After just one year, some schools around the country are
dropping out of the healthier new federal lunch program, complaining
that so many students turned up their noses at meals packed with whole
grains, fruits and vegetables that the cafeterias were losing money.
Federal officials say they don’t have exact numbers but have seen
isolated reports of schools cutting ties with the $11 billion National
School Lunch Program, which reimburses schools for meals served and
gives them access to lower-priced food.
Districts that rejected the program say the reimbursement was not
enough to offset losses from students who began avoiding the lunch line
and bringing food from home or, in some cases, going hungry.
PlayVideo
The Lunch Express brings meals to kids in need in rural Tenn.
“Some of the stuff we had to offer, they wouldn’t eat,” said Catlin,
Ill., Superintendent Gary Lewis, whose district saw a 10 to 12 percent
drop in lunch sales, translating to $30,000 lost under the program last
year.
“So you sit there and watch the kids, and you know they’re hungry at
the end of the day, and that led to some behavior and some lack of
attentiveness.”
In upstate New York, a few districts have quit the program, including
the Schenectady-area Burnt Hills Ballston Lake system, whose five
lunchrooms ended the year $100,000 in the red.
Near Albany, Voorheesville Superintendent Teresa Thayer Snyder said
her district lost $30,000 in the first three months. The program didn’t
even make it through the school year after students repeatedly
complained about the small portions and apples and pears went from the
tray to the trash untouched.
Districts that leave the program are free to develop their own
guidelines. Voorheesville’s chef began serving such dishes as salad
topped with flank steak and crumbled cheese, pasta with chicken and
mushrooms, and a panini with chicken, red peppers and cheese.
In Catlin, soups and fish sticks will return to the menu this year,
and the hamburger lunch will come with yogurt and a banana – not one or
the other, like last year.
Nationally, about 31 million students participated in the guidelines thattook effect last fall under the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.
Dr. Janey Thornton, deputy undersecretary for USDA’s Food, Nutrition
and Consumer Services, which oversees the program, said she is aware of
reports of districts quitting but is still optimistic about the
program’s long-term prospects.
“Many of these children have never seen or tasted some of the fruits
and vegetables that are being served before, and it takes a while to
adapt and learn,” she said.
The agency had not determined how many districts have dropped out,
Thornton said, cautioning that “the numbers that have threatened to drop
and the ones that actually have dropped are quite different.”
The School Nutrition Association found that 1 percent of 521 district
nutrition directors surveyed over the summer planned to drop out of the
program in the 2013-14 school year and about 3 percent were considering
the move.
Not every district can afford to quit. The National School Lunch
Program provides cash reimbursements for each meal served: about $2.50
to $3 for free and reduced-priced meals and about 30 cents for
full-price meals. That takes the option of quitting off the table for
schools with large numbers of poor youngsters.
PlayVideo
USDA, First Lady makeover school lunches
The new guidelines set limits on calories and salt, phase in more
whole grains and require that fruit and vegetables be served daily. A
typical elementary school meal under the program consisted of
whole-wheat cheese pizza, baked sweet potato fries, grape tomatoes with
low-fat ranch dip, applesauce and 1 percent milk.
In December, the Agriculture Department, responding to complaints
that kids weren’t getting enough to eat, relaxed the 2-ounce-per-day
limit on grains and meats while keeping the calorie limits.
At Wallace County High in Sharon Springs, Kan., football player
Callahan Grund said the revision helped, but he and his friends still
weren’t thrilled by the calorie limits (750-850 for high school) when
they had hours of calorie-burning practice after school. The idea of
dropping the program has come up at board meetings, but the district is
sticking with it for now.
“A lot of kids were resorting to going over to the convenience store
across the block from school and kids were buying junk food,” the
17-year-old said. “It was kind of ironic that we’re downsizing the
amount of food to cut down on obesity but kids are going and getting
junk food to fill that hunger.”
To make the point, Grund and his schoolmates starred last year in a music video parodyof the pop hit “We Are Young.” Instead, they sang, “We Are Hungry.”
It was funny, but Grund’s mother, Chrysanne Grund, said her anxiety was not.
“I was quite literally panicked about how we would get enough food in
these kids during the day,” she said, “so we resorted to packing
lunches most days.”
