SOUTH DEERFIELD — Deerfield Academy donated $25,000 this week to the Frontier and Union 38 regional school districts to help reduce the funding gap in the meal program that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I thank Deerfield Academy for their timely and generous donation,” Superintendent Darius Modestow said in a press release. “I also want to thank our dedicated kitchen staff, who worked tirelessly to get healthy meals out to all those in need during this challenging time.”
Prior to the pandemic, students paid for food unless they qualified for free or reduced-price meals, Business Administrator Shelley Poreda previously explained. Now, breakfast and lunch are free to all district students as part of a program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which started when the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the nation.
Poreda said the school districts receive reimbursement from the state and federal governments, but it is not enough to avoid a deficit. Earlier this month, Poreda anticipated around $100,000 less in revenue by the end of the fiscal year in June.
“While the meal program is subsidized by the USDA Universal Free Meals program, operational costs have exceeded those funds,” Modestow said.
Deerfield Academy Head of School John Austin said the private school for students in ninth through 12th grade learned of the public school districts’ financial situation through an article in the Greenfield Recorder.
“One of our trustees brought it to our attention” Austin said. “We asked our (Chief Financial Officer) Keith Finan to reach out to Darius to speak to him to get a sense of the land there.”
Austin said after seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the financial model over the last eight months, the academy recognized “there was a need.”
“If this crisis has taught us anything, it’s that communities need to stay together and to help one another,” he said. “We were really happy to contribute, even modestly, to help meet the shortfall the school is experiencing, so they don’t have to dig into other programs for the kids.”
The money was available through surplus funds in the Deerfield Academy budget, which the school has used to make contributions to local organizations, such as the United Way of Franklin County, Austin said.
Modestow said the money will be divided between Deerfield Elementary School and Frontier Regional School.
Finan, Deerfield Academy’s CFO and associate head of school for operations, said in a press release he and Austin are happy to help lessen the burden on their fellow residents.
“It has been a challenging year for all of us,” he said, “and I have a pretty good idea of just how hard Darius and his team have been working to provide for the community in these difficult times.”
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne