3546.1 Charging School Meals and Prohibition Against Shaming

1. The Board of Education recognizes that on occasion, students may not have enough funds for a meal. To ensure that students do not go hungry, the Board will allow students who do not have enough funds to “charge” the cost of meals to be paid back at a later date subject to the terms in this policy.

Purpose

The goal of the BRENTWOOD UFSD is to provide student access to nutritious no- or low-cost meals each school day and to ensure that a pupil whose parent/guardian has unpaid school meal fees is not shamed or treated differently than a pupil whose parent/guardian does not have unpaid meal fees.

Unpaid charges place a large financial burden on our school. The purpose of this policy is to insure compliance with federal requirements for the USDA Child Nutrition Program and, and to provide oversight and accountability for the collection of outstanding student meal balances to ensure that the student is not stigmatized, distressed or embarrassed.

The intent of this policy is to establish procedures to address unpaid meal charges throughout the BRENTWOOD UFSD in a way that does not stigmatize, distress or embarrass students. The provisions of this policy pertain to regular priced reimbursable school lunch. The BRENTWOOD UFSD provides this policy as a courtesy to those students in the event that they forget or lose their money.

To comply with State guidelines and maintain a system for accounting for charged meals, regarding both full and reduced-price meals, the Board shall:

1. allow only regular reimbursable meals (choice of) to be charged, excluding extras, à la carte items, side dishes, additional meals, and snacks (“competitive foods”); and
2. use a computer-generated point of sale system, which identifies and records all meals as well as collects repayments.

Free Meal Benefit - Free eligible students will be allowed to receive a free lunch meal of their choice each day. A la carte items or other similar items must be paid/prepaid.

Reduced Meal Benefit – Beginning July 1, 2019, students approved for reduce price meals will receive breakfast and lunch meals at no charge. A la carte items or other similar items must be paid/prepaid.

Full Pay Students - Students will pay for meals at the school’s published paid meal rate each day. The charge meals offered to students will be reimbursable meals available to all students, unless the student’s parent or guardian has specifically provided written permission to the school to withhold a meal. A la carte items or other similar items must be paid/prepaid.

Charged meals must be counted and claimed for reimbursement on the day that the student charged (received) the meal, not the day the charge is paid back. When charges are paid, these monies are not to be considered “à la carte” transactions, as a section on the daily cash report or deposit summary reads “charges paid.”

Students shall not be denied a reimbursable meal, even if they have accrued a negative balance from other cafeteria purchases, unless the parent/guardian has provided written permission to the school to withhold a meal. No student with unpaid charges will be prohibited from purchasing food if they have money that day.

If school food authorities (SFAs) suspect that a student may be abusing this policy, written notice will be provided to the parent/guardian.

Students who cannot pay for a meal or who have unpaid meal debt shall not be publicly identified or stigmatized (including wristbands or hand stamps), required to do chores or work to pay for meals, or have meals thrown away after they have been served. District staff shall not discuss a student’s unpaid meal debt in front of other students. The district shall not take any action directed at a student to collect unpaid school meal fees.

Student Account Balance Notification

The district’s payment system allows for automatic replenishment when a balance reaches a certain amount set by the parent/guardian. The district shall encourage parents/guardians to utilize this option.

Parents/guardians shall be discretely notified of student account balances regularly. Parents/guardians will be notified that a student’s meal card or account balance is exhausted and has accrued meal charges within five (5) days of the charge and then every week thereafter, to include the process to refill the account. This notification will continue regularly until the account is replenished. Parents/guardians must repay all unpaid charges remaining at the end of the year or before their child leaves the district, whichever occurs first.

ONGOING ELIGIBILITY CERTIFICATION:

School staff will conduct direct certification with NYSSIS or using NYSED Roster Upload to maximize free eligibility. NYSED provides updated direct certification data monthly.

School staff will provide parents/guardians with free and reduced-price application and instructions at the beginning of each school year in school enrollment packet.

Schools will provide at least two additional free and reduced-price applications throughout the school year to families identified as owing meal charges.

Schools will use administrative prerogative judiciously, only after using exhaustive efforts to obtain a completed application from the parent/guardian only with available information on family size and income that falls within approvable guidelines.

Schools will coordinate with the foster, homeless, migrant, runaway coordinators to certify eligible students. School liaisons required for homeless, foster, and migrant students shall coordinate with the nutrition department to make sure such students receive free school meals, in accordance with federal law. If a parent/guardian regularly fails to provide meal money and does not qualify for free or reduced-price meals, the district may take other actions as appropriate, including notifying the local department of social services if neglect is suspected.