When he signed the National School Lunch Act 69 years ago this month, President Harry Truman said
that the law would go a long way toward “strengthening the nation
through better nutrition for our school children.” As schools across the
nation continue to implement the updated nutrition standards that took
effect in 2012, a statewide poll from the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods
Project finds that 82 percent of Minnesota voters overall and 76
percent of those with children in public school support those standards. Pollster Memo (PDF) | Full Results (PDF)
Support for Nutritious Food in School Is Overwhelming
We asked: Do you think that serving nutritious foods in schools is very
important, somewhat important, not that important, or not important at
all in helping to ensure that children are prepared to learn and do
their best in school?
Total Important (%)
Registered voters
97
Parents of K-12 public school students
96
Source: Minnesota School Nutrition Survey, February 2015
Specific parts of the updated nutrition standards garnered as much or
even higher levels of support from Minnesota voters than the standards
broadly. Nearly all voters and public school parents say school lunches
should include a serving of fruits or vegetables, and more than 7 in 10
believe schools should provide whole-grain foods with every meal and
should limit the amount of salt.
Key Nutritional Improvements Receive Strong Support
We asked: Do you think public schools should be required to do the following with every school meal? And do you feel strongly about that? Include a serving of fruits or vegetables
% Yes
(Strongly)
Registered voters
96
(90)
Parents of K-12 public school students
94
(86)
Provide foods made from whole grains
% Yes
(Strongly)
Registered voters
74
(52)
Parents of K-12 public school students
73
(48)
Limit the amount of salt
% Yes
(Strongly)
Registered voters
79
(55)
Parents of K-12 public school students
72
(46)
Source: Minnesota School Nutrition Survey, February 2015
Nutrition standards for meals served under the National School Lunch
Program have been updated regularly since the program’s inception in
1946. Since the start of the 2012-13 school year, lunches and breakfasts
have included more lean protein, low-fat dairy products, and fruits and
vegetables, while avoiding excess fat, salt, and calories. As of
December 2014, the vast majority of Minnesota schools (98.8 percent) are
certified as meeting these healthier standards.
Support for updated nutrition standards for school meals was seen
across the ideological spectrum, with 75 percent of Republicans, 76
percent of independents, and 91 percent of Democrats in favor.
Seventy-five percent of voters and 69 percent of parents also support
the USDA’s new “Smart Snacks in School” rule, which took effect in the
2014-15 school year and sets basic limits on fat, salt, sugar, and
calories in food and drinks sold in vending machines, at snack bars, and
on a la carte cafeteria menus.
Our survey also asked whether certain changes beyond those needed to
meet national standards would further improve school meals. More than 7
in 10 voters and public school parents think meals would be better if
prepared in the cafeteria’s kitchen instead of being prepackaged and
reheated. And 70 percent of voters and 65 percent of public school
parents believe that offering a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole
grains improves school menus. Although many schools have made such
adjustments to their menus and cooking approaches, others are hampered
by outdated or limited kitchen facilities. In a survey of school food
service directors, 96 percent of Minnesota districts reported needing at least one piece of equipment—at a median cost of $47,000 per school—to better serve nutritious foods.
More about the poll
The Minnesota statewide poll was conducted by Public Opinion
Strategies and Hart Research Associates for the Kids’ Safe and Healthful
Foods Project, a collaboration between The Pew Charitable Trusts and
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Data were collected via landline and
cellular telephone surveys Feb. 17-19, 2015, among 500 registered
voters, including 200 parents or guardians of children in K-12 public or
charter schools. The margin of error on the sample of 500 is plus or
minus 4.4 percentage points, and the margin of error on the sample of
200 is plus or minus 6.9 percentage points.
The poll is the latest in a series of state surveys
conducted for the project. Each has revealed overwhelming support for
the nutrition standards that are in place for school lunches and
breakfasts as well as the snack food and drinks sold separately.
Similarly, a June 2014 poll showed strong support for these policies among K-12 parents nationwide.
Kate Kompas, kkompas@stcloudtimes.com 12:37 p.m. CDT October 9, 2015
FOLEY — State department officials dined with Foley High School
students Tuesday in the cafeteria as they got an up-close look at the
results of the district’s “Farm To School” program. The farmers who were
responsible for the fresh produce being served at lunchtime ate there,
too.
