School District 43 has no plans to come up with an alternative for lunches at middle schools where cafeterias were shut down to save money.
But vulnerable students who used to get subsidized meals at the school cafeterias are still getting fed with grants of up to $3,000 in provincial Community Link money to schools with significant at-risk student populations.
SD43 assistant superintendent Julie Pearce acknowledged that some parents have complained about the cafeteria closures but she said there are no plans to put in another kind of program to replace support staff jobs that were lost.
"We had a number of employees lose their jobs," she said. "We are taking our time to see what our options are."
Closing school cafeterias was one of a series of measures taken last spring to cut $13.4 million from the 2014/'15 budget. Two part-time jobs at each middle school were cut for a total of approximately seven full-time equivalent positions.
Cafeterias remain open at SD43 high schools.
