Meal Charge Procedure
Students who are required to pay for meals are expected to provide payment in a timely manner. The board recognizes, however, that students may occasionally forget or lose their meal money. No adults will be permitted to charge meals or other items in the school cafeteria. No student will be permitted to charge supplemental or a la carte items, including milk.
No student will be deprived a meal nor served an alternate meal due to forgotten or lost money. At no time will a student meal be retrieved once the student has received the tray. The student shall be allowed to eat the meal and the student’s account will be charged accordingly.
The child nutrition director and principal shall work jointly to prevent meal charges from accumulating. Every effort will be made to collect all funds due to the school nutrition program on a regular basis and before the end of the school year. This may include but is not limited to sending letters home with students, sending emails to parents, and sending automated calls to homes. If a parent regularly fails to provide meal money and does not qualify for free meal benefits, the child nutrition program shall inform the principal, who shall determine the next course of action. This may include notifying the department of social services of suspected child neglect and/or taking legal steps to recover the unpaid meal charges.
Parents are expected to pay all meal charges in full by the last day of each school year. Negative balances on student meal accounts cannot be carried forward to the following school year.
