School Food Service Parent Guide

School Food Service
Parent Guide
2014-2015
Food Service News
1
Table of Contents
Page
Great Falls Vision Mission Beliefs
3
Food Service Contact Information
4-5
Breakfast and Lunch Programs
6
Special Nutritional Needs
7
Free and Reduced Meal Applications
8-9
Student Accounts
9
Meal Payment Options
10-11
Online Meal Payment Services
11-12
Meal Charge Practices
13
Refunds
14
School Food Service History
15
Meal Prices
16
Photos &Stories from our Department
17-19
Resources
20
2
GREAT FALLS PUBLIC SCHOOLS
VISION:
All kids are engaged in learning today … for life tomorrow.
MISSION :
We successfully educate students to navigate the future.
WE BELIEVE:
•
All students deserve teachers and staff who thrive on student success.
•
Each student will have fair and equitable opportunity for quality instruction
and academic success.
•
All students learn when their individual needs are met through a personalized
school experience.
•
All students and staff learn and work best in a safe, secure, and nurturing
environment.
•
Highly skilled and committed personnel are our greatest asset.
•
Quality education is a partnership of students, staff, family, and community
engagement.
•
Dedication to acknowledging, affirming, and including diversity enriches the
educational experiences for all.
•
District resources, programs and staff are flexible, adaptable and provide
choice to meet the changing needs of all students.
•
A well-educated community is the foundation of our democracy.
•
District resources and staff are public assets requiring responsible stewardship
and community involvement.
•
All students will graduate college, career and citizenship ready.
3
CONTACT INFORMATION
and
OFFICE LOCATION
1100 4th Street South
P.O. Box 2429
Great Falls, MT 59403
Phone: 406-268-6047
Fax:
406-268-7461
Supervisor
Jennifer Spellman
Field Supervisor
Stephanie Bautista
Administrative Assistant
Debbie Taylor
SCHOOL LUNCH
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School Food Service Phone Contact Number
(Hands Afterschool Phone number as well)
SCHOOL
ADDRESS
Café
Phone
Office
Phone
Chief Joseph
5305 3rd Ave. S
268-6704
268-6675
Lewis & Clark
3800 1st Ave. S
268-6732
268-6705
Lincoln
624 27th St. S
268-6827
268-6800
Longfellow
1100 6th Ave. S
268-6883
268-6845
Loy
501 57th St. N
268-6892
268-6885
Meadow Lark
2204 Fox Farm
268-7289
268-7300
Morningside
4119 7th Ave. N
268-6967
268-6960
Mountain View
3420 15th Ave. S
268-6940
268-7305
Riverview
100 Smelter Ave.
268-6941
268-7015
Roosevelt
2501 2nd Ave. N
268-7067
268-7045
Sacajawea
630 Sacajawea Dr. 268-7109
268-7080
Sunnyside
1800 19th St. S
268-7142
268-7115
Valley View
900 Ave. A NW
268-6945
268-7145
West
1205 1st Ave. NW 268-7218
268-7180
Whiƫer
305 8th St. N
268-7343
268-7230
East
4040 Central Ave. 268-6458
268-6500
North
2601 8th St. NE
268-6551
268-6525
CM Russell High
228 17th Ave. NW 268-6158
268-6100
Great Falls High
Paris Gibson Ed.
1900 2nd Ave. S
268-6298
268-6250
Center
2420 Central Ave. 268-6617
268-6600
Skyline ELF Center
3300 3rd Str. NE
268-6400
5
268-7551
The Breakfast and Lunch Program
It is the goal of Child Nutrition Services to provide a
healthy and nutritious breakfast and lunch daily, while allowing students to choose from the foods they enjoy eating.
The Breakfast Program
Breakfast is offered daily in the following schools:
Chief Joseph, Lewis & Clark, Longfellow, Sunnyside, West,
Morningside, Mountain View, Roosevelt, Valley View, Whittier,
East, North, Paris and Great Falls High School.
A Healthy school breakfast is a great way to begin a day of
learning. Select schools participate in a Grab & Go Breakfast
program and breakfast in the classroom. The menu’s are published according to the program and facilities.
The Lunch Program
School meals offer students milk, fruits and vegetables, proteins
and grains, and they must meet strict limits for saturated fat and
portion size.
•
School lunches nationwide need to meet standards requiring
the following:
Age-appropriate calorie limits
Larger servings offered of vegetables and fruits
A wider variety of vegetables (including dark green and
red/orange vegetables and legumes)
Fat-free or 1% milk
More whole grains (50% of grains offered)
And less sodium
Both the Breakfast and Lunch program are reviewed by the
state and federal programs. For more information about School
Nutrition Programs visit: www.opi.mt.gov/Programs/
SchoolPrograms/
6
Extra Items
Cafeterias in the middle and high schools offer a variety of
extra items. These foods are offered in addition to, not in
place of, the regular menu at an additional cost. All food
items offered are in compliance with USDA regulations.
