Anchorage elementary schools drop pre-packaged meals for traditional food service

Every elementary school in the Anchorage School District has stopped serving pre-packaged meals and returned to traditional food service. The district says the switch has brought more students to the lunch line and left less food on the tray.

It has not published the numbers behind that. The district's materials describe the improvement without saying how many meals a day were served before the change or how many are served now.

Elementary lunch costs $6.25, or 40 cents for students who qualify for a reduced price. Families can apply for the reduced price through SchoolCafe at any point in the school year, not only at the start of it.

At some schools, breakfast and lunch are free to every student with no application at all, under a federal provision open to schools with enough low-income enrollment. The district lists those schools on its student nutrition page.

That page also says "no student will be turned away regardless of ability to pay." Elementary students get at least 20 minutes in a seat to eat.