.40 for a student lunch, Hall said. The previous school year, prices were $3 for kindergarten through sixth-grade students, $3.25 for grades seven through 12th grade and $4.70 for adults. Hall said the state allows a maximum increase of $0.10 to prices annually. The school board voted unanimously to approve new prices that are now $3.10 for kindergarten through grade six students, $3.35 for grades seven through 12 and $4.80 for adults for the 2023-24 school year.
What’s next: The new prices have been in effect since the start of the school year. Hall said that his office was informed by the director of food services that the free meals program was being reinstated and price adjustments needed to be made. Breakfast prices will remain unchanged for the 2023-24 school year.
