DPS Begins School Year With Free Meals and Menu Makeover

View This Email In Your Browser

Good morning, readers.

Durham Public Schools’ new superintendent, Anthony Lewis, got to deliver some good news at his first Board of Education meeting last month.

“Say it with me,” he told the audience. “Free breakfast, free lunch.” 

For the first time, Lewis shared, all DPS students can eat two free meals at school each day—no paperwork, no questions asked. 

DPS administrators say dropping these barriers and making the meal program universal should remove some of the social stigma around receiving a free school lunch. Already, they’ve noticed thousands more children eating daily meals at school.

As DPS meals become more accessible, they’re simultaneously becoming tastier. September’s lunch menus include options like tofu banh mi, chicken teriyaki, and a build-your-own Mediterranean bowl.

Healthy selections like these, with some ingredients sourced from local purveyors, are part of the district’s push to improve school nutrition and incorporate culturally relevant food into their cafeteria offerings. 

DPS officials hope the menu makeover will reduce stigmas and entice more students to take advantage of free school meals. 

Read the full story here, and have a good Monday.

---

---

Durham

Duke is facing litigation threats from the anti-affirmative action group that successfully argued for the Supreme Court to ban the consideration or race in college admissions. The group, Students for Fair Admissions, says Duke may not be in compliance with the court’s ruling.

Wake

As Raleigh police prepare to clear a homeless encampment south of downtown, some residents say they have nowhere else to go.

Orange

Orange County students’ test scores are rebounding from pandemic-era lows.

Ackland Museum of Art director Katie Ziglar has parted ways with the museum. 

North Carolina

On Friday, Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill that would allocate $5 billion for private school vouchers and require all North Carolina sheriffs to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

If the state legislature’s Republican supermajority overrides the veto, sheriffs in Wake and Durham counties who terminated their agreements with ICE in 2018 would be obligated to work with the agency.

---

If you’d like to advertise your business to the Daily’s 30,000-plus subscribers, please contact [email protected]

---