On Tuesday’s menu: chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy with rosemary
and thyme right from the school’s garden, along with a homemade roll,
squash, watermelon, bananas and more. Patty Donahue, cook manager for
grades 4-12, said she based the gravy recipe off one used by the Food
Network’s Ina Garten.
Foley is among more than 200 districts statewide in the Farm to
School program, which serves half of Minnesota’s students, according to
information provided by the state. The Foley district has participated
since 2012. Farm to School has awarded money to districts to help them
participate in the program; Foley received about $11,000 from the state
for fiscal year 2015. Story continues below.
The Foley school district gets fresh produce from Stoney Brook Farms
and Novak Farms, both near Foley. Representatives from the farms as well
as the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Center for
Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which awards
grants related to Farm to School, are visiting schools around the state.
The Foley district is buying a tilting braising pan so it can make more meals from scratch, too.
Farm to School means more prep time for kitchen staffers, Foley
school service director Cheryl Pick said. The benefits far outweigh the
time, though.
“The kids enjoy it, and that’s why we do it,” she said.
School officials said up to 87 percent of high school students take hot meals; Foley High School has about 1,600 students.
Many high school students at lunch Tuesday had banana peels or green
strawberry tops on their trays. Students can take unlimited amounts of
fruits and veggies.
“You see so much color on their plates,” Foley High School Principal Shayne Kusler said. Story continues below.
The farms provide everything from sweet corn to kohlrabi for the lunches.
“It’s good to promote the fresh vegetable aspect of it for the kids,” said Mark Chmielewski of Stoney Brook Farm.
Greg Novak of Novak Farm recently sold 48 quarts of strawberries, an
800-pound bin of watermelon and cucumbers to the district. Farm to
School is good for his business. His only request: He wishes Minnesota
schools could start earlier so Foley could get the best of his harvest,
but he likes closing out the season with the district. (And when he was a
student at Foley, no, he doesn’t believe he had such healthful choices
at lunchtime.)
Ellie Manderfeld, a Foley senior, admitted she likes fruits more than veggies.
“When we have the options, it’s nice,” she said.
Many of the students were busy getting big cups of what looked like
ice cream at lunchtime. School officials had to break it to them that it
was frozen yogurt. Follow Kate Kompas on Twitter @copygirlkate, or call her at 259-3620.
Nutrition plays an important role in the
education of a child. Children who are well-fed and healthy can more
easily concentrate on their studies. To make sure we meet the
nutritional needs of our students, the Overbrook Dining Hall offers a
wide variety of delicious and healthy menu selections. Students have the
choice of a hot lunch that includes a main entree, vegetable, fresh
fruit, and a side salad. Other menu choices include daily sandwich
selections and a full salad bar. Soups are added during the cold months
of December - March. Excess sugar is always a concern and for this
reason, we offer bottled water, 2% milk and TruMoo as drink options.
Menus are posted online under the Overbrook calendar and are available
on a month-to-month basis.
The
Overbrook Dining Hall utilizes the Wordware School Lunch System to
manage lunch purchases and family dining hall accounts. Each family is
assigned an account and payments can be made online after registering
your account or by sending in a check to the school office. It is best
to deposit funds into your family account 24 hours before making
purchases. It is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to ensure
there are sufficient funds in the family account prior to meal time.
To
log into your account, follow the link below. You will need your
family ID number to register your account for the first time. If you do
not know this number, please contact Kathleen Urciuoli at urciuolik@overbrook.edu. Once you are registered, you will receive balance notifications and be able to track daily purchases.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Governor Mark Dayton is calling on state
legislators to add $3.5 million to the school lunch budget in the state,
so that children who now pay a reduced price for meals will be able to
get them FOR free.
Dayton made his remarks Tuesday in the wake of a statewide survey of school districts by Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, showing that some districts deny food to children who are behind on lunch payments.
"No child in Minnesota should be denied a healthy lunch," Gov. Dayton said in a prepared statement.
"We cannot expect our students to succeed on an empty stomach."
Dayton
endorsed a bill authored last session by Rep. Yvonne Selcer of
Minnetonka in the House and Sen. Jeff Hayden of Minneapolis in the
Senate.
