Tuscaloosa City Schools offering free breakfast, lunch for all students

By WVUA 23 News Reporter Avery Lake

Tuscaloosa City Schools added six schools to its free child nutrition program starting this year, meaning every students within the district qualifies for free breakfast and lunch.

That’s a huge help for any students who struggle with food insecurity, said TCS Child Nutrition Program Coordinator Van Nichols.

“This just kind of takes the stress off the students and parents,” said Nichols. “It makes it to where that’s one less thing for them to worry about, so the student can just come and do what school’s intended for: to learn.”

Nichols said the system is working on also adding more options for students, too.

“We’re trying to have better quality items, more options for them,” he said. “We’d like everyone to eat breakfast and lunch with us. For a lot of the kids, this is where they eat breakfast and this may be the only one or two meals they get, so its important for everyone.”

Free lunches for all TCS students will last at least through the end of the 2023-24 school year, and could be renewed for future years.