Lunch Account & Meal Charging

Account Information

Cash and/or checks will no longer be accepted for meal payment. Transactions must be completed using a debit, bank, or credit card. Parents are able to manage their students lunch account on-line by logging on the Campus Parent Portal.

If you need information regarding your child's account and don't have access to the internet, please call the cashier or cook/manager at your child's school. Due to the limited hours the staff work, they may not always be available. Please leave a message with your name, child's name, your phone number and question, and your call will be returned.

Meal Charging Standard Operating Procedure

Purpose:

The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that students receive healthy and nutritious meals through the school district’s nutrition program and that school district employees, families, and students have a shared understanding of expectations regarding meal charges. The policy seeks to allow students to receive the nutrition they need to stay focused during the school day and minimize identification of students with insufficient funds to pay for school meals as well as to maintain the financial integrity of the school nutrition program.

Process:

The responsibility for ensuring that children can participate in meal service is that of parents.

The responsibility of the district is ensuring that children have a school meals program available.

1. If the school district receives school lunch aid under Minn. Stat. § 124D.111, it must make lunch available without charge to all participating students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals regardless of account balance.

2. A student with an outstanding meal charge debt will be allowed to purchase a meal. When a student has an outstanding account balance, the student will not be allowed to charge any Ala Cart snack items.

3. Parents are encouraged to sign up at their Campus Parent Portal to receive free email alerts informing them that their child’s lunch account balance is low.

4. Students that do not have an adequate balance in their account to cover the cost of a meal, the following occurs:

If a student does not have a positive account balance, they will still be offered a reimbursable lunch. Students/Guardians are responsible for knowledge of meal account balances.
Notifications are issued to the guardian when a student account balance is below $5.00
When a student’s balance is below $5.00, a verbal reminder is issued to the student and a notification reminder is issued to the guardian.
When a student’s balance is below $0.00, a verbal reminder is issued to the student and a notification reminder is issued to the guardian, again. A phone call is made by nutrition services to remind the household to make a payment.
When a student’s balance is below $-10.00, a verbal reminder is issued to the student and a notification reminder is issued to the guardian, again. The name(s) are referred to the principals. A first letter is sent by nutrition services to remind the household to make a payment.
When a student’s balance is below $-20.00, a verbal reminder is issued to the student and a notification reminder is issued to the guardian, again. A second letter is sent by nutrition services to remind the household to make a payment. The name(s) are referred to the principals for a payment and/or follow up.
When a student’s balance is below $-30.00, a verbal reminder is issued to the student. A final written notice will be sent to the household with a warning they will be sent to collections, if account balance deficit is not remedied.

A la cart is not charged at any grade level to anyone with a negative balance, including milk.

Parents are encouraged to sign up on their Campus Parent Portal to receive free email alerts informing them that their child’s lunch account balance is low.