The school district shall notify all parents/guardians in writing on an annual basis at the start of the school year and to families transferring during the year, outlining the requirements of this policy. The policy shall also be published in appropriate school and district publications. All staff involved in implementing and enforcing this policy shall also be notified of these requirements and their responsibilities. The district’s enrollment process shall include the application process for free and reduced-price meals. If the district becomes aware that a student is so eligible, it shall file an application for the student. Staff responsible for assisting foster, homeless and migrant students shall coordinate with the food services staff to ensure such students receive free school meals.

Outreach Efforts

School staff will make two documented attempts to reach out to parents/guardians to complete a meal application in addition to the application and instructions provided in the school enrollment packet.

School staff will contact the parent/guardian to offer assistance with completion of meal application to determine if there are other issues within the household causing the child to have insufficient funds, offering any other assistance that is appropriate.

Unpaid Meal Charges and Debt Collection

Unpaid meal charges are a financial burden to the district and taxpayers and can negatively affect the school program. Unpaid meal charges shall be considered “delinquent” as per the district’s accounting practices. The district shall attempt to recover unpaid meal charges before the end of the school year but may continue efforts into the next school year. The district shall notify parents/guardians of unpaid meal charges at regular intervals, and may engage in collection activities by district staff, which do not involve debt collectors as defined in federal law (15 USC §1692a) and may not charge fees or interest. The district shall offer repayment plans and may take other actions that do not result in harm or shame to the child, until unpaid charges are paid.

Remaining Account Balances

Remaining funds may be carried over to the next school year. Parents/guardians may request that remaining funds be transferred/refunded to other students within the district when students leave the district or graduate, (e.g., siblings, unpaid accounts). All transfer/refund requests must be in writing. Unclaimed funds remaining after three months shall be absorbed by the school meal account.

Staff

Staff members are allowed to purchase food from the district’s food services. However, all purchases must be paid for at the point of sale (cash). Staff members are not allowed to charge meals to be repaid later.

Training

Building Principals, working with the Coordinator of Food Services, shall ensure that all building and food service staff with responsibilities under this policy will be trained on the provisions of this policy and the requirements of Education Law section 908.

Food Service Staff will be trained annually and throughout the year as needed on the procedures for managing meal charges using the Food Service Department School’s training program. Food Service Staff training includes ongoing eligibility certification for free or reduced-price meals.

Cross-ref:
8520, Free and Reduced-Price Meal Services

Ref:
42 USC §1779 (Child Nutrition Act of 1966)

42 USC §§1758(f)(1); 1766(a) (National School Lunch Act)
2 CFR §200.426 (accounting for debt in federal programs)
7 CFR §§210.9 210.12; 210.19; 220.13; 245.5 (accounting in federal school meal programs)
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (Public Law 111-296), §143
15 USC §1692a (debt collector defined)
Education Law §908
USDA Report to Congress, Review of Local Policies on Meal Charges and Provision of Alternate Meals, June 2016, www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/cn/unpaidmealcharges-report.pdf
Unpaid Meal Charges: Local Meal Charge Policies, USDA FNS Memo SP 46-2016 (07/08/16), www.fns.usda.gov/unpaid-meal-charges-local-meal-charge-policies
Unpaid Meal Charges: Guidance and Q&A, USDA FNS Memo SP 57-2016 (09/16/16), https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/cn/SP57-2016os.pdf
Unpaid Meal Charges: Guidance and Q&A, USDA FNS Memo SP 23-2017 (03/23/17), https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/cn/SP23-2017os.pdf
Unpaid Meal Charges: Clarification on Collection of Delinquent Meal Payments, USDA FNS Memo SP 47-2016 (07/08/16), www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/cn/SP47-2016os.pdf
Overcoming the Unpaid Meal Challenge - Proven Strategies from Our Nation’s Schools, USDA FNS Guidance Document (May 2017), https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/cn/SP29-2017a1.pdf
New York State Legislation - Prohibition Against Meal Shaming, NYSED Memo (5/1/18), http://www.cn.nysed.gov/content/prohibition-against-meal-shaming
Meal Charge Plan Template, NYSED (5/1/18), http://www.cn.nysed.gov/content/meal-charge-and-prohibition-against-meal-shaming-policy-template
 

Approved by the Board of Education: 11/15/18
Approved by the Board of Education: 08/15/19

 

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