The local public and Catholic school boards have joined forces to try to get food into the bellies of hungry students in Simcoe County.
A Nov. 18 letter to county councillors, signed by Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) chair Jodi Lloyd and Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB) chair Maria Hardie, addresses what they call an “urgent need for student nutrition programs” in local schools.
They hope the county will provide $300,000 to help fund such a program.
“As advocates for student well-being, we believe that access to nutritious food is essential for academic success and overall health,” says the letter, which was brought forward during the Nov. 26 committee of the whole meeting.
In their three-page letter, Hardie and Lloyd say the challenge is that many students face food insecurity, which directly affects their ability to learn and thrive.
“Hunger and malnutrition hinder concentration, cognitive development and overall educational outcomes” says the letter. “As school boards, we witness first-hand the effects of food insecurity on our students, and we are committed to addressing this critical issue.”
According to the Ministry of Education, up to 35 per cent of students in some SCDSB and SMCDSB schools are living in poverty.
The Ontario Student Health and Drug Use Survey says 18 per cent of households in Simcoe-Muskoka are food insecure, less than half of students in Grade 7 to 12 report they eat breakfast before school, and more than 2,200 (five per cent) students go to bed or school hungry every day.
"We urge the County of Simcoe to collaborate with the federal and provincial governments and community organizations to develop and fund school nutrition programs in our schools," Hardie and Lloyd say in their letter.
They say the program should prioritize fresh, locally sourced ingredients, as well as cultural diversity and sustainability.
“We believe that investing in our students’ nutrition is an investment in Simcoe County’s future. By working together, we can create a program that ensures no child goes hungry while pursuing their education," they say.
Since the letter was written, a deal has been announced between the federal and provincial governments that is expected to bring healthy meals to 160,000 more kids across Ontario through a program the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said involves “no stigmas, just support.”
The federal government’s National School Food Program, which was announced in the Liberals’ spring budget as a $1-billion investment over five years, is meant for all kids, Trudeau said during a news conference last week.
Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin wondered how that announcement may impact how the county would respond to the letter from the local school boards.
Mina Fayez-Bahgat, the county’s general manager of social and community services, said they are aware of the announcement.
“That’s part of our conversations to ensure that if the two school boards are eligible and in receipt of that funding, then they will probably change the amount they are requesting from us,” he said. “In either case, if we were going to engage them it would be done on a pilot process and (we would) study the data to see how effective the program was.”
Staff have met with representatives from the boards, Fayez-Bahgat noted, adding the letter will likely be directed to the county’s social and community investment funding strategy or life stability and well-being funding programs.
“In either case, when it comes to individuals who are unhoused or without a fixed address, including families and children, we do require them to enter data into our database, so it would be contingent on their ability to do that,” he said.
“It is an interesting approach to programming in school boards in terms of providing meals for all those who do not have fixed addresses before and after school, but it does require us to ensure it works within our service manager mandate," Fayez-Bahgat added.
Any funding from the county would be "specific to unhoused families," he said, because that's where the county’s mandate “begins and ends”.
Any federal or provincial funding received in 2025 would offset the county’s contribution, Fayez-Bahgat noted, adding staff will aim to bring a report back to council in the new year about what decision was made and information on how that would work within the county’s mandate.
Midland Mayor Bill Gordon said if the county is going to assist, it's important to do so “across the spectrum” and ensure it’s including all boards in the region, noting Penetanguishene does have one school within the Protestant Separate School Board.
“I don’t want them to be left out of this conversation,” said Gordon.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor James Leduc agreed, saying “we want to make sure that every child has a lunch."
The SCDSB has 88 elementary schools, 16 secondary schools and seven learning centres serving approximately 57,000 students with close to 7,000 staff.
The SMCDSB has 43 elementary schools and nine secondary schools and serves approximately 24,000 students with close to 4,500 staff.
The SCDSB has sent a similar letter of request to the education minister and copied all local members of provincial parliament.
