Washington Examiner
· collected 2026-09-16 · by Chase Eskelsen and John Watson
Marcus Jackson runs Urban Bridge, a nonprofit in Oklahoma City that supports students from low-income families with after-school programs. Recently, a student attending virtual school due to suspension faced food insecurity because online schooling disqualified him from free or reduced lunch programs meant for those in traditional schools. According to the December 2025 DLAC report “Don’t Let Online Students Go Hungry,” about one million students attend full-time virtual public schools and at least half a million of them are eligible but denied access to free meals due to lacking a physical cafeteria setting required by National School Lunch Program regulations.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-16,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Marcus Jackson, founder of Urban Bridge, an Oklahoma City nonprofit, provides after-school support for middle and high school students from low-income areas through various programs like writing sessions, math challenges, and financial literacy workshops where kids earn virtual currency. Inspired by his own experience in a magnet school as a child, Marcus ensures his four children attend schools tailored to their specific needs, including public, magnet, and virtual options. Urban Bridge frequently identifies issues that regular schools miss, such as undiagnosed learning disabilities or unexplained absenteeism, often finding solutions through different educational settings, increasingly opting for online schooling.
Written for “Online Students Hunger Issues” on 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Marcus Jackson spends his days making sure children in Oklahoma City have a safe place to land.
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children → spend → place
He runs Urban Bridge, a nonprofit group that gives middle and high schoolers in a low-income part of northeast Oklahoma City somewhere to go after school: writing and storytelling sessions, math and reading challenges, music and culinary classes, and a financial literacy program where students earn currency for showing up and doing the work.
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students → run → work
Marcus knows what it means for one door to open, because one opened for him.
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one → know → him
Before he was recommended for a magnet school as a child, it hadn’t occurred to him that where he went to school was something he got to choose.
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he → recommend → school
That’s part of why, when it came to his own four children, he and his wife didn’t settle for whatever was put in front of them.
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whatever → ’ → them
They tried a mix of public school, magnet school, and virtual school, and let each child’s needs decide.
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needs → try → school
At Urban Bridge, Marcus and his staff often catch what schools missed: a learning disability nobody diagnosed, a child who stopped showing up and couldn’t say why.
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who → catch → disability
Increasingly, it’s virtual school.
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it → ’ → ?
A few weeks ago, a student who had been suspended and was finishing his coursework online asked Marcus if the center could feed him.
uncertain
center → suspend → him
Marcus and his team went out and bought bread and lunch meat so he could eat.
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he → go → bread
It wasn’t that the boy didn’t qualify for free or reduced lunch.
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boy → qualify → lunch
It’s that the moment his education moved online, the free lunch program stopped seeing him at all.
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program → ’ → him
According to the December 2025 DLAC report “Don’t Let Online Students Go Hungry,” about 1 million students attend full-time virtual public schools, and at least half a million are eligible for free or reduced-price meals but are denied access because they lack a “congregate setting.”
uncertain
they → accord → setting
Because their virtual school has no cafeteria, they’re locked out of the National School Lunch Program — a program written decades before online schools existed.
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schools → have → Program
Many parents tell us that nobody warned them about the exclusion.
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nobody → tell → exclusion
A mother enrolls her son online because he is being bullied, managing a health concern, or facing learning differences that his school was not able to accommodate.
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school → enroll → that
She is solving one crisis.
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She → solve → crisis
She later learns that solving the education problem costs her family their free or reduced lunch benefits.
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solving → learn → benefits
Shenell Ellerbe of Florida can tell you exactly what that costs.
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that → tell → what
Her job in special education was eliminated, and in a single moment, she lost her income and the program her daughter attended.
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daughter → eliminate → income
Housing went next.
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Housing → go → ?
The family moved into hotels.
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family → move → hotels
Her daughter, Subi, did not miss a beat.
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daughter → miss → beat
She logged into her virtual public school from wherever they were staying, with the same teachers, the same classmates, and the same social worker.
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they → log → teachers
“She could do her assignments, take her tests, and keep moving forward despite our struggle,” Shenell said.
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Shenell → do → struggle
During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal waivers let schools hand out meals through car windows and let parents pick up a week’s worth at a time.
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parents → let → time
Millions of children ate.
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Millions → eat → children
Once the waiver ended, so too did the ability to provide those meals legally to the same qualified and eligible students.
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ability → end → students
Congress and the Department of Agriculture can make that permanent by allowing non-congregate meal distribution and supporting states in implementing it.
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that → make → it
The DLAC report recommends options including parent pickup, location flexibility, and multiday meal pickup and delivery.
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report → recommend → pickup
The goal is simple: focus on the needs of students, whether they are in a physical school building or not.
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they → focus → building
None of that asks anyone to change their mind about how American education should be organized.
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education → ask → mind
You don’t have to agree with us about anything else to agree that a hungry 8-year-old should eat.
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old → have → anything
Marcus sees parents every day who skip meals or work multiple jobs to feed their child because they don’t have access to the resources they deserve.
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they → see → resources
But they shouldn’t have to.
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they → have → ?
Congress can fix this.
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Congress → fix → this
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