It is the goal of the Medical Lake School District to feed our students nutritious and balanced meals to support their classroom learning and quality of life. With recent changes to Federal guidelines, districts are required to develop account expectations and procedures.

The Nutrition Services Department is responsible for maintaining records of meal charges and alerting households of meal balances by way of calls, emails and letters.

The school district is responsible for assisting the Nutrition Services Department in collection of unpaid funds as well as intervention on an administrative level if deemed necessary.

Parents/Guardians are responsible for maintaining a positive meal account balance for students and delegating responsibility to adult students. All charges made to your child’s meal account are expected to be paid in full.

At all grade levels:
1- The charging of ala carte items is not allowed when there is a negative balance                              (extra milk/entree, water, chips, etc.)
2- Staff must have a balance of no more than 5 negative meal charges in their lunch

    account to purchase a meal.
3- Households will receive meal balance notifications via email, telephone and

    through the school office. Households may customize Skyward Family Access

    preferences to receive balance notifications.
4- An application for Free or Reduced Meals should be submitted at the beginning

    of each school year, and may be re-submitted at any time during the school year.
5- If a family communicates financial need and the district has a positive balance in

    their benevolence fund, assistance may be available upon request.
6- Phone calls will be made once a week to households with lunch balances of 

    negative $15.00 or greater and letters will be mailed home. A school administrator

    will contact the household to assist with filling out an application and determine if

    further assistance is needed.
7- Once the balance exceeds negative $50.00, the account will be transferred to

    student fees for collection, and families will work with the district on a payment

    plan.
8- Please Note: No student will be denied a meal under any circumstances.

    Account.

Payments:
Payments may be made on-line or in any school office with a debit or credit card.
Elementary School teachers will collect money and deliver to the front office daily.
Middle School payments are to be placed in the Payment Box in the main office.
High School payments are to be taken to the main school office and given to a secretary.

Refunds:
Refunds will be processed once a month, upon written request. You must provide your name, the student’s name, an address and a phone number.

Reimbursable Meals:
Please understand, in order for a purchase to qualify and be charged as a reimbursable meal (breakfast or lunch) the proper meal components must be included. The student must choose three items from the service line, and one of those items must be at least a half of a cup of fruit or a vegetable.

 

Under the new Federal guidelines, if a student refuses to take three things, that student will be charged per item, and that purchase will not qualify as a reimbursable meal.