RATHDRUM - Breakfast and lunch will be served this summer in the Lakeland Joint School District for the first time.

The school board has approved the program, which will be free to children 18 and younger in need.

The meals will be available at Lakeland Junior High on weekdays from June after school is out until early August.

"The districts around us have offered summer meals for years, and we were repeatedly asked why we didn't," said Tom Taggart, the district's finance director. "This will be good for the community."

The program will be funded through the federal school lunch program.

"This will not be a cost to the district," Taggart said.

The meals will be offered to parents and guardians for a small cost to be determined - perhaps $2 or $3 per meal, Taggart said. Other details such as the meal times and exact program dates will be determined and announced later this spring.

"The program is designed to help families with low incomes," Taggart said.

Such programs have a no-questions-asked policy.

Taggart said school officials believe now is the right time to offer the program.

The district started a summer childcare program at Garwood Elementary last year and expanded that to five of the district's six elementary schools this year.

Taggart said the junior high was chosen as the site because of its central location in Rathdrum.

The school is close to John Brown Elementary, where a child care program is offered. The site will also be convenient for high school students taking summer classes at Lakeland High across Highway 41.

Fifty-three percent of the students districtwide qualify for free orreduced-cost meals, Taggart said.

Taggart said the district may consider starting a summer meal location in Spirit Lake in the future, after the first one is established.

Chartwells, which Lakeland contracts with to prepare student meals during the school year, will make the meals at its Rathdrum facility and transport them to the junior high.