Beginning next school year, students at Middlebury Community Schools will be paying for their lunches with a form of debit card instead of with a lunch ticket. There are several benefits to the new lunch system, according to school officials, but the driving force behind the change is to protect the anonymity of students who receive free or reduced cost lunches. At Northridge we have a number of students who spend their scheduled lunch times in the library or study halls instead of eating. According to Barnard, there are several other advantages including letting parents control their student's spending and the types of food items that are bought. For instance, if a parent does not want their student buying a certain item, that is entered on the computer and the cashier will know if a student tries to buy that item.
Parents can pay into the debit program on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
If we get an approved free or reduced lunch application for a student, the data will be entered immediately, and if we receive the information in the morning, the student can be using the program that day where before it might have taken a couple of days. Other advantages include computerized menu planning and nutritional analysis functions as well as online food ordering abilities. Also, Barnard's computer will be networked to all six schools in the district for instant transfer of daily cafeteria data that now has to be physically retrieved. We are anticipating the program to speed up lines in our cafeterias after the first couple of weeks which will help especially at Heritage Middle School where cafeteria congestion can sometimes be a problem. Truth Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.