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Meal Prices & Requirements

Meal Prices for the 2023-24 School Year

Breakfast

Item Cost
Grades K-12 $2.10
Reduced Price Grades K-12 $0.30
Adult/Guest $2.50
Milk (separate from meal) $0.50

Lunch

Item Cost
Elementary (Grades K-4) $3.10
Intermediate/Middle School (Grades 5-8) $3.15
High School (Grades 9-12) $3.25
Reduced Price (Grades K-12) $0.40
Adult/Guest $4.85
Milk (separate from meal) $0.50

What is a reimbursable meal?

Breakfast

At breakfast, we are required to offer four components:

  • 1-2 ounce equivalent servings of bread/grain
  • ½ cup serving of fruit
  • ½ cup serving of 100% juice
  • Milk

Students are required to take a serving of a fruit to be counted as a reimbursable meal.

Offer vs. serve at breakfast requires students to take 3 of the 4 components. At minimum, we can count a breakfast as reimbursable if a student takes either milk or one 4 oz. juice serving with a combination of the bread/grain and meat components. Without being charged for an extra item, students can take a carton of milk, 4 oz. juice/fruit and a combination of the bread/grain and meat components.

The National School Lunch Program – Pittsburgh school lunches

Lunch

At lunch, we are required to “offer” students five components with each meal. Students are required to take three of those five components, one of those components must be a 1/2 cup of fruit or vegetable in order for us to count it as a “reimbursable meal”.  The components offered are:

  • Milk (must be skim or 1% for flavored milk)
  • Meat/meat alternate (meat, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, beans/legumes, etc.)
  • Bread/grains (All Grains served must be “whole grain rich” including breading, cookies, cereal, pretzels, etc.)
  • Fruit/vegetables (There is a requirement for certain subcategories of vegetables according to their color and nutritional content.)

Meal Requirements

 

Pricing for any guest joining a student are $2.50 for breakfast and $4.85 for lunch. Costs are higher than a student meal as the School Nutrition Program does not receive any federal/state reimbursement for these meals.

A la carte items are available at the Intermediate,  Middle School and High School levels. These items are priced the same for all students and may only be purchased when funds are available in the meal account.

Individual item prices are listed on the links listed below.

Meal Charge Policy

In accordance with state and federal law, the Linn-Mar Community School District adopts the following policy to ensure school district employees, families, and students have a shared understanding of expectations regarding meal charges. The policy seeks to allow students to receive the nutrition they need to stay focused during the school day, prevent the overt identification of students with insufficient funds to pay for school meals, and maintain the financial integrity of the nonprofit school nutrition program.

Payment of Meals 
Each student is assigned a computerized meal account. Parents/guardians pre-pay into a student’s meal account by sending a check to the student’s school, district office, or paying online with debit/credit card at https://intouch.linnmar.k12.ia.us. During meal service, students scan an ID badge at the cash register. The computer debits and records purchases from the student’s meal account. You can find lunch deposit instructions at:https://www.linnmar.k12.ia.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2017-18-Lunch-Deposit-Instruction.pdf

Meal Charging
The Nutrition Services department closely monitors student accounts to prevent negative balances and changes as follows:

Students:

  • Students that fail to have positive account balances may charge meals under the following parameters:
    • Students will be served a full regular meal (breakfast or lunch)
    • Allergies will be taken into consideration
    • No snacks or a la carte items may be charged; with the exception of milk
    • Families will receive email communications when the account balance is low or negative

Staff/Adults:

  • No charges of meals or a la carte items allowed
  • Adults will be notified of their balance verbally at the cash register when the balance falls below $15.00
  • Adults will receive email communications when the account balance is negative

Students who qualify for free or reduced meals shall never be denied a reimbursable meal even if they have accrued a negative balance from previous purchases. Schools are encouraged to provide a reimbursable meal to students with outstanding meal charge debt. If an alternate meal is provided, the meal must be the same meal presented in the same manner to any student requesting an alternate meal.

Negative Account Balances
The school district will make reasonable efforts to notify families when meal account balances are low. However, the failure of the school district to notify families shall not relieve families’ obligations to keep meal account balances current; nor shall it prevent the school district from being able to take all actions legally available to collect any delinquent account balances. Additionally, the school district will make reasonable efforts to collect unpaid meal charges classified as delinquent debt. Negative balances of more than $20.00, not paid prior to the end of the school year will be turned over to the manager of Nutrition Services [or designee] for collection. Options may include collection agencies, small claims court, or any other legal method permitted by law.

 

If you are having problems paying for school meals, please contact us. We will make every attempt to work out a payment plan or help you apply for assistance.

In keeping with Linn-Mar’s collection recovery plan, meal accounts carrying a negative balance of $50.00, for over 90 days, will be turned over to CBSI collection agency.

Checks returned due to non-sufficient funds will be re-presented electronically and charged a collection fee. The amount of the check will be debited from the family meal account which may create a negative meal account balance. Upon notification that the check has been cleared with eTech, the meal account will be credited for the amount of the check

ID Cards

Students must present a current ID card to make purchases at the high school and middle school. Cards are provided free of charge at the beginning of each school year. In the event a card is lost, replacement cards may be purchased for a fee of $5.00 (Grades 6-8) and $6.00 (Grades 9-12.)

Students eligible for free or reduced meals are entitled to three replacement cards at no cost (per USDA regulations.) If a 4th replacement card is necessary, the regular cost applies.