Food Services

Understanding Universal Free Meals & Reimbursement Requirements

Welcome to the Lunenburg Public Schools Food Service Program

About Us

Our Mission

To provide delicious and nutritious meals to nourish education and advance good nutrition for all children

Our Vision

Healthy appealing meals are available to all children, Healthy Lifestyles, Camaraderie, Community and fun!

Who Are We

Our team of food and nutrition professionals support learning by promoting healthy habits for lifelong nutrition practices. We are dedicated to students' health, well-being.

The meals, food and beverages sold/served at each of the schools meet state and federal requirements, which are based on the National School Lunch Program Dietary Guidelines. Our program offers fresh fruit and vegetables with all of our meals providing access to a variety of affordable and appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of students.

Newsletters

March 2024

BREAKFAST AND LUNCH INFORMATION

Eating a healthy breakfast before starting the school day is linked to improved concentration, better test scores, increased energy and a higher intake of vitamins and minerals. Breakfast is especially important for young students whose brains use up about half of the body’s energy.

Eating lunch is important because it provides nourishment to the body and brain and reduces stress. Lunch provides a break from the activities of the day and gives energy for the afternoon. If your child does not consume foods offered at school, see Back to School Fuel for inspiration on preparing healthy lunches and snack ideas also check out choose my plate.

Image stating "wake up to school breakfast"

Build a healthy breakfast chart. Four offerings are grain, fruit or vegetable, milk and protein. Choose at least 3 items from the 4 offered.

Five Meal Components for School Lunch. 1. Meat or meat alternative 2. Grain 3. Fruit 4. Vegetable 5. Milk You choose at least 3 including: 1/2 cup of fruit or vegetable and at least two other full components. For best nutrition, choose all 5!

Breakfast and lunch options differ at certain grade levels. All of our school Cafeterias follow the Offer Vs Serve menu style. Four components are offered each morning for breakfast: Grain, fruit or vegetable, milk and a food item from the Meat and Meat Alternate component, or one additional food item from the Fruit and Vegetable component or Grains component. Students will be encouraged to select all components to create a reimbursable meal.

Five components are offered daily as the main Lunch: meat/meat alternate, vegetable, grain, fruit and milk. We will encourage students to take all of the components they need only take 3 with 1 being a fruit or vegetable to make it a reimbursable lunch. Please note Free and reduced price meals must be reimbursable meals.

Students can choose what they like and feel they will eat (A La Carte) at meal times and be charged accordingly if the account is in good standing. Charging of a La Cart will not be allowed (please see district charging policy).

Menus

Lunch menus - located on each school's main website

Cost and School Options (2023-2024)

Student Meal Prices

- Breakfast $1.75 full pay and $0.30 reduced pay
- Lunch $3.50 full pay and $0.40 reduced pay.

School options differ at certain grade levels. All of our schools Cafeterias follow the offer vs. serve menu style. 5 components are offered daily as the main meal: meat/meat alternate, vegetable, grain, fruit and milk. Although we encourage students to take all of the components the need only take 3 with 1 being a fruit or vegetable to make it a reimbursable meal. They can choose what they like and feel they will eat and be charged accordingly as well.

Primary School

Breakfast is served daily at the Primary school including early release days; student can head to the cafeteria at 9am and grab a bagged breakfast to carry back to class with them.

We offer the main/hot Lunch and either a salad or sandwich alternate option these alternate options change from week to week.

At the Primary school we like to keep the lunch line cash free. Payment should be in an envelope with the student first and last name, Payment should be given to teacher or put in designated spot in student classroom (this step will be a little different in at each grade level) so it can be brought down to the cafeteria in the morning with the lunch count. Please note all checks should be made payable to the Town of Lunenburg and change will not be sent home with student unless requested (if you send $4.00 the $.50 will be left in the students account. All account funds will be available for use as long as students are enrolled in Lunenburg Public Schools).

Turkey Hill Elementary School

Breakfast is served daily at Turkey Hill Elementary school including early release days; student can head to the cafeteria between 8:35 and 8:50 to grab a bagged breakfast to carry back to class with them.

We offer the main/hot Lunch and either a salad or sandwich alternate option these alternate options change from week to week. Students are allowed to purchase a second lunch and A La Carte (Items available for A La Carte purchase are only food items that are on the menu) food items at this level.

At Turkey Hill we like to keep the lunch line cash free as well. The payment should be in an envelope with the student first and last name. Payment is placed in the lock box next to the front office; the Cafeteria staff will retrieve payments placed in the lock box daily. Please note all checks should be made payable to the Town of Lunenburg and change will not be sent home with student unless requested (if you send $4.00 in cash the $.50 will be left in the students account. All account funds will be available for use as long as students are enrolled in Lunenburg Public Schools).

Lunenburg Middle High School

Breakfast is served daily at Lunenburg Middle High School including early release days the cafeteria is open for breakfast from 7:45 to 8:00.

We offer the main/hot Lunch daily the student have many options at this level with Lunch salads and grab and go lunches as well as a large A La Carte menu we do encourage students to take fruit and vegetables when select the

A La Carte items to create a full meal

As you can imagine cash free is not ideal in this setting with such a large group and so many choices. There is a lock box located in the front office payment left in the box should be in an envelope with the students name and ID# on it payments put in this box will be retrieved daily. Please note all checks should be made payable to the Town of Lunenburg use the memo line to specify who the payment is for.

Payment Options

Send in a check made out to Town of Lunenburg with school lunch program, student name and ID number identified in the memo section (no transaction fee).
Pay online using the Revtrak online payment system
- - a $3 transaction fee is added to each online payment
  - paying larger amounts (entire month for example) will minimize the transaction fee
  - families may also pay for multiple students in the system with one transaction (see Web Store instructions)

Checking and Transferring Lunch Balances:

- - Parents and students may check lunch balances via the Revtrak Online System using the student's last name and ID number. Follow the links to the amount page and click check balance
  - If a balance needs to be transferred to another student in the family, please contact the Food Services Director