Oklahoma City Metro Students Return To School, With Meals Provided By District

Oklahoma City Public Schools, Piedmont Schools, Moore Schools and a handful of other districts in the Oklahoma City metro return to school on Thursday.

One of many topics of the day include school lunches, and OKCPS Superintendent Sean McDaniel said their district is offering free breakfast and lunch for all students the entire school year.

McDaniel said the district is able to do his through the Community Eligibility Provision program, a federal program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that subsidizes meals for schools and school districts in low income areas.

By providing this for all students, McDaniel said this is also allowing vulnerable children to not go hungry.

"It goes into the wellness factor," McDaniel said. "If kids are eating, if kids are taken care of, if they're mentally healthy, physically healthy, we have a much better chance of moving them along that academic continuum."

The district-wide free meal program begins the same day classes start.