Students from families with incomes at or below 130
percent of the poverty level qualify for free lunches already. That
level is roughly $25,000 for a family of four.
Children from
families between 130 percent and 185 percent of poverty level, or
$36,000 for a family of four, qualify for a reduced price lunch. Those
students are expected to pay 40 cents per meal out of pocket currently
in most school districts.
"These are very poor kids and we have the resources," Jessica Webster, the Legal Aid attorney who wrote the report summing up the survey of schools, told KARE.
"There is no reason to punish children in this way."
The
Legal Aid study found that 46 districts in the state have policies, at
least on paper, that allow cafeteria staff to withhold lunch from
students who have fallen behind on those lunch payments.
The
majority of schools, a total of 166 districts, told Legal Aid that they
give peanut butter or cheese sandwiches and milk to students who stop
paying, rather than the full fledged hot meal at lunch.
"I would
argue that is by no means a nutritionally balanced meal for a kid, and
the federal government agrees with that because we've had all of these
healthy mandates come down," Webster said.
Another subset of 97
districts, including the Minneapolis Public Schools, have decided to
provide hot lunches to all children who are eligible for reduced price
lunch regardless of whether the children are making payments. In fact,
in Minneapolis the school board decided to go ahead an absorb that 40
cent per meal cost of feeding students who only eligible for reduced
price lunches.
Webster has been working on the school lunch issue
for six years but the idea has gotten very little traction at the
legislature.
But in January story out of Utah drew national
attention to the issue of cafeteria finances. Cafeteria workers at a
Salt Lake City school were ordered to pull lunches away from 40 children
who had already gone through the line only to discover their lunch
money accounts were empty. Because the food had already been served it
had to be thrown in the trash, in keeping with food safety regulations.
"People didn't want to believe the same thing is happening here, but it is," Webster remarked.
"Maybe
it's not 40 children in one cafeteria on the same day, but it's
children all over the state who have to deal with this through no fault
of their own."
She also decried the practice, which still exists
in some schools, of stamping the word "money" and "lunch" on children's
hands as a way to alert parents that their lunch money accounts are
depleted.
Two of the districts that made the list of 46, the Osseo
Schools and the West Saint Paul - Mendota Heights Schools, took issue
with the Legal Aid survey's description.
Barb Olson of the Osseo
Schools said that the district policy, in writing, sounds as though
students can be denied meals. But she said in reality no child in Osseo
is ever turned away without some type of lunch such as a sandwich and
piece of fruit.
Carrie Hilger of the West St. Paul Schools said
children never have to worry about having their lunch trays pulled back,
but they may be fed an alternative lunch such as a sandwich and milk
rather than that day's regular menu selection.
Some Minnesota children go to school hungry and leave even hungrier.
A
majority of public school districts in this state deny hot lunch - or
any lunch at all in some cases - to children who can't pay for them.
Some schools take the meals from students in the lunch line and dump
them in the trash when the computer shows a deficit in their lunch
accounts.
Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda
Cassellius on Monday called the report "troubling," and fired off a
letter to district superintendents.
"Like me, I know that
none of you would deny a child a nutritious lunch intentionally," she
wrote. "I am hoping you will speak with your food service directors
regarding this information and find ways to ensure children are never
turned away from receiving a hot meal."
About 62,000
low-income children and teens take part in Minnesota's reduced-price
lunch program. That should mean that for 40 cents, they get a hot,
nutritious lunch, with the remainder of the cost covered by public
funds. But if students fail to come up with even 40 cents, some schools
respond by denying or downgrading students' lunches, as Mid-Minnesota
Legal Aid discovered when it surveyed 309 public school districts.
Some
school districts send students home with a verbal warning for their
parents or a hand stamp visible to all that says "LUNCH" or "MONEY."
Others hand children a bread-and-butter sandwich and carton of milk in
lieu of a hot lunch.
In a survey released Monday, 46
Minnesota school districts told Legal Aid that they immediately or
eventually refuse to feed students who have insufficient funds in their
lunch accounts. More than half the districts in the state - 166 of them -
provide an alternative meal, typically a cold cheese sandwich, once the
money runs out. Another 96 school districts, including the Minneapolis
public schools, provide a hot lunch regardless of a child's ability to
pay.
