Guide for Parents

Nutrition

Each meal served in the school meals program is designed to provide adequate calories, nutrients and dietary fiber while reducing or limiting saturated fat and cholesterol. Each breakfast provides 1/4 of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for key nutrients. Each lunch provides 1/3 of the (RDA) for key nutrients. Stokes County Schools Recipe Carbohydrates List. Stokes County Schools participates in the N.C. Farm-to-School Program and strives to deliver a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to our students on a daily basis.

School Meal Prices

Every student has a choice of menu items. In addition to the meal, other items may be purchased. These include any menu selection, salads, juice, bottled water and selected dessert items. Prices vary according to the item purchased. Extra items cannot be charged.

LunchPrepay.com

Stokes County Schools Introduces LunchPrepay.com ... the one-stop shop for automated school meal account management.

• Make meal payments on the internet using your credit card
• Check your child's meal account balance
• Get low balance alerts by e-mail
• See what your child is buying

In School Pre-payment

Stokes County Schools offers a debit system for your convenience. You may pay for lunch by the day or place money on the account for the week, month or longer. Cash, checks and money orders are acceptable forms of payment. When sending money with elementary students it is a good practice to place your payment in an envelope marked "lunch money" and with your student's name on it. Money on your student's account is kept until it is used and will carry over from one grade level to the next, even if the student is advancing to middle or high school. Each student is assigned an identification number that is unique so that each account is confidential.

Free and Reduced Meals

Free and reduced price meals ($.30 for breakfast and $.40 for lunch) are provided for those who qualify based upon income and family size. All information is strictly confidential. Applications are provided to all students the first day of school. Additional copies are available at the school office or on-line. Families are encouraged to take advantage of this service. Only one application per family is required.

• Application for Free & Reduced Price Meals (English)
• Solicitud Para Comidas Escolares Gratis o a Precio Reducio (Español)

Charge Policy

Due to reporting requirements, the Child Nutrition Program cannot incur a loss due to charges of food and beverages by students. Customers may, however, pay for meals in advance or temporarily charge a meal. Parents will be responsible for payment of the charge to the school. Furthermore, Federal policy prohibits the withholding of meals from a student as a form of discipline.

Charge Procedure

• Pre-paid meal plan is encouraged. Efforts should be made by the school system and the individual schools to encourage students and parents to participate in the pre-paid meal plan as an alternative to the purchasing of meals on a daily basis in order to reduce the incidence of students forgetting or losing their meal money. As all school cafeterias possess computerized point of sale/cash register systems, it is recommended that parents be informed by the school that meals can be paid for in advance and maintained in their student's account so as to minimize the possibility that the student may be without meal money on any given day. The computerized system will maintain a record of all monies deposited and spent for each student. A copy of this report will be available to parents upon request.
  
  
• No Stokes County students will be deprived a meal nor be served a differentiated meal (i.e. peanut butter/jelly or cheese sandwich) due to forgotten or lost meal money. Students who forget to bring or have lost their lunch money will be allowed to charge the purchase of food and beverages on the line in the cafeteria. Students will only be allowed to charge a reimbursable meal. Students with charges will not be allowed to purchase à la cart items, except for milk, until all charges are paid.
  
  
• All food and beverage charges are due to be paid within seven days. Each week, reminders of charges and amount owed will be sent home in book bags, and Connect-ED will be used to notify parents of charges.
  
  
• Late Fees. Stokes County Public Schools and individual schools are authorized to charge a late fee for any charges that are not paid within 30 days of the date that the charge is made. The late fee shall be 1% per month of the unpaid balance with a minimum of $5.00 per month for processing.
  
  
• If a student is without meal money on a consistent basis, the principal is encouraged to investigate the situation more closely, including contacting the parent/guardian to bring money to the school and/or encouraging the parent/guardian to apply for free or reduced price meals. The school principal reserves the right to withhold report cards and /or class schedules pending payment of charges. The school principal also reserves the right to restrict participation in selected extracurricular activities until charges are cleared.
  
  
• Federal law prohibits the charging of adult meals.
  
  
• The Child Nutrition Program of Stokes County Public Schools is dedicated to meeting the needs of all students. The Child Nutrition staff will gladly assist schools in designing the most appropriate procedures for adhering to this policy upon request.