School lunch prices on the rise in Mt. Vernon district

The Mt. Vernon Board of Education again raised school lunch prices during their July 18, mid-summer meeting. In the absence of board president Danny Bowling, the board approved new school meal prices for the 2019-2020 school year.
The National School Lunch Program forbids schools from supplementing the food service program with money from the federal free and reduced lunch program. This requires the school to raise meal prices every year to make the weighted-average price requirement. The school is able to meet these requirements with smaller increases in 10-cent increments.
 The district also learned—after an audit from the Food Service Program—that the adults were being undercharged for their meals. The adult breakfast prices will now have an increase of $0.75 for breakfast and a $0.46 increase for lunch.
Superintendent Scott Cook also gave a report on the summer maintenance projects. One of the most noticeable projects completed was the striping and sealing of the high school parking lot. A large project was asbestos removal at the middle school. The removal is complete at this time and the concrete floor is in the process of being stained. Another school improvement is the storage area in the Carson Gym at the middle school is now complete.
In other news, Cook gave the final attendance reports and was proud to announce that the attendance for the 2018- 2019 school year was the highest it has been since 2011. On the downside, summer school attendance dropped this year and is the lowest it has been in four years.
 The board also approved admission prices for athletic events in 2019-2020. Admission prices were kept the same at $4 for varsity events and $3 for middle school and JV only events. The board also approved a contract with the city of Mt. Vernon for cost related to a school resource officer. The Mt. Vernon Police Department has had an officer in place since 2013 and this school year Officer Ed Evatt will be taking the permanent position as SRO for the Mt. Vernon School District.