Lieutenant governor visits summer school

SPECIAL GUEST: New York State Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul visited Cortland Junior Senior High School this week to check out a free summer food program available to millions of children across the country. OCM BOCES is hosting a regional summer school at the Cortland site, where dozens of students can take advantage of the program for breakfast, lunch and snacks. The program, called the Summer Food Service Program, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is open to anyone 18 years old or younger and has no other eligibility requirements.   Hochul visited the program on the second day of its launch and had a great time chatting with food-service workers, serving trays of food and checking out a register to see how many students were participating. She sat down with several students to talk about the food and their experiences at school. Students on this particular day enjoyed pizza, green beans, fruit and a frozen dessert.   The popularity of the program is growing as more and more students hear about it. The first day drew 147 participants at the Cortland school, located at 8 Valley View Drive in the city, but that number was expected to rise significantly. Last year, the government served 200 million free meals across the country.