F-M High School Students Lead Campaign for Free School Meals

Early in 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered a huge win for anti-hunger advocates across the state. By including Universal School Meals in her executive budget, the governor set out to ensure that all kids, regardless of circumstance, were able to get at least two meals a day during a regular school week. Since then, school districts previously ineligible have been working on implementing the free school breakfast and lunch program. Participating schools have seen huge increases in student participation, demonstrating both the need and popularity of the program. 

Still, there are some districts who are dragging their feet, claiming adoption of the program would limit student choice or ruin their bottom line. The Fayetteville-Manlius (F-M) School District is one such case. 

The F-M School District serves free breakfast and lunch at its elementary and middle schools, but not at Fayetteville-Manlius High School. Despite being part of the same district and supported by the same tax base, high school students do not have access to free meals. As a result, students within the same household can face unequal access to food depending solely on which school building they attend. This inconsistency raises concerns about fairness and the district’s commitment to meeting all students’ basic needs. 

To our knowledge, Fayetteville-Manlius High School is the only public school in Onondaga County that has not yet adopted New York State’s Universal School Meals program. The issue doesn’t seem to be implementation. Since the district already runs the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs in the elementary and middle schools, the staff, vendors, and paperwork are all in place. The Food Service Director has even said that his department can go either way. It’s the F-M Board of Education that must decide before the June 30th deadline to adopt universal meals for all students. 

Anqi Geng (left) speaks to SOFSA Director Maura Ackerman after the School Board meeting.

When students interviewed F-M High School Principal McNamara to ask why the high school is not participating, he claimed that “at this age, students are more interested in choice than they are in just getting the run of the mill food you would get with the free program.” Students seem to disagree. According to a poll conducted by the high school’s student-board liaison,78.7% of 432 participating school community members answered “yes” when asked if the school should provide free lunches. F-M High Schooler Anqi Geng wrote into Syracuse.com to speak to this discrepancy.

In support of the Universal School Meals program, several speakers addressed the school board during the open comment portion at the April 20th Board meeting. Those who spoke included Fayetteville-Manlius High School junior Elliott Olech and Elaine Denton, parent of three F-M students and District 10 Onondaga County Legislator. Elliott shared what he has been hearing from classmates, particularly students who do not want to add to their families’ financial burden by buying lunch. He touched on the heavy mental burden and stress related to food insecurity for students and the solution to this challenge available to the district by choosing to participate in the fully funded NY State Universal School Meals program. Denton spoke about the ways participating in this program benefits students. It ensures kids have good food to eat without having to worry about the cost, supports parents by providing choices about how to provide lunch for students, and increases accessibility. Both spoke about how participating in the school lunch program costs the district nothing since tax payers are already paying for the program through their taxes. They presented their information clearly and concisely within a three-minute limit and the Board thanked them for providing their input. Community members and students were also present in the assembly with signs to help show support for this issue. 

If you would like to support this effort, you are welcome to sign and share the open letter available here, spread the word on social media, or join us at the next Fayetteville-Manlius School Board Meeting on May 11th!