The U.S. Department of Agriculture reopened the Summer Food Service Program through December, allowing schools across the country to offer free meals to students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meals also will be provided for students learning remotely in Montezuma County.

“As our nation reopens and people return to work, it remains critical our children continue to receive safe, healthy, and nutritious food,” USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a news release.

The Mancos School District is allowing parents and students to pick up meals daily from 11:30 a.m. to noon at the front office of the elementary school. Parents of remote students should email mealcount@mancosre6.edu, according to the district’s Facebook page.

Montezuma-Cortez schools are still finalizing how to serve remote students but most likely they will offer students a package of lunch and breakfast meals each week, said Melissa Brunner, director of finance for Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1.

“We would love for our kids to participate,” she said.

Every student is eligible and will receive free meals, but school districts in Montezuma County ask parents to fill out forms for the free or reduced lunches.

Data collected in the forms help schools qualify for other kinds of support, such as funding for additional teachers or programs to support students learning English as a second language, Brunner said.

New applications must be filled out each year, but only one application per household is needed.

Between March 30 and June 30, when all students were learning remotely, Montezuma-Cortez schools served more than 27,000 free breakfast meals and 40,600 free lunch meals to students in the district with funding from the USDA.

ehayes@the-journal.com