Students qualify for free lunch if their family makes
less than about $25,000. After that they qualify for reduced-price lunch
if their family makes less than $36,131. Above that, students must pay
full price - an average of $10 per week per student.
A
school in Utah made national headlines last month for throwing lunches
in the trash if students couldn't pay. The headline of Legal Aid's
report on Monday: "It's Not Just Utah."
"Lunch trays will be pulled" Despite
Casellius' admonitions, it may take more than a letter from the state
to change things. In some districts, lunch denial is intentional - a
written mandate approved by school administrators or school boards. "Lunch
trays will be pulled from a student if there is not enough money in the
account," officials in Anoka County's St. Francis School District wrote
in a notice to parents of students in grades six through 12. "We do not
enjoy pulling trays from students and it slows the lines for other
students trying to get through."
St. Francis Superintendent
Edward Saxton did not respond on Monday to calls for comment. A
full-price lunch in the district costs $2.20 for students in grades K-5
and $2.40 for students in grades six through 12.
The Lake
Crystal Wellcome Memorial School District's official lunch policy
states: "Once the lunch account is at a zero balance there will be a
grace period for 2 days. After that the student will need to bring a
sack lunch. The student will be allowed to eat hot lunch again when they
have a positive balance in their meal account."
Marshall
public schools switch students over to cheese sandwiches when they run
out of money in their accounts. If the account remains in deficit, the
student will continue to receive sandwiches, but their parents may be
referred to a collection agency and social services "for possible
neglect."
"No reduced-price eligible child is turned away
from a meal," Marshall Schools Superintendent Klint Willert wrote in
response to Legal Aid's data practices request. He did not respond to an
interview request from the Star Tribune. "The child will be given
something to eat."
This is the second time Legal Aid has
surveyed school lunch policies. The number of districts guaranteeing a
hot lunch has increased since the initial survey in 2012, but so has the
number of districts turning students away as school costs increase and
budgets shrink.
"They have budgetary pressures and they
have new federal mandates for healthy foods, [and] food has gotten more
expensive," said Jessica Webster, staff attorney for Legal Aid's Legal
Services Advocacy Project, which conducted the survey with support from
the group Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. "Many just see this as a
parental responsibility. Some districts don't see refusing to serve food
as turning children away. They say, 'We give you a cheese sandwich for
three days and then it's your parents' responsibility.' "
Cassellius,
however, urged schools to find a way to guarantee a hot lunch for any
student who needs one, regardless of their parents' ability or
willingness to pay.
"As you know, for too many of our
children, school meals may be the only nutritious meals they receive,"
she wrote. "We also know that children learn best when they have
nutritious meals throughout their days."
The state could
expand the free lunch program to all students who now receive
reduced-price lunch for an estimated $3.35 million. The Legislature
debated such an expansion last session, but the proposal failed to make
its way into the education budget bill. Rep. Yvonne Selcer,
DFL-Minnetonka, is preparing to push the bill again this year.
It is a program that pays for all or part of the cost of breakfast and
lunch for children at school. By offering healthy and nutritious meals,
the program also helps children to learn and grow.
Who can get free or reduced-price meals from the School Meal Program?
Children attending public and private schools grades K-12. All foster children can get free meals. If your family is getting
help from Food Support (stamps), MFIP, or FDPIR (Food Distribution
Program on Indian Reservations), you can get free meals. Otherwise,
if you are not on these programs, your family has to have an income
below the limits to get help. Some families can get free meals and
others can get a reduced (lower) price on their meals. The most you
will pay for a reduced-price lunch is 40 cents.
Are there any asset limits for the School Meal Program?
No. This program does not look at your assets to see if you can get
help. (Assets are money in a checking or savings account or other
things of value that you or your family own.)
If I already get Food Support, MFIP or FDPIR, or if I have a foster child, do I have to apply to get help?
Maybe. If you are on these programs, you may get a letter in August
that says you are already going to get free meals. If you don’t get a
letter, or if the letter doesn’t cover all of your children, you will
have to apply to get help. If you get Food Support, MFIP or FDPIR, when
you fill out the School Meal application you only have to write in the
names of your children and your case number(s) and sign your name. If
you are applying for a foster child, you only have to write the child’s
name and the amount of foster care money for personal use, and sign
your name. You have to fill out a seperate application for each foster
child.
