ROCK SPRINGS — Meal prices will be increasing at Sweetwater County School District (SCSD) No. 1 for the upcoming school year, pending board approval at the July meeting. 

The SCSD No. 1 Board of Trustees heard an informational report regarding the meal prices during the Monday night meeting. District Nutrition Services Director Angie Erramouspe told the school board that the school district was one of only two in Wyoming that did not raise meal prices for the 2022-23 school year. 

“That being said, the cost of food has increased both last year and this year,” Erramouspe said. 

Therefore, the district will have to raise the prices for the 2023-24 school year to adjust to the rising cost of food. 

Erramouspe said that the average cost of food products in September 2022 was $1.57 for breakfast, and $1.99 for lunch. In August 2023, the average cost of food products will be $1.89 for breakfast and $2.19 for lunch. 

“We supported families moving back to free, reduced, and paid meal plans by not increasing the prices during the last school year, but we’re going to need to for this upcoming year,” she said. 

Proposed breakfast prices will increase to $2.10 for elementary, $2.30 for middle school, and $2.50 for high school. Proposed lunch prices will increase to $3.25 for elementary, $3.50 for middle school, and $3.75 for high school.

The table below shows the current cost of meals across grade levels in comparison to the proposed increased prices. Reduced meals are 30 cents across all school levels for breakfast, and 40 cents for lunch. Those prices will remain the same.

Erramouspe added that the adjusted meal prices are comparable to the rest of the school districts in the food co-op. 

Chairwoman Carol Jelaco said that due to the increasing costs, it will be increasingly important to encourage families who think they may qualify for the free and reduced meal program to apply. Applications will be available starting July 1. 

“If you even think that you might qualify, please contact the nutrition office for the form as of July 1,” Jelaco said. 

The meal prices will be approved at the July board meeting. 

Other Business

In another informational report by the transportation department, the board was told that several bus routes have been added for the 2023-24 school year. 

Sixteen additional routes have been added in the morning and 22 additional routes in the afternoon. This was made possible due to multiple tier routing.

The routes have already been driven to get accurate pick up and drop off times, and the drivers will begin training in July to learn the new routes. 

Additionally, the bus characters that were used in the previous school year will be used again. Each bus is tagged with a cartoon character that helps students and families identify their bus. The department said these characters worked well.

There will be an informational link on the district website for people to look up their bus routes following board approval. Official approval will take place at next month’s meeting.