Food Services

MEALS

Meals served in each of the Cafeterias are part of the National School Breakfast Program (NSBP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP).  The meal patterns required by the NSLP regulations are designed so that over a period of time, school lunches will provide children with approximately one-third of the nutrients they need according to the Recommended Dietary Allowances.

A school lunch consists of five different components:

1.  meat/meat alternative
2. bread/bread alternative
3. vegetables
4. fruit
5. milk

All five food items are offered daily.  The Cafeteria staff encourages students to take all five items but students must choose at least 3 of the 5 to make a meal, with 1 of the 3 being either a serving of a fruit OR vegetable.  With the introduction of the new federal regulation, Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, students MUST take either a fruit or vegetable to make a meal.  Whether students choose 3, 4, or 5 items, the price of the meal is the same.  This “offer vs serve” concept was instituted to encourage children who may not like one menu item to purchase lunch and to help eliminate the vast amount of plate waste generated by forcing children to accept products they will not eat.

Alternate entree choices are offered each week and a la carte items are available in each of our Cafeterias.  A list of a la carte items is under the “Price List” section of this portion of our website.

The HHFKA was signed into legislation by President Obama in January of 2012.  The legislation was created to improve child nutrition and gives us the most significant changes to the National School Lunch Program for 15 years.  Please see letter below concerning changes to our lunch program for the 2012 – 2013 school year.

MILK

Milk choices are:  fat-free white milk, 1% white milk, and 1% chocolate milk.

The National School Lunch Program requires that schools offer only milk with a student meal.  In order for a student to receive a substitute for their milk, a current physician’s statement must be on file with the Food Service Office and school health room.  A current physician’s statement must be submitted each school year.

The Food Service Department operates all cashier functions under eTrition, which is a computerized point-of-sale system.  All students are issued a personal identification number (PIN).  Each child’s PIN is their student ID number.

When a child decides he/she wants to buy lunch for that day, he/she will approach the cashier and enter their PIN on a keypad.  The child’s account and photograph will appear on the cashier’s computer touch screen.  The cost of the lunch will automatically be deducted from the account without any exchange of cash.  Students who receive free or reduced-priced lunches will follow the same procedures outlined above.  However, their automatic debits will be made at a free or reduced lunch price.

Deposits may be made with cash, check, or on-line.  Checks should be made payable to PSD Cafeteria Account and contain the current date.  The Food Service Department will not hold post-dated checks.   Students may drop cash or check deposits at their building office. There is a $25 per check fee for returned checks.

We encourage students (especially seniors) to expend their account money by the end of the year.  Underclassmen’s accounts will be carried over into the next year; graduating seniors’ account balances (over $5.00) will  transferred to a younger sibling’s account or refunds may be requested.

Restrictions

The Food Service Department extends the option to parents of applying restrictions to their student’s cafeteria accounts.  A “meals only” restriction may be applied to allow your child to use their money in their cafeteria account to purchase a school lunch only.  No a la carte sales will be taken from the account balance.  You child may, however, purchase a la carte with cash.

You may request a restriction by contacting the Food Service Office.  All restrictions will remain on the student’s account until we receive a note to remove it.

My School Bucks

MySchoolBucks.com is an easy and secure way for parents to add money to their student’s lunch accounts and view their purchases.

The Food Service Department extends to all Elementary and Middle School students the privilege of charging meals in the Cafeteria.  Students are not denied meals.

Students with delinquent account balances will receive a negative balance letter highlighting the amount of the delinquency.  As long as a student is carrying a negative balance, the student will not be permitted to purchase extras or a la carte items.

The Food Service Department does not extend the privilege of charging to high school students.

Free and Reduced Lunch Application

Summer Food Programs

Offers On-Line Payment Service
www.mySchoolBucks.com

The Parkland School District is pleased to announce a new payment service over the internet. Your child’s school now accepts payments for school meals through the mySchoolBucks.com online payment service.

 www.mySchoolBucks.com offers a secure transaction gateway that accepts VISA® or MasterCard® as a means of adding money to your child’s meal account.  Credit or debit cards can be used. Please note: Neither MySchoolBucks nor Parkland School District would ever contact a parent or guardian to request credit card information over the phone.

Here are a few reasons to register now and begin using mySchoolBucks.com:

• Safety – Virtually eliminates worries about your child carrying money to school.
• Convenience – Make payments when it’s convenient for you, from the comfort of your own home, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
• Control – If you are using mySchoolBucks, you will be able to view your child’s meal purchases at the school cafeteria.  Also, you can set up an automatic email reminder to alert you when a payment is needed for your child’s account.  For Subscribers or Members of mySchoolBucks, you can set up an automatic payment when a payment is needed for your child’s meal account or for any other items or accounts available on the mySchoolBucks site.
• Efficient – Make payments for all your children in one step, even though they may attend different schools in our district.

To get started, all you need is a computer, internet access, and an email account.

There is no fee to use the mySchoolBucks Service to setup an account and view your child’s meal purchases, balances, and to setup up automated email notices when your child’s meal account falls below a dollar amount you specify.

There is a $2.50 transaction fee if you are using mySchoolBucks Service to make an online payment.

 If using the Service to pay for meals, the Service automatically deposits the money into the student’s meal account at school within one to two business days.

Refunds will be handled through the District Office using usual procedures.

To Register On-line:

Visit the website at www.mySchoolBucks.com. Follow the instructions on the screen and provide the required information in order to register. You can register each child using their date of birth and/or student identification number; and be sure to enter your child’s name exactly as you did when you registered them at school. You will receive notification by email of successful registration. For this reason, a valid email address is required when you sign up for the service.

We are excited to be able to offer this new service to our families in the school district. We hope you will find it to be not only convenient, but a great timesaver!

he number of students with food allergies/intolerances has increased substantially over the years.  In an effort to keep parents informed, the Food Service Department of Parkland School District would like to dedicate this portion of our web site to such nutritional issues.

Carbohydrate Counts:

As diabetes becomes more prevalent among our youth, we receive many calls regarding the carb counts of our items.

Carbohydrate information

Carbohydrate information – elementary ala cart menu

Carbohydrate information – middle school  ala cart menu

Carbohydrate information – high school  ala cart menu

Food Allergies/Food Intolerances:

Allergies and intolerances are health-related problems not only because of the discomfort or risk they create but also because they can eliminate nutritious foods from a child’s diet.

Our menus contain certain items with a red *. These items do not contain wheat