Additional Sites Eligible for the Seamless Summer Feeding Waiver

We have been asked to reconsider our decision to exclude closed enrolled sites in eligible areas and camps from participation in the Seamless Summer Feeding Waiver.

We had several reasons for excluding these types of sites from the waiver design. First, our objective has been to encourage school food authorities (SFAs) to serve meals to children in open sites to maximize the number of children receiving meals. Both types of sites – closed enrolled sites and non-residential camps – tend to serve smaller numbers of children and may require children to pay some type of tuition to participate in the site activities. Our second reason for excluding these types of sites was to eliminate the possibility that SFA’s would use the waiver to serve only children enrolled in summer school (and be reimbursed at the free rate of the National School Lunch Program) without making the attempt to reach out to other needy children in the community.

We continue to believe that open sites should constitute the great majority so sites participating under the sponsorship of SFAs approved to operate the waiver. However, as some regions have informed us, there may be circumstances that warrant SFA sponsorship of enrolled sites in eligible areas or camps (both residential and nonresidential). The most compelling reason would be to allow an SFA to continue to sponsor these types of sites under the waiver if it has previously sponsored the sites under the Summer Food Service Program. An SFA would need to clearly explain in the waiver application the reasons for sponsoring closed enrolled sites in eligible areas or camps.

Regional offices may approve these sites for participation in the waiver under the sponsorship of the requesting SFA, provided that summer schools are not approved as closed enrolled sites.

STANLEY C. GARNETT
Director
Child Nutrition Division