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The city will continue to provide fresh fruit and vegetable snacks to public school kids, after warning last week that it would squash it.
“The individual who sent this email has no authority over the program and is just plain wrong,” a City Hall spokesperson revealed after The Post published the story last Saturday.
The memo from the city Department of Education warned public schools citywide that the USDA-funded Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program in 53 NYC schools would be shelved at the end of the month due to a “funding issue.”
The spokesperson declined to provide further information about the employee who fired off the memo.
“New York City Public Schools is sending a clarification to families and educators to ensure they know that students will continue to have access to fresh fruits and vegetables,” the spokesperson said.
The memo was sent shortly after news broke that the US Department of Agriculture is cutting $1 billion in funding to provide schools and food banks with fresh, local produce, one of the latest efforts by the Trump administration to eliminate federal waste.
But the city insisted those funds are separate, and that it knew the $1.1 million in federal funding to bring the fresh produce to 53 NYC schools would run out.
Now, the DOE’s Office of Food and Nutrition Services will cover the snacks for the remainder of the school year using city tax levy funds.
The same thing happened last fiscal year, officials noted.