Parents may monitor what their child/ren purchase when
they sign up for mySchoolBucks.com. (See pages 11-13)
Special Promotions
Many of our school cafeterias plan special events and promotions to make meal time fun and to encourage students to
eat healthy meals. Promotional items
such as pencils etc. are provided to students who purchase a meal.
Special Nutritional Needs
Students with health issues that require special nutritional
or dietary needs should contact the school food service department @ 268-6047 at the beginning of each school year.
This will initiate processes for a Health Care Plan or a Diet
Order Plan.
Parents should be prepared to provide a medical statement
regarding the health issue and subsequent dietary/ nutritional needs.
7
Free and Reduced Meal Applications
Federal Guidelines Require a New application must be
completed Every School Year.
Options for completing them include:
1. ONLINE:
Go To
https://lunch.gfps.k12.mt.us
Applications can be completed and submitted from your home computer
or a computer at your local school!
OR
2. TRADITIONAL PAPER APPLICATIONS :
They are available at your School Office or
the GFPS Food Service Office located at
1100 4th Street South, Great Falls, MT 59405
The following information will be necessary to complete the application:
• Your child’s Legal Name
• Your child or children’s birthdays
• Your Gross Income
• Your child’s Student ID Number
The application is a family application. Only one application
needs to be completed for each household.
Students who were approved for benefits last year will continue
receiving meals under last year’s approval until a new application
is processed or until the cut off date of October 15, 2014 if an application is not received. Students who do not have an approved
meal application on file will need money for meals beginning
October 15, 2014. New students must have applications approved
before meal benefits begin. This includes kindergarten students.
8
Pre-K, elementary and middle school students who do not
have an approved application on file and do not have money in their account will receive a complete meal. The price
of the meal will be charged to the student’s account. Students will be asked to return any extra items on their tray to
the cashier. Parents will be responsible for reimbursing the
cafeteria for any money charged to the student’s account,
even if an application is approved at a later date.
Parents are responsible for making sure their child has an
approved application on file. If a letter detailing the status
of a meal application is not received within 10 working
days after the application is submitted, call your school cafeteria to insure they have received an application first. If an
application has been received you may then call
406– 268-6047 to inquire about the status of your application.
Student Meal Account Information
•
All students have their own account.
•
Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) are assigned to
all students. The district assigns the numbers that your
child will use for multiple programs. Please help your
child learn his/her number. Students should not give
their PIN to other students.
•
Students returning to the Great Falls Public School district will use the same number each school year they are
here.
9
Student Meal Account Information (cont’d)
•
•
Students photos are imported into the point of sale
system.
Meal Payment Options
School Food Services will accept payment for meals by
cash, personal check, money order, cashier’s check or
online (credit/debit card). Parents are encouraged to pay for
student meals and extra items in advance to help keep lunch
lines moving as quickly as possible. Money can be placed
in the student’s account at any time online.
(See pages 11-13)
Check Acceptance Procedures
Child Nutrition Services will gladly accept checks for the
amount of purchase or for prepayment under these conditions:
• Checks are to be made payable to GFPS Food Services
for the amount being deposited into account.
• Only checks with preprinted name and address will be
accepted.
• The cafeteria does not cash checks!
Please include the following on your check:
1. Student Name
2. Student Pin (ID) Number OR student name and grade
3. Phone Number
10
Online Meal Payment Services
The lunch program for Great Falls Public
Schools is excited to offer a convenient
way for you to make payments for lunches on-line through www.myschoolbucks.com.
Benefits of using this method of paying for school lunches
include:
• It helps your child receive his/her school meals quickly and without
interruption of service.
You can use mySchoolBucks to make pre-payments to your child’s
school meal account using your Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover or ATM (credit or debit) card.
•
Credits can be added to your child’s account 24 hours per day or
you can Set up automatic Recurring payments!
•
•
Low Balance email notifications set up by you.
•
Ability to view purchases for the past 90 days.
You can also monitor your child’s meal account balance and eating
frequency online -- it’s updated as often as every ten minutes! (NOTE:
This may vary by the food service computers access to internet during
the meal service. Computers are shut down each evening and credits
will appear once the systems go online each morning.)
•
• No more lost checks or envelopes! Avoid interruption of meal
service by making sure money is always available for your child.
You can feel safe knowing that all transactions are secure.
The website is built using a digital encryption, providing
maximum protection of your credit card information.
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Www.mySchoolBucks.com
Support: 1-855-832-5226
This convenient, easy and secure online prepayment service will allow you to deposit money into
your school meal account at any time.
This service also provides you with the ability to
view your account balance through a web site
called www.mySchoolBucks.com. By having
money in your account prior to entering the cafeteria, we find the lunch lines move along much faster.
This system only cost $1.95 per transaction. Again,
you can take care of your entire family in one transaction.
You will also have the ability to print out a copy of
your recent purchases online via a history report
which lists all dates and times of breakfast and/or
lunch purchases.
To access these services:
Simply go to the district web site at
www.gfps.k12.mt.us
Click on the Parent & Students Tab
Go to the Lunch and Food Resources
Click on the mySchoolBucks.com link.
