School Lunch Program
(Link to Program and Menu information, online payment services)
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does the School district have a nutrition policy for school meals and A la Carte items sold?
- Why does my child have to always use a PIN number even though s/he is using cash?
- Is there a way I can have my students charge their lunch or a-la-carte items instead of carrying cash?
- My child is being bullied and forced to give his PIN number to another student or buy other students' meals/snacks. How can I make this stop?
- What is the Meal Charge Policy?
- Is financial assistance available for school lunch?
- What is the Free and Reduced Lunch Program?
1. Does the School district have a nutrition policy for school meals and A la Carte items sold?
Yes, the School District follows both a Wellness Policy and Nutritional Guidelines for our food service program. The school district wellness policy is available at http://lps.lexingtonma.org/about/LPSWellness.pdf. The School District's nutrition guidelines are contained with in the Wellness Policy Guidelines at http://lps.lexingtonma.org/about/WellnessPolicyGuidelines.pdf.
The School District includes nutrition guidelines in the Request for Proposals to contract a mangement company to operate our program. The language is stated as follows:
"The FSMC shall serve reimbursable meals that comply with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the nutrient standards established by USDA in Federal regulations for the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program and the school districts Nutrition Guidelines (http://lps.lexingtonma.org/about/WellnessPolicyGuidelines.pdf & http://lps.lexingtonma.org/about/LPSWellness.pdf )"
2. Why does my child have to always use a PIN number even though s/he is using cash?
Students are required to use pin numbers regardless of a cash or charge sale for the following reasons:
- Due to district food safety and recall requirements, Chartwells School Dinning personnel need to be able to identify which students purchased items that were sold on a certain day.
- The system is capable of notifying the cashier of a student with allergies purchasing an item that may be harmful to them at the time of sale before the food is consumed.
- Due to occasional theft of food products from our cafeteria lines by students, the Point of Sale system (Nutrikids) tells us who we can exclude from our investigations with proof of purchase.
3. Is there a way I can have my students charge their lunch or a-la-carte items instead of carrying cash?
Chartwells School Dining and Lexington Public Schools introduced an online payment system which provides parents a convenient, easy, and secure online prepayment service to deposit money into your child's lunch account at any time. This service will also give parents the opportunity to easily view lunch account balances and a thirty day purchase history. If you have not set up an account, you will need your child's student ID number, which is available from studentidnumber@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us . You will need to provide the child's name, grade, address, and home room teacher name. The ID number will be mailed to you. It will not be sent via email.
4. My child is being bullied and forced to give his PIN number to another student or buy other students' meals/snacks. How can I make this stop?
This problem has been going on for many many decades and most of us either experienced it or knew about it as children as well. First, you need to communicate to your child that he or she should never share his or her PIN number with anyone. If your child is being bullied, he or she should report the incident and the student to a teacher or principal. The theft of lunch money and its investigation fall under the Policy on Student Conduct and Discipline. You as a parent can report it to the principal and should also report the incident to Food Service. The principal is responsible for the disciplinary action of the offending student. Food Service can only change the PIN number. You are still responsible for the charges, unless a student makes restitution through school disciplinary actions taken by the principal of the school.
5. School Committee Meal Charge Policy
6. Financial Assistance Information: The School Committee provides for financial assistance to student who meet income requirements.
7. USDA Free and Reduced Lunch Program:
In August, Free and Reduced Lunch Applications are mailed to all registered student households. In order to receive Free or Reduced Lunch meals, a Free
and Reduced Lunch Application must be completed and returned to the Business Office. Parents should familiarize themselves with the School Committee Meal Charge Policy. Applications are available at the School Lunch Web site.
Important Information about Free and Reduced Lunch Status:
- Students are required to use PIN numbers that are assigned by the Food Service Program to make payment for meals.
- The published meal price is charged based on the status of the student on the date the meal is
purchased. Please be aware that families who may qualify will have to pay full price until their application is approved. The effective date of the approved application establishes the status of
the student. There is no retroactive credit applied to the account to remove any balance due
unless it is directly tied to the approval date of the application. Please work with our Food Service staff if you would like more information about being able to put funds on account for your child. (781-861-2320 x1181)
- Free lunch status students will not be allowed to have a negative account balance. Free lunch status allows a child to receive a free meal everyday. A la Carte items are not part of the USDA program. Cash or a Credit Balance with Food Service must be used to pay for A la Carte items.
- Reduced lunch status students will be allowed to have a negative account balance up to a maximum dollar equivalent of six (6) reduced priced meals, which will be known as the “account cap." Reduced lunch status allows a child to receive reduced priced meals at $0.40.
Cash or a Credit Balance with Food Service must be used to pay for A la Carte items. Please work with our Food Service staff if you would like more information about being able to put funds on account for your child. (781-861-2320 x1181)
- Bag Lunches can be made available for students who are attending field trips when requested. Sometimes, teachers make arrangements for bag lunches for the entire classroom. At other times, the parent will need to contact Food Service to make arrangements two weeks ahead of time (781-861-2320 x1181). The field trip information packet from the school should indicate if lunches are being provided or not.
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