“It’s free?” was the initial reaction of senior Christian Alexander.

It may have been unexpected to some, if not many. The Stockton Unified School District and Child Nutrition/ Food Services Department will be implementing a program called Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) that will allow students at qualifying schools to receive free breakfast and school lunch for no cost.

Fifteen elementary schools and two high schools, Merlo and Stagg, are eligible for this program for the next three school years. Each school site has to meet a certain criteria for the program.

“It’s a little confusing,” said Director of Child Nutrition/ Food Services Department, Yvonne Migliori, when referring to howthe  program works. For a school to become eligible for CEP, Migliori and the Nutrition Services look into two categories of the school’s populace. This includes the number of students that are part of the Free and Reduced program and Direct Certification, which are students of need who are automatically enrolled to the Free and Reduced program. Eligible schools will receive free school meals for three years.

When the program nears expiration Migliori “can put in a request for an extension for three additional years and if the state accepts it and they see that the numbers are pretty much about the same then they’ll go ahead and accept it.” Yet there have been mixed feelings whether some students will appreciate this opportunity.

“Most people are going to appreciate it,” said Alexander.

“Because some (students) had to pay for it.” However, students like junior Rahul Singh have noticed the contrary.

“I see them around playing with the food and just throwing it around,” he said. “So I would say they are taking an advantage of it a little too much.”

This program will benefit students at eligible schools. Other school districts have followed lead and despite not being the first, the SUSD and Nutrition Services are doing all they can to accommodate every student.