Important Information for the 2023-24 School Year
Mayfield Central School District has implemented a meal certification option to our schools under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program called the Community Eligibility Provision. This means all students enrolled at Mayfield Central School District are eligible to receive a healthy breakfast and lunch at school at no charge to your household each day of the 2023-2024 school year.
With the introduction of this new and beneficial program, we are asking all families to fill out the Household Income Eligibility Form. This form collects basic information about your students and is helpful information that contributes to providing additional money and services directly to our school. More information on this form and what it means for our school can be found in the 2023-24 Free Meal Program Letter to Parents.
If you child wants additional food beyond what is provided; extra meals, snacks and drinks are available for purchase in the cafeteria. They will need to have money on their meal account or cash/check in hand for such items. Milk will continue to be available for purchase.
Pricing for extra meals/milk:
- Lunch Special (extra meal): $1.25
- Student Milk (district wide): $.65
Payment for Meals
When sending money in for your child/children’s meal accounts, please send it in an envelope or sealed bag with their name(s), teacher(s) and how you want the amount split. You can include more than one student’s money in an envelope/bag, and the students can be in different school buildings.
Pre-Pay through MySchoolBucks
You can access your child’s school lunch account online at MySchoolBucks.com.
Use your existing PayPal account, credit card or debit card to make prepayments to your children’s accounts through the MySchoolBucks website. In the cafeterias, students use the point of sale system to access the funds in their accounts when they purchase extra meals, snacks or drinks.
MySchoolBucks payments include a program convenience fee. Due to rising payment processing interchange fees and continued increases in operational costs, we’re updating the MySchoolBucks program fee that parents and guardians pay at checkout to $3.25 for all cafeteria credit/debit card prepayments beginning on March 7th.
Through the system, you also have the opportunity to monitor your children’s purchase history. The web-based reports provide all dates and times that your children purchased extra meals, snacks or drinks in the past 30 days.
For questions please contact Lindsay VanAuken, Cook/Manager
(518) 661-8222, ext. 8257.
Mayfield Central School District Meal Charge & Prohibition of Meal Shaming Plan
Mayfield Central School District (here after known as MCSD) will provide a non-identifying reimbursable meal to any child who has a negative balance. Negative balances will not be discussed with student in front of other students. Just a simple reminder of needing money will be verbalized to students.
Parent/guardians can request any MCSD student to not be allowed to charge meals using the Point of Sale notes part of the program. Manager can access this portion of the program.
All food service staff will be trained to not discuss negative balances in front of other students. Manager and cashier(s) will be trained to say such things as “you are going to need money,” “have your parent/guardian check your account,” “have parent/guardian call Manager.”
FRLP applications will be sent home at the beginning of each school year. MCSD will provide a 30-operating day carryover from previous school year or until new determination is made, whichever comes first. Reminder calls are to be made when the 30 day carryover deadline is getting close. Also to be advertised on the Food Service portion of the website. FRLP applications will be offered to households with large negative balances.
Notification procedures – POS email sent out every Thursday afternoon of an operating school week. Phone calls home from Manager when no money is handed in. Give list of negative balances to administrators to follow up with. For emails that do not go thru, letters will be mailed home. Parent/ guardians will be encouraged to keep an updated working email on file to receive any electronic communication from the district.
FRLP applications will be sent home and/or Direct Certification look up will take place to the household when child/children owe more then 5 (five) meals.
- Make every attempt to determine if a student is directly certified and eligible for free meals;
- In addition to sending home application at the beginning of the year, make two additional attempts to encourage the parent/guardian to complete an income application on behalf of the child;
- Contact the parent/guardian to offer assistance to complete the application and to determining if there are other factors of why the child does not have sufficient food or funds to purchase a meal and offer other assistance as appropriate.
Decreasing Student Distress – MCSD employees will not publicly discuss negative balances with student. May ask student to speak privately and the student will just be reminded that they need money for their meal account. Notices will be mailed home or given to homeroom teachers, folded in half with student name and teacher to be sent home that day. No alternate meals will be given. No debt collector service will be used.
Establish with school liaisons to ensure all migrant, foster, homeless and runaway children are immediately certified for free meals. Students transferring from a CEP or Provision 2 participating school to a non-participating school MUST be provided 30 days free eligibility or until a new eligibility determination is made, whichever comes first. MCSD should accept the free/reduced price eligibility from transfer students with proof of application from the previous district.
At the discretion of MCSD, the non-profit school food service account funds may be used to lower or eliminate the reduced price meal cost to the student. The prohibition against Meal Shaming legislation does not intend to allow for the unlimited accrual of debt. Mayfield CSD has included a clear explanation of their plan describing the collection procedures that will be implemented to recoup unpaid meal charges. Mayfield CSD procedures shall be directed to the parent or guardian and if possible should provide repayment options. Mayfield CSD cannot/will not use a debt collection services.
Mayfield CSD must also ensure that the non-profit food service account is reimbursed for all outstanding meal charges no later than June 30 of each school year. Funds used to reimburse the foodservice account must be taken from a non federal source such as the schools general fund. All funds recouped after the nonprofit foodservice account is made whole should be deposited into the general fund or other account used to replenish the school foodservice account. Mayfield CSD must maintain adequate documentation to substantiate the transfer of funds for the equivalent of all unpaid meal debt to the school foodservice account each year.
Non-Discrimination Policy
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/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.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.