Cafeteria Charge Policy

School Meal Charging

  • Meal charges are for emergency use.  They  are designed to cover situations when parents or students forget to bring, or provide funds for meals or when a student forgets his/her meal at home.
  • No student requesting a meal (breakfast or lunch) will be denied a full reimbursable meal unless the student’s parent or guardian has provided written permission to withhold a school meal.
  • Parents or guardians are required to cover negative balances incurred by their child.
  • Students with negative account balances or unable to pay for a meal will not be publicly identified or stigmatized.
  • Students with negative account balances or unable to pay for a meal will not be required to discard a reimbursable meal after it has been served.

Student Cafeteria Account Collections

  • Communication of account balances will be made to the parent or guardian and not to the student directly. Food Service employees are not permitted to tell students when they have a low or negative account balance. However, students may ask cashiers for their account balance.
  • Emails will be sent out weekly to any parent or guardian with a child who has a negative account balance. Letters will be mailed to parents or guardians who do not have an email address in the system.
  • Food Service Staff will contact the parent or guardian by telephone once their child’s negative balance exceeds $50.00.
  • The Business Office will contact the parent or guardian once a student’s negative balance exceeds $100.00.
  • The Superintendent’s Office will contact the parent or guardian once a student’s negative balance exceeds $150.00.
  • The Superintendent or designee is authorized to negotiate a mutually agreed upon payment plan until an account is paid in full.

PLEASE NOTE:

Parents are encouraged to set up accounts online at www.schoolcafe.com to monitor account balances and receive low balance alerts.

Students with a negative account balance will not be permitted to buy snacks, individual food items, or beverages other than milk.

The school office staff will notify the parent or guardian of the negative account balance when students withdraw from the school district.

Parents/guardians are responsible for paying off negative balances for their student. Cafeteria obligations must be paid or the student will be placed on the debt list.

Uncollectible delinquent debt shall be considered bad debt and non-federal funding sources must repay the Food Service Fund for the total amount of uncollectible debt. Delinquent school meal debt shall not be classified as bad debt for write off purposes until all reasonable steps have been taken to collect such delinquent school meal debt.