Hello and thank you for visiting! Every year, Prince William County Public Schools have meal debts from families who do not qualify for free or reduced meals, but who also are struggling to pay for the cost of school breakfast and lunch. We have over 90,000 students at 100 schools, and this year the total school meal debt for the division is over $500,000.
We have worked so hard to make sure KIDS EAT and that is a GREAT THING. We've worked to pass legislation in Virginia that requires schools to feed any child who needs a meal, regardless of their ability to pay that day. We've ended lunch shaming throughout the state. However, while this progress is wonderful, it means that the meal debt is high because children who previously would have been given alternative meals (tiny snack lunches lacking in reasonable protein and nutrition) or who wouldn’t have gone through the lunch line at all in the past are now
guaranteed a healthy, full, regular meal if they ask for one. This is a good thing. Kids eating is what we all want.
Prince William County Schools have done a great job this year and fed every kid who needed a meal. But that means that the schools have just over $500,000 in meal debt across the division. When you consider that PWCS has over 90,000 kids and a budget well over a billion dollars, the amount seems pretty tiny. But it’s still a lot of money to help individual schools cover. Attached to this campaign, you'll see a breakdown by school of what amount is owed. If you would like to cover an entire school, please contact me through this campaign or facebook (Settle the Debt's page) to let me know what school you would like to cover. Individual donations under the amount of an entire school balance cannot be designated, as we will direct the donations to the school most in need of assistance.
Help out our local schools and our local students and chip in to cover a few meals? Every dollar we send back into the schools means another dollar available to help our students with learning loss, additional resources, additional staffing, and other vital programs that our kids all need and deserve. Thank you so much for contributing to help our public schools succeed and our children thrive!
Sincerely,
Adelle Settle
Founder, Settle the Debt
