News from the school lunch program

  

Dear parent,
Welcome to the 2016-17 school year.  We are writing this to help your child’s school lunch experiences be healthy, happy and glitch-free. Please read this to learn how to best use our meal account program and how to encourage healthy eating.  In addition, learn about the Free and Reduced Lunch Program and how to find out if you qualify.
My School Bucks
In addition to purchasing food with cash each day, students can use a pre-pay system called My School Bucks which eliminates the need for carrying money (and remembering it every day!). The online payment service provides a quick and easy way to add money to your student’s meal account using a credit/debit card or electronic check. This is NOT a charge program. Rather, parents put money into the account in advance. (As a side note: the system DOES NOT disclose whether a student is on Free and Reduced Lunch).
Each child in the district already has an account through My School Bucks which they can access through their school ID.  Go to www.MySchoolBucks.com.  When signing into the account, parents can see the entire history, including all transactions made by the student.  For questions about this system, or to find out your child’s balance at any time, call the cafeteria office at 291-2248. By going on line to your own account, you can also view recent purchases, check balances, and set up low balance alerts.
Free and Reduced Lunch Program

Every year the financial guidelines change in relation to the free and reduced lunch account.  The program is HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL. Contact me, Elaine Crysler, to see if you qualify. In addition, you can review guidelines and complete a form by going on line to www.skanschools.org.  Under “District” on the gold bar at the top, choose “Food Services” to find the form as well as much other information. Free and reduced applications (for lunch and breakfast) are available and must be submitted each year by October 1, but the district can review and accept anytime if a family’s situation changes.  Qualifying for the FRLP also qualifies students in grades 6 to 12 for our breakfast program. (See more on breakfast below). Please note the district’s free and reduced lunch percentages are used by the state and federal governments to determine grants and various aid categories for the district. Therefore if you qualify we strongly encourage you to participate in this program so as to benefit your family and the district. Again, participation in the program is highly confidential.   Keeping kids healthy As we comply with the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and our own goal-setting, 51 percent of all grains provided by the school are whole grain. In addition, we continue to alter menus so that offerings are lower in sodium content. We have also upgraded items sold ala carte under the Smart Snack Standards. These items are restricted in calories, sugar, fat and sodium – and have higher whole grain content. Your students may see some changes in the snack offerings at their schools. Note: the My School Bucks pre-payment program DOES NOT include ala cart items so as to encourage students to purchase a full lunch. For those snack-type items, students need to pay with cash. Breakfast at school We continue to participate in the National School Breakfast Program for grades 6- 12 ONLY.  Breakfast is offered from 7:15 to 8 a.m. daily. The price is $1.50 for a complete breakfast, including a hot item along with the choice of fruit or juice and milk each day. We also feature fruit and yogurt parfaits and cold cereals. Items can still be purchased ala carte. If your student is in grade 6-12 and qualifies for the free/reduced lunch program, they can also receive the free/reduced breakfast daily.                         More on My School Bucks: AS NOTED ABOVE, each child already has an account through My School Bucks.  These accounts are pre-pay accounts (debit), not charge accounts.  You may add money online at myschoolbucks.com, or by sending a check to the Skaneateles School Lunch Program.  Please remember to keep your child's account current. Due to problems with accumulated changes and lack of payment, we now require that students pay when purchasing food, either with cash or with money already in their School Bucks account. A STUDENT MAY CHARGE ONLY THREE TIMES AFTER WHICH THEY WILL BE PROVIDED WITH A MEAL CONSISTING OF a district approved alternative meal will be provided to the child until the account is brought up-to-date. If you have any questions, contact MySchoolBucks at support@myschoolbucks.com 1-855-832-5226, or visit myschoolbucks.com and click on Help, or contact me.   We are looking forward to a healthy and nutritious year.  Please continue to visit us at www.skanschools.org.  Under “District” on the gold bar at the top, choose “Food Services” to find many updates, guidelines and many FAQs. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.   Elaine Crysler School Lunch Manager                                                315-291-2248