The student gets their lunch, and the account is charged for the items they purchased accordingly with their status.

If the student is a "free" student, they would get the meal for free as long as they follow the "reimbursable meal" model, but that same student would pay the full price if they only took a hot dog, as example, or ice cream.

Our school has a charging policy in the board policies. This allows students who go into a negative balance to get a meal, but not to purchase "a la carte" items--like ice cream and chips.

A student will be informed that their lunch balance is negative, if they are unaware, and the parent(s) will be informed as well. If a student maintains a negative balance for too long and acquires a balance over $20.00 negative, we begin intervention processes. This may include things like parent contact and/or utilizing donations to help, and--in some cases--potentially speaking with CPS.

Students walk through the line and make their lunch item choices as they go. Once they exit the line, they arrive at a register and type in their lunch number on a keypad and checkout.

If a student forgets their lunch number, the food service professionals can type in the student's name.

The school contracts Aramark as their Food Service Management Company. We utilize the global supply chain and buying power benefits to get a reduced price for the food we offer students.

We utilize programs that are approved by the DOE to build menus that meet the many requirements of school lunch (ex. how much sodium or calories an item has, how often they must have certain colored vegetables etc).

We then utilize approved vendors to purchase the items needed to offer the food choices on the menu we built.

At a minimum, students must have a fruit or veggie, as well as two other items. A full meal option would include an entree (includes protein and grain, such as a chicken sandwich or meatloaf and roll, etc), a milk, two choices of fruit, and two choices of veggies.

The food meets the requirements set forth by the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act. Meals are considered to be well-balanced and rounded.

To summarize, students choose between a variety of entrées that include a protein and grain component. They then choose from an assortment of fruits, veggies, and milks.

Students can choose whatever they want and will be charged accordingly, but if they want the "meal" price from the state*, they must have at least three components--one of which must be a fruit or vegetable.

If they follow the three components/one of which is fruit/vegetable, that is a "reimbursable meal" and they get charged the meal price (in some student cases, that would mean it is free).

If they do not follow these requirements, they simply get charged normal pricing for each item chosen.

*Where a student would get a reduced-priced or free meal

Parents should notify the school nurse of the allergy. Nurses would communicate that information with Adam Proulx, and he would inform the kitchen staff.

We buy from various approved vendors, such as Sysco, Prairie Farms, and Hershey.