The Afterschool Snack Program (ASSP) was developed to give children a nutritional boost while participating in activities after their regular school day ends. The Afterschool Snack Program is administered by the District’s School Food Service Department and it is federally funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Food and Nutrition Services Division. Schools are eligible for the ASSP if they are located at a school where at least 50% of the enrolled children are eligible for free and reduced price meals.
In order for a site to participate, a school district must run under the guidelines of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and must sponsor or operate the afterschool care program. This afterschool care program must provide children with regularly scheduled educational or enrichment activities in a supervised environment.
Under federal guidelines, afterschool snacks must contain at least two different components of the following four:
- default_titlea serving of fat-free or low-fat fluid milk (unflavored)
- default_titlea serving of meat or meat alternate
- default_titlea serving of vegetables or fruits or full strength vegetable or fruit juice
- default_titlea serving of whole grain or enriched bread or cereal
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Last school year, The School District of Palm Beach County operated 91 ASSPs; this number fluctuates from year to year depending on situations at the individual schools. Many schools initiate ASSPs in the spring to offer students additional tutoring programs in preparation for testing. In addition to the regular ASSP, School Food Service supported 19 schools with an Extended Day Snack Program. This program offers each student in the school a snack during the last hour of the school day which has been extended by one hour to receive additional academic support. The total number of students who received a snack either in ASSP or the Extended Day program was 2,451,927. This was an increase of 1,038,863 snacks over what was served in the 2013-2014 school year.