Lexington City School System

2024-25 Updated Meal Charge Administrative Procedure

(Revisions Effective 8-1-2024 are highlighted in green)

(Attention Recommendations effective 8-1-2024 are highlighted in pink)

In the 2019-20 school year, Lexington City School System will be implementing a new charge policy for our cafeterias.  Our Nutrition Department operates under regulations set forth by the National School Lunch Program and the National School Breakfast Program.  In order to operate in compliance with these programs, our cafeterias must offer reimbursable meals that follow nutritional guidelines set by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture).  Our school system also complies with the Offer vs. Serve Policy for grades K thru 8. As provided in SP 46-2016, all school food authorities (SFAs) operating the federal school meal programs (National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program) must have a written and clearly communicated meal charge administrative procedure in place no later than July 1, 2017.  All SFAs must have an administrative procedure in place for children participating at the reduced price or paid meal rate who either do not have money in their account or in hand to cover the cost of the meal at the time of service. SFAs are required to communicate this administrative procedure to families and school and/or district-level staff members as appropriate. SFAs should ensure the administrative procedure is communicated on an annual basis.

Families will have access to the meal charge administrative procedure via written copy of the district-wide charge administrative procedure included in student handbooks which are given to each student at the start of every school year and/or on the LCSS website”). Families of transfer students (during the year) will receive a written copy of the district-wide charge administrative procedure in the student registration packet.

 Clarification of a reimbursable meal:

To explain what a full meal is in the eyes of the USDA, we need to start with the USDA rules. We receive a monetary reimbursement from the Federal Government for each meal we sell to students. (We do not receive a reimbursement for adult meals or a second full meal for a student.) In order for us to get that reimbursement we must follow the USDA guidelines. These guidelines are in conjunction with the “Offer versus Serve” program.

At lunch, we are required to “offer” students five components with each meal. Students are required to take a fruit or vegetable plus three other complete components out of the five offered in order for us to count it as a “reimbursable meal”. The components offered are 2ozs meat/meat alternate, 2oz credited grain, 1/2C fruit, 1/2C vegetable and 8 ozs milk.

At breakfast, we are required to offer four items to students 1-2 oz equivalent servings of either grain or meat options or a combined serving of grain & meat, 8oz milk, ½ cup serving of fruit or vegetable, and 4oz serving of 100% juice. Students are required to take a 1/2C serving of fruit or vegetable along with 2 other items to credit as a reimbursable breakfast.

At no time can a la carte' items (single item purchases), adult meals, or visitor meals be charged to any lunch account.  The new policy states that neither full paid students nor reduced pay students be allowed to charge more than one week's total of meal costs. At LCSS a full price reimbursable breakfast costs $2.25 and a reduce breakfast costs 30¢. A full price reimbursable lunch costs $3 and a reduced lunch costs 40¢.  One week’s cost for full priced breakfast & lunch is $26.25 and for reduced pay meals is $3.50. 

Local Charge Administrative Procedure Considerations

General

Students who are unable to pay for their meals at the time of the meal service are allowed to charge 5 reimbursable lunches and 5 reimbursable breakfasts. Students charging breakfast and/or lunch will receive reimbursable meals. Charges must not go over the amount allowed for one week of meals.  If your family needs assistance paying for meals, please log onto the LCSS website and select Cafeteria to locate the online Free & Meal Application to complete and submit.  A letter stating your family’s qualifying status will sent home to you by your student within 10 days of submitting your application.  If you fail to hear form the Nutrition Department after 10 days, please call the school to insure that your application is received and processed.

* NOTICE: It is your responsibility to insure your application has been received and processed by the LCSS Nutrition Department.*

Charge limits

The maximum charges allowed for PreK-8^th grades are $25.00 for Full pay students or $3.50 for Reduced pay students. Once a student reaches the allowable charges, he/she will no longer be allowed to charge meals and should be prepared to bring his/her meals from home until the negative balance is paid in full.

Each household may request a Repayment Contract that will include payment levels and due dates agreed upon by both the debtor and the Nutrition Department. The financially responsible party must sign this contract.  Please contact Jan Page, Food Service Director @ (731)968-8457 ext. 406 to establish a Repayment Contract.

