Notes from the Hudson School Lunch Program

(Click here to visit the District Food Service page)

Dear parents,

 

The mission of the Hudson School District Food Service Department is to strive to treat all children equally, provide healthy, well-balanced, and reasonably priced meals in a safe and pleasant environment. Good nutrition is essential to the learning process; therefore, we encourage all students to eat well-balanced meals at school, as well as at home. Students that eat at school are provided meals that are nutritionally sound, meet or exceed the requirements of the USDA Meal Pattern.

 

The Hudson School District now uses a computerized ‘point of sale’ debit meal payment system.  The new Mealtime Point of Service Program has been well received by students, parents, and staff.  This system allows you to “deposit” money into your child’s account, and funds are automatically deducted when cafeteria purchases are made using a unique 4-digit personal identification number (PIN) assigned to your child. Since this is a debit system, parents are encouraged to deposit a check to the students account once a month.

 

If your child had money left in his/her account at the end of June 2011, the money will be available on the first day of school (Tuesday, August 30, 2011).

 

All elementary school students will have a prepayment envelope sent home each month along with the menu for your convenience and security. Breakfast and Lunch are paid for in advance by the week, month, or longer. The envelope should be filled out with the student's name, school, and homeroom, and returned to school with a check enclosed. Envelopes will not be sent home at the Middle and High School.

 

Checks are made payable to: "Hudson School Lunch Program,” not the specific school your child attends, and please put your child’s name in the memo section. Checks can be split between siblings within the same school only. Please note that the Hudson School District charges $25.00 for each returned check and will debit the student’s account.

 

It is essential that you do not allow your child's account balance to become too low. In the case of zero balance accounts, we will require students to pay with cash at the time of service or bring meals from home. Federal reporting requirements do not allow the Child Nutrition Program to “charge” meals. As a courtesy, if an elementary student forgets their lunch money, an “Emergency Lunch” of a Sunbutter sandwich and milk will be served. The charge should be paid in full on the following day. We cannot extend this courtesy beyond three times.  If a student is denied meal service due to excessive charges the matter will be turned over to a school counselor and parents will be encouraged to apply for free or reduced-price meals.  Monies deposited to an account will be used to satisfy the negative balance first. Ala carte items are not part of the School Lunch Program and cannot be purchased if a student has a negative account balance.

 

For your convenience, you can make online deposits, check your students account balance, and view account activity online.  Please contact the Food Service department by emailing: canger@sau81.org to request online access.  You will need to provide your student’s full name and school when requesting a “Passcode” to access his/her account at  www.mymealtime.com.

 

Are your kids going to school without breakfast in the morning?

Would you like your child to have a nutritious breakfast so they are prepared to learn?   We can help!

The Hudson School Lunch Program now has a “breakfast program” at all schools.

 

Applications for free or reduced price meals are available for any family who wishes to apply.  Applications are sent to each household at the beginning of the school year and are available throughout the year at each school location and at the SAU office. You may apply at any time and are encouraged to do so.  If you qualify for free meals but choose to send lunch from home, per government regulations, the milk is not free and must be purchased for the regular price of forty cents. Ala carte items can always be purchased at your own expense.

Students requiring meal modifications must have their physician complete a Special Meals Prescription. These are available in the nurse's office or the office of the Food Service Director.

Meal prices for the 2009-2010 school year are as follows:

	Elementary	Middle School	High School
Breakfast	$1.25	$1.25	$1.50/1.75
Reduced Breakfast	$.30	$.30	$.30
Lunch	$1.75	$1.75/$2.00	$2.25
Reduced Lunch	$.40	$.40	$.40
Milk/Juice	$.40	$.40	$.40

 

 

Please be aware menus are subject to change without notice.

 

In an effort to be sensitive to students with peanut allergies, we will no longer serve peanut butter as a menu item in the elementary schools, nor will we use it in our baking. We will make considerable effort to limit peanut products in the food service program; however, we are not a peanut free district.

Thank you for your support of the program and as always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact the Food Service Department by email @ canger@sau81.org or calling 886-1245, M-F 9:30am-2:30pm.

 

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Sincerely,

Carla A. Anger

Food Services Director