school lunch

A change in USDA policy will make it easier for schools to offer free meals to all students, but they will still have to pay for part of the cost. As a result, many Missouri districts will likely say no to the offer.

All students received free school meals during the pandemic. That ended after the 2021-22 school year, but several states in the Midwest have expanded access to school meals this school year.

Kansas City schools have seen student lunch debt soar since a pandemic-era universal free lunch program expired last fall. Now, there’s a push to make cafeterias welcoming for all students. Plus: Kansas teachers say student behavior has gotten much worse since the COVID pandemic.

After two years of free meals, students had to pay for lunch after starting this school year. Now, fewer students are buying lunch and meal debt is piling up for Kansas City area schools.

After the end of pandemic-era free school meals, kids in Midwest states are eating fewer lunches and meal debt is rising. Plus: After decades of inaction from Kansas leaders over the Ogallala Aquifer drying up, the state's approach to water conservation might finally be shifting.

A small town in northern Missouri was thrown into the headlines when an Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago hit a dump truck at an unguarded crossing, killing four and injuring dozens more. Plus, the Kansas City-area farmers who are helping put fresh food on school lunch tables.

The KC Food Hub is seeing an uptick in schools buying from them after districts faced supply chain disruptions during the pandemic.

Even with schools closed, summer meal sites in the Kansas City area serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, and they may be closer to your home than you think.

Cutting classes back to four days a week has grown increasingly popular with school districts in the Show-Me State.

Schools across Kansas City were able to provide meals for thousands of children during the pandemic, but districts fear that federal help will end soon. Plus, how early pandemic layoffs in Missouri’s Department of Social Services impacted the care of abused and neglected children.

Schools around Kansas City have been able to provide meals to thousands of children for free, regardless of their family’s income, thanks to federal legislation passed during the pandemic. Now, districts are worried that Congress will let those waivers expire.

Disruptions in the supply chain left metro school districts scrambling to find suppliers. The KC Food Hub is stepping in to connect schools with farmers.