Meal Charge Policy
I. Purpose
The goal of Greenville City Schools is to provide students with healthy meals each day. However, unpaid charges place a large financial burden on our Food Services Department. The purpose of this policy is to insure compliance with federal reporting requirements for the USDA Child Nutrition Program, and to provide oversight and accountability for the collection of outstanding student meal balances.
The intent of this policy is to establish uniform meal account procedures throughout our district. The provisions of this policy pertain to regular priced school breakfast and lunch meals only. While the USDA Child Nutrition Program does not require that a student who pays for regular priced meals be served a meal without payment, Greeneville City Schools provides this policy as a courtesy to those students that may forget or lose their lunch money.
II. Policy
Full Pay Students - Elementary and Middle School Students will pay for meals at the district’s published standard rate each day. A student will not be allowed to charge a la carte items to their account after the balance reaches zero. Students will be offered a reimbursable meal which will be charged to the child’s meal account at the standard rate after their account reaches zero.
High School Students - Students will pay for meals at the district’s published standard rate each day. Once a student has charged six meals, he/she will not be allowed to charge a la carte items, however, he/she will be offered a reimbursable meal which will be charged to the child’s meal account at the standard rate.
Free Meal Benefit - Free status students will be allowed to receive a free breakfast and lunch each day. A la carte purchases must be prepaid.
Reduced Meal Benefit - Students will pay for meals at the district’s published standard rate each day. A student will not be allowed to charge a la carte items to their account after the balance reaches zero. Students will be offered a reimbursable meal which will be charged to the child’s meal account at the standard rate after their account reaches zero.
Teachers – Allowed to charge at the discretion of the Cafeteria Manager and Principal.
Parents/Guardians are responsible for meal payment to the food service program. Notices of low or deficit balances will be sent to parents/guardians at regular intervals during the school year.
No charging will be allowed the last two weeks of every school year to make certain that all debts are paid in full by the end of the year.
All school cafeterias possess computerized point of sale/cash register systems that maintain records of all monies deposited and spent for each student and said records are available by setting up an account at https://www2.mypaymentsplus.com/welcome or by speaking with the cafeteria manager. Students/Parents/Guardians pay for meals in advance via mypaymentsplus website, with a check payable to Greeneville City Schools’ Cafeteria, or with cash. Further details are available on our webpage at http://www2.gcschools.net/
Funds should be maintained in accounts to minimize the possibility that a child may go without meal money on any given day. Any remaining funds for a student will be carried over to the next school year.
For refunds for withdrawn and graduating students, a written request for a refund of any money remaining in their account must be submitted. An e-mail request is also acceptable. Students who are graduating at the end of the year will be given the option to transfer remaining funds to a sibling’s account with a written request or phone call.
Remaining Funds must be requested within one school year. Unclaimed funds will then become the property of Greeneville City School’s Food Service Program.
Collection of owed balances will follow the policies and procedures set by the school.
If a student is without meal money on a consistent basis, the administration will investigate the situation more closely and take further action as needed. If financial hardship exists, parents and families are encouraged to apply for free or reduced-price lunches for their child.