From this site you will create your account and
add money to your school meal account. Additional information will soon be available which
will allow payments of other school related fees.
12
Meal Charge Practices
High Schools—
• No charging allowed in the cafeterias.
**The secondary school office may issue a “lunch voucher”
for your child to eat a reimbursable lunch. In this case, your
child is borrowing money from the office and must pay the
office. It is the parent and student’s responsibility to check
on his or her account balance.
Middle School—
• There is a $5.00 charge limit whether it is a family or
student account. This could accrue over breakfast or
lunch. If the child’s balance is for example -$3.90 and
there is not enough money to charge another full meal
the student must receive a lunch voucher from the office
account for the meal.
See the above statement **
Elementary School—
There is a $10.00 charge limit per student account. This
amount could accrue over breakfast or lunch.
• Once students reach the $10.00 or the maximum
amount of meals with out exceeding the limit, the student will be offered a cold cheese sandwich at lunch
time. There will be no charge for this meal option.
There will not be an alternative breakfast offered.
• If a parent does not respond by sending money, food, or
by completing a free and reduced meal application the
district may discontinue the “free” cheese sandwich.
•
LAST 10 DAYS OF SCHOOL NO CHARGING!!!
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Refunds
Under $10.00
Parents/ guardians may go to the school cafeteria for refunds under $10.00. The money will be refunded in cash at
that time unless funds are not available at that time. If
funds are not available at the time of request, the parent
should complete a refund request form and a check will be
mailed.
Over $10.00
Parents must request a refund when their child/ren leave the
district if the refund is over $10.00. You may go to the
food service page of the district website and download the
form. Once the form is completed, please send it to the
Food Service office @ PO Box 2429 or bring it to 1100 4th
Street South and your refund will be submitted to the business office for payment. Payments will be mailed so be
sure to give us your new address if you will be moving right
away. (You may also come to the food service office and
we will be happy to help you.)
14
Child Nutrition Programs
The child nutrition programs
touch millions of children
each day, and improve educational achievement, economic
security, nutrition and health.
1/3 of
RDA’s is
met with
School
Lunch
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) began
in 1946 under the National School Lunch Act and is
intended to help meet the nutrition needs of children
from low-income households. Lunches served to children under this program are required to meet onethird of the total Recommended Daily Allowance
(RDA) for key nutrients (minimum requirements are
set for calories, protein, calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin
C, and iron; maximum requirements are set for total
fat and saturated fat).
Nondiscrimination Statement
In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department
of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited
from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue,
S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (800)
795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TTY). USDA is
an equal opportunity provider and employer.
15
Meal Prices
Milk $0.50
2013-2014
Breakfast
Lunch
K-6
$1.45
$2.30
7-12
$1.45
$2.55
Adults
$1.85
$3.40
Deal of the Day!
16
Some of what makes our Food
Service Department Great…..
See for yourself!
Below: Sue Hesse performs Lunch Lady
Land for North Middle School Students
Spring 2012 and again in Spring 2014 before her honored
Right is Food Service Employees recognized for HealthierUS Silver and Bronze
Awards 2014
Below is a banner for each of the 17
schools that received awards!
17
Photos from Boss’s Night Hosted By Ann Taylor and Kathy Reed
The Special Education Vocational Program work to raise money to
honor their Boss’s in the Community each School Year.
Great Falls School Food Services teams up with them to cater the
event.
A Spectacular Event & what an Honor it is each year!
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The Opening of Bison Beastro at GFH South
Campus has enabled students and staff additional
space necessary for lunch in addition to allowing
flexibility in scheduling. A plus for all!
Students get a variety of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable choices daily at Great
Falls Public Schools!
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Resources
Montana State University Extension Service
Food and Nutrition http://www.msuextension.org/nutrition/
Nutrition Education and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Education Programs
http://www.msuextension.org/nep/
Nutrition and Nutrition Education Programs
Local counties agents are available to conduct a regional Nutrition Education for
Teachers Class (graduate level college class or for OPI credit), please contact
Katie Bark, RD at Montana Team Nutrition Program for more information on this
service. Katie can be reached at (406) 994-5641 or by e-mail at [email protected]
Montana Department of Agriculture
Agriculture in Montana Schools : http://agr.mt.gov/aginmtschools/index.htm
Contact Lori Brenneman, Agricultural Literacy Specialist at (406) 437-1906 or by
e-mail at [email protected]
Farm to School Program Chapters
Gallatin County http://gvf2s.wordpress.com/
Chapters are sprouting up all over the state. See the following web site for information in Flathead, and Missoula counties
http://www.farmtoschool.org/state-programs.php?id=9
Eat Right Montana Coalition
http://www.eatrightmontana.org/
Montana Action for Healthy Kids Team
http://www.eatrightmontana.org/eatrightafhk.htm
or the National Action for Healthy Kids web site at:
http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/in-your-state/
School Meals That Rock
http://www.facebook.com/SchoolMealsThatRock
http://www.Fueluptoplay60.com
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