On Friday, Aug. 12, teachers passed out Free and Reduced Meal applications for students to fill out at home. The classes who submit the most applications win weekly prize lunches for the entire class, such as chicken sandwiches, Lolita’s burritos and Krispy Kreme donuts. This contest will go on for three weeks until the deadline on October 31.

Bonita Vista High (BVH) has held contests like this for the past three years, however, according to BVH Principal Ed.d Roman Del Rosario, this year’s contest has “higher stakes” due to California’s transition to Universal Feeding, where schools serve free lunch to all students. As a result, many families believe it is unnecessary to fill out the application since their student already eats for free.

“That’s particularly challenging because we’re trying to convince 2,160 families to fill out the whole lunch application, even though their child is already eating for free. So the stakes are even higher if we can’t convince enough of our families to complete them [because] it puts all of our Title I funds at stake,” Del Rosario said.

Title I is a federal law that provides funding for schools to help them support families who are socially and economically disadvantaged.  Although, in order for BVH to receive federal funding from Title I, over 40 percent of turned in applications must be eligible.

“Because we’re at 40 percent, we’re able to apply those funds schoolwide. Even if you aren’t eligible, you’re able to benefit from those funds because we’re above 40 percent. If we drop below 40 percent, but above 35 percent, we’ll still get funds, but only students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch; this is called targeted. If we drop below 35 percent, we don’t get Title I funds,” Del Rosario said.

Targeted Support Resource Michele Godoy is in charge of managing the federal and state funds BVH receives through applications. This year’s contest is meant to earn eligibility for next year’s federal funds. 

“If we did nothing to collect meal applications, we would not receive federal money and not be a Title I school. So receiving federal funds and reaching that 40 percent threshold, we are considered a Title I school and with that we get so many benefits,” Godoy said. 

Del Rosario came up with the idea of the contest to provide incentives to encourage students to take the applications home and have their guardians fill them out. According to Godoy, the first phase of a two-part plan is the contest and to get as many meal applications in before the deadline.

“I wonder if the students really care about what this is about. For them, their cause is to win,” Godoy said. “So, it was a fun incentive and I do believe that a lot of students understand the importance of this application. This year, it’s been really exciting, everyone wants to win.”

Community Relation Facilitator Rosalinda Gutierrez encourages students to tell their guardians about the benefits they can receive from submitting their application, other than the federal funds that BVH receives. For example, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate students receive discounts from paying their exams. 

This is the reason why I want seniors to be persistent with their parents,,” Gutierrez said. “I don’t know who’s paying for those tests, but I know it’s the parents. So I support parents to be aware of what they could be doing.”

Families can be eligible based on their monthly income as well as household size and can fall under either the free or reduced meal category. According to Godoy, even if there is a low percentage of qualified applications, it will count towards BVH’s Title I status. 

“We’re gonna continue for two more weeks, so hopefully we reach 30 percent at the end of the contest. Then, we’ll have to work for the last 10 percent for the next phase,” Godoy said.

The next phase consists of calling parents and families who were eligible last year and ensuring their applications are turned in. For the next two weeks, classes will continue to have the chance to win weekly prizes of their choice.

“I wish [students] luck and I wish they would all submit and hopefully are qualified so we can get that 40 percent. The sooner, the better; less stress by the 30th [if] everybody submits before the 31st. Everybody, get it in,” Gutierrez said.