How do I get an application?
You can pick one up in the office at your child’s school. It may be
mailed to your household during the summer with other school papers. It
is called
the “Application for Educational Benefits.” The application is
available in English, Spanish, Hmong, Somali, Khmer (Cambodian),
Laotian, Vietnamese, Arabic and Russian. You can also get an
application on
this website by clicking here.
When can I apply?
You can apply at any time during the school year. Applications are not
accepted during the
summer. If you intend to enroll your child in the program, you must
wait until the school year begins to submit your application. Even if
your child was enrolled before, you must fill out a new application
each school year.
If your income goes down, or
your household size goes up, you may be able to get help — even if you
didn’t qualify for help before.
What is the application like?
It is one page long. It will ask for the names of all the children and
adults in your household and how much money they make each month. The
adult who fills out the application also has to write his or her Social
Security Number. If you don’t have a Social Security Number, you can
say that and your family can still get help.
What else do I have to do to apply?
Just turn in your application in to the school office. A small group of
people will be asked to show proof of their income. The school may also
check to make sure the information you gave them is correct.
What happens after I turn in the application?
The school will send you a letter to let you know if you qualify for help.
You will find out in about two weeks.
How long can I be on the School Meal Program until I have to apply again?
Once you are on the program, your child can get free or
reduced-price meals all school year. Some schools also cover 30 days
into the next
school year. You will have to apply again every year. If your income or
household size changes during the year, you do not have to tell the
school.
Do I have to be a U.S. citizen to get help from the School Meal Program?
No. Even if you, your children, or other people living with you are not U.S. citizens, you can still get help.
I am an immigrant. If I get help from the School Meal Program, am I a public charge?
No. You are not a public charge if you use the School Meal Program. Schools cannot tell USCIS (INS) if you get help.
Can I get help paying for breakfast also?
Some schools also have a breakfast program. If your child gets free or
reduced-priced lunches, he or she will also get free breakfast if your
school offers breakfast. You do not have to apply again for breakfast.
Does it matter how long I have lived in Minnesota to get help?
No.
Do all schools have the School Meal Program?
No, but most schools do.
Will other kids know that my child is getting a free or reduced-price meal?
No. The school has to make sure no one can tell who is getting a free or reduced-price meal.
If your family lunch account is low ($5.00 positive or less) or is
in the negative, you should be receiving an automated low balance email reminder from Wordware. If you are not getting this email reminder, please check your junk box and be sure to click to allow it! If you are still not getting the email, please call 262-
250-6462 and verify with us that we have the correct email address that you want in your family’s lunch account. You can also still register your account online at https://family.wordwareinc.com. You will need a family key in step 2 of the registration. Call 262-250-6462, or email
erdjea@sdmfschools.org to request yours. Please monitor your lunch account often! Did you know?
Students of all ages love the fresh pre bagged veggies they can
quickly grab from the veggie bar! The bags have a variety of veggies inside that equal a one cup serving. They get a choice of humus or low fat ranch dip for thecarrots, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers in any combination that might be served that day. This month’s Star Foodis... Broccoli!
Fun Broccoli Facts:
Broccoli is related to cauliflower, kale, cabbage, turnips, rutabagas and Brussels sprouts.
California produces almost all the broccoli sold in the USA!
Broccoli heads are made up of little buds that are ready to flower.
Nutrition Facts of 3oz of Broccoli
Vitamin C
42.0mg 70%
Vitamin A
400.0IU 8%
Dietary Fiber
2.0mg 8%
Q: What do you get when you cross broccoli and a vampire?
Smart School is a technology collaborative that brings school
districts the ability to unify all of their primary payment solutions
into a single interface for parents to use.
Smart School combines the best of functional software solutions for
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events, after-school childcare and much more. Our best of breed (BOB)
collaboration of cutting edge solutions strives to deliver the best
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Family Lunch Account Login1. Click on Family Login in the top right hand corner.
2. Follow the directions from there. You will need to set up a new user account.
3.
Choose the Second Box. You will need your Family ID and your Family
Pin. If you do not know these, please contact Kelly Dollen at
712-485-2257. kdollen@tctrojans.org
Has your child mentioned a change in what is served for school lunch? Due to new guidelines government, a change has occurred in what and how much food is being served to students at lunch. These handed down from the United States Department of Agriculture focus national “Healthy Plate” dietary guidelines.
