Student Meal Accounts/Charges
Guardians/Parents
are responsible for submission of a free/reduced meal application in a timely manner
(if appropriate) and to maintain funding in their student’s account at all
times as necessary. Meal applications are accepted all year. Until the
free/reduced meal application is approved, the parent is responsible for meal
charges. Free/Reduced Meal Benefits expire 30 days into the following school
year.
Parents
are encouraged to pre-pay for student meals. Funds may be added to the student
lunch account using either check or cash at the school. Credit card payments
are accepted online, through the Parent Portal account. Students may also pay
for meals and/or add funds to accounts on the day of service. If a student has
money to purchase a meal at the time of the meal service, the student must be
provided a meal. The student’s money may not be used to repay previously unpaid
charges if the student intended to use the money to purchase that day’s meal.
Meal
Charges
Students
who do not have any money in their account or in hand to cover the cost of a
meal at the time of service, will be permitted to charge a reimbursable meal.
Students will not be permitted to charge ala carte or extra items, such as an
additional milk.
Students
may charge up to $40 per school year before they will no longer be permitted to
charge meals. Students at the meal charge maximum must be provided a nutritious
meal from home. If a student is at the
maximum charge allowed and does not have a meal provided from home, he/she will
be permitted to eat hot lunch one time only. Nutrition Services will then inform
the school secretary, at which time the school secretary will schedule a
meeting of explanation between the parent and principal. It is the discretion
of each school principal whether the maximum charge amount will be waived or
not.
All
adult meals, including employees of MCSD RE-1J, are required to be pre-paid or
paid in full at the time of purchase.
Notification
of Negative Balances
Parents are encouraged to look on Parent Portal to check
their student(s) account balance often. Parents may also call Nutrition
Services at 970-252-7918 to inquire of their student balance.
Nutrition Services will provide parents with notification
of a negative balance on a student meal account via email, automated phone
call, or text message once a week. In addition, school secretaries will send
home negative balance letters with elementary students at least two times per
month. Nutrition Services will mail negative balance letters to the parents of middle/high
school students monthly.
Nutrition Services will inform Kitchen Managers and
Principals of a student’s negative account balance once it exceeds $25.00.
Nutrition Services staff, Principals, and District Administrators may contact
parents regarding negative account balances at any time.
Nutrition Services staff will not discuss negative balances with students.
Collection
of Meal Charge Debt
In
collecting debt, the district shall ensure that collection efforts do not have
a negative impact on the students involved and instead focus on the adult(s) in
the household responsible for providing funds for student meal purchases. The
district will work with parents to establish repayment plans with payment
levels and due dates appropriate to the household’s particular circumstances.
For
students with meal charges, the following process will be used to collect debt:
·
Letter
sent to parent by school secretary (elementary) or nutrition office (secondary)
·
Phone
call made to parent by school staff, nutrition staff, then administration.
·
If
the parent refuses to pay, their charges will become a delinquent debt
Delinquent Debt
As defined by the USDA, delinquent debt includes
overdue balances with active, reasonable efforts being made to collect the
outstanding amount due. Delinquent debts that have been determined to be
uncollectible will be reclassified as “bad debt”. Montrose County School
District Re-1J also classifies student accounts as “bad debt” when collection
efforts have been unsuccessful as of the last day of May or the last day a
student attends their current school. “Bad debts” must be paid annually at
the end of the fiscal year (June 30) using the school discretionary budget.
Unused Credit Balances/Donations
Regardless of their source, monies received through
Nutrition Services as donations to pay off negative meal balances will be
deposited into a District account set up specifically for meal account
donations. Donations will be distributed to meal accounts throughout year at
the discretion of the Nutrition Services Office Staff.
Parents of students with unused credit in their
accounts at the point of disenrollment or graduation may request a refund of
the credit. Parents may also request a transfer of existing balances to the
account of a sibling by contacting Nutrition Services at 970-252-7918.Credits
remaining after twelve (12) months of disenrollment will become the property
Nutrition Services and be transferred into the
donation account.
Annual Notice
The
district shall notify parents about this policy at the beginning of each school
year. Notification shall also be provided to those students who transfer into
the district during the school year. Information about this policy will also be
posted on the district website.
This
policy will also be communicated to school and district-level staff responsible
for this policy’s enforcement, such as school food service staff responsible
for collecting payment for meals at the point of service, staff involved in
notifying families negative balances, and staff involved in enforcing any other
aspects of this policy.