Cafeteria Charing Policy

BETHANY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS CHARGING POLICY

Revised June 2023

Students will be served one daily meal but only students with a sufficient cafeteria account balance will be able to buy Ala Carte or extra entrees. Funds received by 9am will be available for use during lunch service. No checks or cash will be processed in the Cafeteria or Ala Carte line. Ala Carte items are offered in a separate line starting in grade 7 and continuing through the high school lunch period. All Ala Carte items have been determined to be compliant with USDA “Smart Snack” requirements and are all labeled with allergen and calorie information. These items will not be offered in our lower school (grades 1-6).

Students with insufficient funds will still be served a meal and the following communications will be initiated: 1) a weekly email will be sent to the parent/guardian on file, 2) semi-monthly notices are printed on School letterhead and mailed to the parent/guardian on file, 3) students will receive a negative balance notice in the lunch line at the time of checkout, and food service informs School administration of the matter. If these efforts are unsuccessful, then these charged meals will be considered delinquent debts at the end of the school year. If the student is non-returning, delinquent balances will first be rolled to any and all siblings’ account(s) until the balance is fully absorbed or until the siblings’ balance(s) is reduced to zero. Any unpaid balance beyond that will be placed on a repayment plan via correspondence with a parent/guardian. If there is no returning sibling and communications with the parent/guardian have failed, then the delinquent debt is considered bad debt and will be charged off to the School’s operating fund as of June 30. The School reserves any and all rights to take action to collect these unpaid balances by means of collection agencies, small claims court, or any other legal method deemed necessary by the School.

Conversely, in the cases where a positive balance exists for a non-returning student, the balance will first be rolled to a sibling’s account. If there is no returning sibling and the positive balance is $10 or more, then every effort will be made by the school administration to return the positive balance to the account holder. If attempts made to refund the balance have been unsuccessful or the unclaimed balance is less than $10, the positive balance will be transferred to an Angel Account maintained in the School’s operating fund that will be used to offset bad debts.

Questions? Please contact

Tara Swartzendruber-Landis, Food Service Director, [email protected]

Food service, cafeteria and menu questions

Kevin Miller, Administrative Manager, [email protected]

Application for free or reduced lunch and textbook assistance

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.