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Oswego District 308 plans slight increase in student meal rates · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Oswego District three hundred and eight plans slight increase in
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  Speaker 1: student meal rates. Written by Eric Shelkoff, This article is
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  Speaker 1: being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Speaker 1: Oswego School District three hundred and eight families will be
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  Speaker 1: paying a bit more for school meals in the new
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  Speaker 1: school year. The district is raising fees for breakfast and
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  Speaker 1: lunch to address rising food and labor costs. Current pricing
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  Speaker 1: remains significantly below the USDA recommended benchmark of four dollars
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  Speaker 1: and sixteen cents, District three hundred and eight finance director
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  Speaker 1: Amanda Sitar said during the June eighth Oswego School Board meeting.
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  Speaker 1: Sittar noted that breakfast prices have increased by only ten
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  Speaker 1: cents since twenty seventeen, and lunch prices increased by just
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  Speaker 1: ten cents in twenty twenty four. For elementary school students,
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  Speaker 1: the cost of a cost school breakfast will incre least
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  Speaker 1: to one dollars and seventy five cents, up from one
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  Speaker 1: dollars and sixty cents. They will pay three dollars and
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  Speaker 1: fifty cents for a student lunch, up from three dollars
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  Speaker 1: and twenty five cents. Junior high high school students will
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  Speaker 1: see their student breakfast increase to two dollars this fall,
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  Speaker 1: up from one dollars and eighty five cents. In addition,
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  Speaker 1: they will see the cost of a student lunch increase
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  Speaker 1: to three dollars in ninety cents, up from three dollars
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  Speaker 1: and sixty five cents. The proposed adjustment is necessary to
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  Speaker 1: maintain financial stability of the food service program and offset
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  Speaker 1: continuing increases of those food, labor and operating costs. Star said,
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  Speaker 1: student registration and curriculum fees will stay the same in
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  Speaker 1: the new school year. District three hundred and eight students
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  Speaker 1: will return to school on August twentieth, collecting on pass
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  Speaker 1: due fees. Right now, the district is owed more than
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  Speaker 1: five million dollars in unpaid student fees. Schools are prohibited
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  Speaker 1: from with holding students grades, transcripts, or diplomas because of
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  Speaker 1: an unpaid balance on the student's school account. We're looking
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  Speaker 1: at different options and being able to recoup that. District
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  Speaker 1: three hundred and eight chief financial Officer and chief business official,
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  Speaker 1: Rafael Obafemi told school board members, we are going to
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  Speaker 1: reach out to families and try to get them to
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  Speaker 1: set up a payment plan to start making payments on
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  Speaker 1: those If we don't get the kind of response that
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  Speaker 1: we need, then we have to look at other options,
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  Speaker 1: Obafemi said. District three hundred and eight Superintendent Andalib Calgati
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  Speaker 1: said the district is looking at different technologies that could
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  Speaker 1: be used to recoup the fees. Families are very comfortable
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  Speaker 1: these days with new forms of technology, he said. We're
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  Speaker 1: very committed to recouping all those funds and ensuring that
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  Speaker 1: families have a way to really stand by their investment
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  Speaker 1: in our schools. Obafemi said families who are eligible for
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  Speaker 1: not paying the fees don't have to worry. They've gone
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  Speaker 1: through the income verification, he said, and the same thing
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  Speaker 1: applies to reduced fees. The district covers about sixty eight
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  Speaker 1: square miles, with students not only from Oswego, but also
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  Speaker 1: from Aurora, Juliet, Montgomery, Plainfield and Yorkville