Our school lunch program must serve the follow amount of foods groups Fruits:
Alexandria Public Schools - School Lunch Program / Nutrition Software
VIEWING FAMILY MEAL ACCOUNT DETAILS
Improvements
have been made to how families access their meal account information.
If you have previously registered with your family number and PIN, you
do not need to re-register. If this is your first time accessing your
family account in Wordware, please call 320-762-3315 to obtain your
Family Key number. To register your account, go to family.wordwareinc.com and follow the instructions.
Once registered, you will be able to access your account balance, view transactions, make payments, and more.
Welcome to the Ashwaubenon School District where we have a
long-standing history of high academic achievement and student
opportunities . We provide a comprehensive PK-12 educational program
with instruction at all levels to meet the needs of all students
regardless of their differences in abilities, interests, and learning
styles. Our extensive co-curricular program enables our students to
become well-rounded individuals.
Ashwaubenon is unique in the
region for our world language program in which German and Spanish are
offered to students from Grade 1 to Grade 12, and for being one of the
first school districts to implement a community service graduation
requirement.
As a district we are committed to: providing the highest quality programs, services, and staff,maintaining a healthy and safe learning environment, serving as proactive agents of change, being responsible stewards of district resources, engaging our community in the educational process, and monitoring and evaluating results for continuous improvement.
Payment Options & Account Balances
METHOD OF PAYMENT
We are pleased to offer parents several meal payment options:
Elementary children can turn payment envelopes in to their teachers or main office.
Secondary students can turn envelopes in to the cashiers.
Phone in credit card to the Business Office at 920.492.2905, Ext. 1006.
Automatically withdrawn electronically from checking account or credit card.
You
are in full control of your account. By providing your home and/or work
email address, an email notification informing you of the student’s
name, purpose of the payment, and amount will be sent to you each time
that a payment is to be processed.
ACCOUNT BALANCES
If you would like an itemized statement of your account, or if you
would like to know your account balance, call 920.492.2905, Ext. 1006 or
view your account online. Do not wait for the phone notification system
to contact you, but rather, deposit monthly amounts into your family’s
account.
Account drops to $10 – a payment envelope will be sent home.
Account drops to $0 – your children will be restricted to reimbursable meal choices only.
Account
balance drops to a negative $15 – the family account will be
deactivated. K-8 students will be offered a sandwich and milk, at no
expense. High school students will have to borrow from a friend or pay
cash.
MEAL ACCOUNT BALANCES ONLINE & E-MAIL NOTIFICATIONS OF BALANCE
Go to:www.wordwareinc.com
Enter Username and Password
A statement of your account will appear.
If you wish to participate but have not received your Family Key Number, call 920.492.2905 Ext. 1006.
E~funds
For Schools allows families several payment options. Meal payments can
be automatically electronically withdrawn from your checking account or
charged to your credit card. You have the flexibility to pay at anytime
through the school’s website. No payments will be allowed without your
knowledge and authorization through this secure payment system.
The NCEA Convention & Expo is the largest
private-education association gathering in the nation. Those participating
represent all aspects of Catholic school and faith-based education from preschool,
elementary, secondary, adult education, colleges and universities. The
Convention is a time to celebrate, to acquire new knowledge, and to renew your
spirit. San Diego is just the place for that to happen to you!
Wordware, Inc. has decided to participate in NCEA
Convention & Expo to showcase is latest Lunchroom cashiering System LCS1000
Mayflower. A computerized lunch cashier system covers both the breakfast and
lunch programs.The program has brought
favourable comments from parents and students and appreciations to schools
around the nation.
Wordware's Lunch Cashier System saves your times and
provides better environment by linking all by linking relevant information
together for you, Point of sale software reduces time span which you do in
repetitive data entry. Only Point of sale software in the industry with Lowest
Audit Failure Rate Since 1986.
The District uses an automated lunch accounting system to
record food service payments and to monitor food transactions. Computerized
Lunch Cashier System School District provides a hot lunch program through Wordware,
Inc.The program is available to all
children in the District in grades K-12. The main objective of the lunch
program is to provide nourishing, appealing lunches for students without
subsidy from tax dollars. The system functions as a debit system, similar to a
checking account. Parents/guardians may initiate a lunch account by sending a
check made payable to the School District with your child at registration
(grades 6-12) or handed in to the office the first day of school.
