USDA/FDAC opens access to FREE breakfast & Lunch to ALL Citrus School students due to Hurricane Irma

Beginning tomorrow and ending October 20^th  all of our students will receive free breakfasts and lunches. 

In the wake of Hurricane Irma, The U.S. Department of Agriculture has decided to allow all students in 37 counties throughout Florida that have been designated as a FEMA Major Disaster areas access to free school meals.

To help accommodate Citrus County residents affected by Hurricane Irma, ALL students in Citrus County will be allowed to receive free school breakfasts and lunches, regardless of income eligibility status.  This temporary access to free school meals will begin tomorrow,  Tuesday, September 19^th and end on Friday, October 20^th.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact our Food and Nutrition Services Department at 352-726-1931, ext. 2402.

From Citrus County Schools Food Servives

In the wake of Hurricane Irma, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has accepted the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), Division of Food, Nutrition and Wellness (FNW) department’s request to allow all students in 37 counties designated in the FEMA Major Disaster Declaration access free school meals through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs.

To help accommodate Citrus County residents affected by Hurricane Irma and resume operations, ALL students in Citrus County will be allowed to receive free school meals, regardless of their income eligibility status.  This temporary access to free school meals will commence on Tuesday, September 19^th and run through Friday, October 20^th.  On Monday, October 23^rd, your student’s regular Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility status will resume.

Please understand that during this temporary access to free school meals, menus will be subject to change due to the availability of products.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact our Food and Nutrition Services Department at 352-726-1931, ext. 2402.

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​Post Hurricane Irma Monday afternoon Update

While there is still lots of evaluation to be done there is reason to be encouraged for both the community of Citrus county and our schools. At this time, no new official announcement on schools re-opening has taken place.  The Superintendent is meeting with other officials this afternoon and I look for additional information to be forthcoming.

There are several issues that as a school district we will be facing with regards to when School will return. One will be ensuring that the roads are safe for our buses and students to travel.  Another will be adequate time to restore the schools to a healthy and clean environment that were used to shelters have been restored. We also need to ensure that we have food for our students as many of those resources were used throughout the county to supply the shelters and many local families will have not been able to replenish their supplies either so our Food Service Department will be working to restore our supplies. That doesn’t begin to address the hundreds of other issues that our teams of district maintenance teams, administrators and staff will be addressed to ready our schools to re-open.

At this time, my personal prayers are directed for the protection of the Marine Science Station. The Station we believe faired okay flood wise during the storm. We’re hoping that this next high tide (around 8:00pm, Monday, Sept. 11, 2017) will still NOT be high enough to impact that facility. That facility is a true treasure for our educational system and vital for many students by positively impacting hands-on learning. The Academy of Environmental Science we feel is safe as those classrooms are on stilts.

I know many are interested in when school return and as soon as I know anything I will share with you.

Lastly, I know some will begin thinking about how these necessary days off will impact our school calendar.  While that is understandable, we will not know much right away.  The past practice of the Superintendent has been to apply for a waiver for some of the storm days.  After the information is known as to if and how many days may be excused by the state, then the district would then look at addition options. No specific days have been recommended yet, but there are options we do have in our calendar.  At this time, it is too early to have details on how or when we will make up the canceled days.

Thank you again for all the efforts for our community and schools!

#WeAreCitrus

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Hurricane Irma Closes Citrus Schools for Monday & Tuesday

The impending storm has forced the closing of Citrus County public schools for Friday, Monday and now Tuesday (Sept. 9-12).  For information on the storms impact to Citrus County please visit the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Web page and on even better on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sheriffcitrus/

Following call out went out Friday mid morning regarding school closure on Tuesday.

Good morning, this is Sam Himmel your superintendent of schools. Due to the uncertainty of hurricane Irma’s path and the impact on our community, school has been canceled for both Monday September 11th and Tuesday, September 12th. I encourage everyone to stay updated on the progress of the storm and take all precautionary measures as advised by our local EOC officials. Thank you and be safe.

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