The district’s meal charging requirements are as follows:
A charge account for students paying full or reduced price for meals may be established with the district. Students may charge no more than $20 to this account. Charging of a la carte or extra items to this account will not be permitted.
Any student failing to keep his/her account solvent as required by the district shall not be allowed to charge further meals until the negative account balance has been paid in full. However, such students will be allowed to purchase a meal if the student pays for the meal when it is received. Students who have charged the maximum allowance to this account and cannot pay out of pocket for a meal will be provided an alternative meal consisting of a cheese sandwich, fruit and milk.
At least one written warning shall be provided to a student and his/her parent or guardian prior to denying meals for exceeding the district’s charge limit. If payment of the negative balance is not received within 5 days of the maximum charge limit being attained, the debt will be turned over to the superintendent or superintendent’s designee for collection. If the debt is not paid within 10 days of mailing the final notice of the negative account balance, it shall be considered bad debt for the purposes of federal law concerning unpaid meal charges.
Payments for school meals may be made at the school or district office or by going online at www.usd470.com. Students, parents, and guardians of students are encouraged to prepay meal costs.
The district will provide a copy of this unpaid meal charges policy to all households at or before the start of school each year and to families and students that transfer into the district at the time of transfer. The terms of this policy will also be communicated to all district staff responsible for enforcing any aspect of the policy. Records of how and when it is communicated to households and staff will be retained.