The
Lunch cashier system is an advance payment system set up for the purchase of
school lunch in the school cafeteria. It is available in all most of the
District Schools powered by Wordware.
We integrate with a
number of industry-leading online payment portals, meaning faster funds
availability for both you, and your students. Wordware Lunch Cashier System
provides school cafeteria Point of Sale Software for K-12 schools, college,
university, corporate, healthcare, military cafeterias etc.Everything about the LCS1000 Mayflower
software has been updated to ensure that you can focus on your students - not
your point of sale software. Ours application is world Top Food Service Management
Software Product.
Your appliance licensing
entitles you to the following features and benefits:
The
award-winning LCS1000 Mayflower software.
Our
cloud-based service, served up directly from our fast and secure
datacenter.
Fully
syncronized backups of your data, keeping your data safe.
Access
to our dedicated technical support team, because if a problem does arise,
you are not alone.
A
combined 25+ years of experience in providing service and support to
districts like yours!
Savings on cost of
goods
·Reduce over production
·Procurement/Inventory management
·Menu forecasting with pre-costing
·Menu pricing
·Student sales analysis
·Lowest Audit Failure
·Single Family Login
·LCS100 Web based server
The
process is simple and eliminates the need to find lunch money everyday.
If your student is a frequent customer of the school foodservice, the best way
to use system.
This all inclusive module generates participation,
revenue, reimbursement claims, and edit check reports for the entire district
and automatically manages communications between Online payment gateway, PCS’s
web portal, the district and the school cafeteria sites.
These are only a few ways in which Cafeteria management
software can aid you. The benefits of using one such software are multiple. If
you aren’t using these functionalities of your Cafeteria management software,
you immediately need work with your team, and study these reports and if you
current software doesn’t provide such in depth reports, you many need to
upgrade your software. Wordware’s Lunch cashier software has been implemented
in School cafeterias, college and universities, hospital settings and
commercial building cafeterias in all over USA.
The Wordware mission with Lunch
Cashier system for School District 's is
to actively contribute to the health of children, district staff, lunch cafeteria
staff, students and other eligible customers by preparing, marketing and food
service cafeteria software application.. Nutritious meals will be offered at a free
and reduced price for eligible students while maintaining a financially
accountable program.
Wordware Lunch Cashier system assists
with your staff and parents to the new lunchroom software and is always here to
help with any questions that may come up encounter while the process or after
implementation Schools quickly learned how helpful our team is from the
beginning and they are pleased with the technical support being provided by wordware’s
experienced and dedicated technical staff. Wordware Support Team set up
the software for the schools and provide training to your school staff up to
the level they needed to learn the ins and outs of our school cafeteria
software. From the launch of the new software, School Food Service Directors,
was happy that Wordware Lunch Cashiersystemwould be an excellent fit for the children in their school.
“The implementation team and
trainers did a great job getting us set up and ready for the first day of
school,” say many of our valuable customers. Furthermore, their Staff have not
encountered any problems, but they called for general questions. Customer care
representative attends the phones calls promptly and guide them with confidence
in using the lunchroom management software than before. They all are extremely
satisfied that with the of wordware customer support team.
"There
are many reasons why using Wordware for our lunch software has made my job
easier. The remote support and ticket system have been a life saver on many
occasions. The Direct Certification is simplified and the Free and Reduced
timeline has kept me on track. The upgrade to the LCS1000 Mayflower has
everything I need on the family dashboard for quick and easy reference. There
are letter templates that can be customized by you and the numerous reporting
options available are a tremendous help in documenting the daily and monthly
transaction activities." - Jean Erd, School
District of Menomonee Falls
The Lunch Cashier System by
Wordware, Inc. is a complete, affordable, user-friendly meal accounting system
for schools, including back-office and point-of-sale management software. Lunch
Cashier System is one of the Top Food Service Management Software. They provide
comprehensive solutions to both school administration and food service staff.
Computerized Lunch Program for school cafeterias, State and Federal reporting.
Parents only need to send lunch money to one family account for all family
members participating in the lunch program.
Kate Kompas
