Purpose

All students that attend the Montgomery Area School District are provided the opportunity to purchase breakfast and lunch at the school cafeteria in accordance with the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The following guidelines shall be followed in instances where the student finds it necessary to charge their meal due to lack of funds in their account.[3]

Guidelines

Parents/Guardians are solely responsible for providing their children with money for lunch, or packing a lunch from home. If for any reason a parent/guardian cannot afford to provide a lunch for their child, free and reduced lunch applications are available in the school offices.

Free/Reduced-Price Meals

The district shall provide free and reduced-price meals and milk to students in accordance with terms of the National School Lunch and National Breakfast Programs.[1][2]

A NSLP free/reduced meal application shall be sent home at the start of the school year. Reasonable efforts shall be made to provide equal treatment for and protect the identity of students receiving free or reduced-price meals.

A parent/guardian shall have the right to appeal a decision regarding his/her application for free or reduced-price food services to the Business Office.

Lunch Charges

The district utilizes a computerized point-of-sale system. Each student in the school district is given an individual account with a unique number that remains with a student throughout his/her career at Montgomery. Parents/Guardians and students are encouraged to deposit money in their account so that adequate money is readily available to purchase school lunches and breakfasts. Students are expected to learn and use this number for all purchases in the cafeteria. Parents/Guardians are responsible for all charges on their child’s account.

Deposits –

Online lunch payments can be made through myschoobucks.com or a check/cash can be sent to school in an envelope for the cafeteria with the student’s name, ID number and the amount of the deposit written on the envelope.

Charges –

The student cafeteria account is a debit account. Students deposit money in their account in advance of purchasing meals. All students will be informed when they have a negative balance and parents/guardians will be notified.

Elementary School Students Grades K-6 Borrowing Guidelines

Charging will not be permitted for any a la carte items.

After the first negative charge, parents/guardians will be notified of the account balance through the parentlink system. After three (3) consecutive charges the cafeteria manager will make a courtesy call to inform parents/guardians of the student’s negative meal account balance and to request immediate remittance of the amount in arrears.

Elementary school students will not be denied a meal; however, an alternate meal (meeting the National School Lunch Program requirements) shall be served to students with student meal accounts that are in arrears for twenty-five (25) or more dollars. The cost of the alternate meal will be charged to the student’s account.

If the negative student meal account balance remains twenty-five (25) dollars or more, the cafeteria manager will notify the building principal who will evaluate the circumstances and discuss collection of negative balances with the parents/guardians. The building principal will also notify the student and the classroom teacher of the alternate meal being served prior to lunch.

Jr./Sr. High School Student Borrowing Guidelines

No Jr./Sr. High student will be permitted to carry more than three (3) unpaid consecutive charges at any time.

No charges will be permitted for a la carte items.

After the first negative charge, parents/guardians will be notified of the account balance through the parentlink system.

After three (3) consecutive charges the cafeteria manager will notify the building principal who will in turn investigate the situation. The building principal will contact the student and his/her parents/guardians regarding the charge and the danger of the next day’s meal being denied.

Collection of Outstanding Balances

The cafeteria manager will provide negative balance notifications to the building principal that exceed twenty-five (25) dollars.

If a student has a negative account balance at the end of any grading period, the school district will not release a report card, grade reports or high school transcripts until the negative balance is paid.

If a student has a negative account balance upon graduation, the student will not be authorized to attend any senior activities or commencement ceremony until the negative balance is paid.

The school district may pursue collection of negative account balances through appropriate legal measures. The parent/guardian will receive a certified letter stating the amount of the negative account balance and will be given ten (10) days to remit payment. After that time, the student’s account will be turned over to the magistrate for collection. All fees assigned by the magistrate in addition to the negative account balance will be the responsibility of the parent/guardian.

Refunds

Refunds from student accounts are permitted only in the event that a student leaves the school district, or the refund is requested by a parent/guardian under special circumstances.

Upon withdrawing from the district, students must bring their account to a zero (0) balance; any refund will be paid in full.

Graduating seniors will receive a full refund prior to graduation; or may request that balances be transferred to a younger sibling enrolled in the Montgomery Area School District. Positive balances for underclassmen will be carried over to the following year.

Students receiving reduced-priced meals shall be treated under this policy in the same fashion as those students who receive full price meals.

The Superintendent is authorized to create regulations for implementation of this policy.