Bad Debt

Bad debt is a negative balance that is determined to be uncollectable, with further collection efforts for delinquent debt deemed useless or too costly. Delinquent debt is considered a bad debt when it reaches $100.00.  The Lexington City School System has determined this debt amount a “Bad Debt”.  Charges accrued, Bad debts (debts which have been determined to be uncollectable), including losses (whether actual or estimated) arising from uncollectable accounts and other claims, are unallowable. Related collection costs, and related legal costs, arising from such debts after they have been determined to be uncollectable are also unallowable. Unallowable debt protocol can be found in section 200.426 of subpart E of Tennessee Code Annotated, Once delinquent meal charges are converted to bad debt, records relating to those charges must be maintained in accordance with record retention requirements in 7 CFR 210.9(b)(17) and 7 CFR 210.15(b).

Household Notification

Negative balance notification: The LCSS Nutrition Department will send a negative balance notification home by your student once they have accrued a negative charge of $25.00.  Please notice the date printed on your letter.  Purchases made after this date are NOT reflected in the amount stated on this notification. To assist you in monitoring and paying for your child’s cafeteria accounts, the Lexington City School System has in place an online paying and monitoring system called MySchoolBucks.  This program creates an opportunity for you to set up your establish your own personal account where you may choose to make payments to your child's cafeteria account for a small fee taken from your  payment amount or you can choose to use it as a monitoring tool to view your child's cafeteria purchases and balance free of charge.  You can sign up for this program by visiting  myschoolbucks.com or by uploading their mobile app on your cellular device.  Remember, you can always send your meal pay- ments to the cafeteria in a sealed envelope labeled CAFETERIA with your child’s full name, grade & date written on it.  We ask that if you send a check or money order, please, write your child’s FULL NAME on it so that it will be deposited in the correct account.  Please remember that if your student ended the year with a positive balance, that balance will roll forward to the nest school year. This positive balance will continue to roll forward with your student as they progress from Caywood Elementary School to the Lexington Middle School.  If at anytime you deem it necessary to request a refund from your student(s) meal account(s), you must submit a signed statement or email from the student’s declared financially responsible party stating:  the reason for the request, the guardian’s full name, the student(s) full name(s), and an active mailing address and phone number, to  the LCSS Nutrition Department, requesting a  balance refund(s) or, if you prefer, a balance transfer(s) to any active LCSS  student of your choice.

Delinquent Debt

Delinquent debt is defined as overdue unpaid meal charges that are considered collectable, with efforts being made to collect them. The debt may remain on the accounting documents until it is either collected or determined to be uncollectable. Please refer to the “Charge Limit” and the “Bad Debt” sections of this document for further details. Once your student receives their notification letter to bring home to you, payment to clear this debt and place you in good standing must be received within 5 calendar days.  Also remember, your student’s debt will continued to increase from the date of your notification to  the time you send your payment.  You need to add the newly acquired amount to your payment in order to clear your negative balance. If you are uncertain how many meals your child has consumed during this time period, you may either call the Nutrition Office at 731-968-8457 ext. 406 or ext. 699 and request your current balance or refer to your myschoobucks online account for your current balance. If you are unable to make a payment at this time, be prepared to send meals from home for your student(s) and call the LCSS Nutrition Department to set up a Repayment Contract.

Meal Account Refunds for Graduating or Withdrawing Students

The Lexington City School Nutrition Department has revised their lunch program’s refund policy. If a student is either withdrawing or graduating from the Lexington City School System and has a positive meal balance, the nutrition department needs a written request for refund no later than 10 days after the student’s last day of school.  Balances less than $50.00 after withdrawal/graduation will be transferred to the nutrition department’s delinquent accounts. Unclaimed balances of $50 or more will be transferred to the Tennessee Department of Treasury per state mandate.  

To request a refund please call your child’s school at 731-968-8457.

Additional Resources

At LCSS a full price reimbursable lunch costs a student $3.00 and a reduced price lunch costs $.40.  A reimbursable breakfast costs $2.25 and a reduced price breakfast costs $.30.  Full pay meal cost for one week is $26.25 and reduced pay meal cost for one week is $3.50.  If your financial situation is such that these payments impose a hardship on your family, please contact the LCSS Nutrition Department at (731)968-8457 ext. 406 or ext. 699 to request assistance in applying for meal assistance.  Applications are available at www.caywood.org. Applications can be submitted at your convenience or you may choose to apply at Caywood Elementary School.  This can be done the night of the  “Back to School Bash” during registration in room #119.  If you need help finding this location, please ask any LCSS Staff for assistance.  If you are a late registrant, ask the receptionist at the front desk to contact the Nutrition Department for assistance.

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

1. mail:
   U.S. Department of Agriculture
   Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
   1400 Independence Avenue, SW
   Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
2. fax:
   (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
3. email:
   Program.Intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.