Meal Charge Policy

Legacy Traditional Schools are committed to providing quality affordable meals to all students. The purpose of this policy is to comply with USDA federal requirements and establish a consistent district procedure for charging meals when students do not have money to pay, preventing meal charges, and ensuring eligible children are enrolled and certified in free and reduced-price school meals.

Legacy Traditional Schools recognize the vital link between proper nutrition and academic success. No child shall be denied a school meal because of inability to pay. All Students will be treated with dignity in the serving line regarding meal accounts. This policy is provided to all parents and any school or district- level staff members responsible for policy enforcement.

 

Meal Charge Alternatives:

  1. Parents and/or guardians will be informed via email when their account balance reflects a positive balance of $5.00 or less.
  2. Every student has a lunch account when they start at Legacy and we will not prevent a child from going through the lunch line and purchasing a meal. If your child happens to purchase a meal, the cost will be deducted from their lunch account. Students who have been approved under the eligibility guidelines by the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program are entitled to free or reduced priced meals. All non-eligible students will be charged for their meals.
  3. Students with a negative balance are not permitted to purchase any A la Carte items until their outstanding balance has been paid in full. However, if a student’s account is in the negative but they bring money in hand to pay for a full priced or reduced price meal at the time of meal service, the child must be provided a meal with that money.
    If a student’s account is in the negative and they bring money in hand to purchase an Ala Carte items or snacks, that money will be put toward the negative balance before the student is able to purchase those individual items.

Hand Stamps, stickers, notes home or any other means of overt identification of children with unpaid meal debt in the cafeteria or the classroom are prohibited. Additionally, children with unpaid meal debt shall not be required to work off their debt, including but not limited to, wiping down tables or cleaning the cafeteria.

 

Preventing Meal Charges:

  1. Parents and/or guardians are encouraged to enroll and register into our LINQ (Formerly Titan) Point of Sale System to monitor their child’s meal balance online and keep an adequate amount of funds in their child’s account to pay for meals.
  2. Once enrolled in the LINQ (Formerly Titan) POS system, parents will receive an automatic notification via text and/or email when their child’s account is below $5 or any other amount they set.
  3. Legacy schools provide instructions for enrolling in LINQ (Formerly Titan) and the Free and Reduced Meal Program in both English and Spanish.
  4. Legacy Schools will assure that any child for which the district is unable to obtain a completed school meal application, but becomes aware of their eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals shall be certified based on an application submitted by the Principal, as permitted by USDA guidance.

 

Scope of Responsibility:

  1. The school food services staff are to keep a record of negative accounts and alternative meals charged. They are to inform the school principal of a child in need of an application to apply for free and reduced school meals or a family facing hardship in need of financial assistance.
  2. Parents/Guardians are responsible for immediate payments on negative balances.

 

End of Year Process:

  1. All positive balances at the end of the school year will carry over to the next school year.
  2. Negative balances must be cleared before the end of the school year.
  3. Students graduating or transferring out of Legacy Traditional Schools may choose to receive a refund if their balance is $5.00 or above. They may also choose to transfer their remaining balance to a sibling attending any Legacy Traditional School. All students are encouraged to donate their remaining balance for the benefit of another student through our families in need program.Please submit your refund, transfer, or donation to the email food@legacytraditional.org.