01.28.07
online control of your child’s lunch at school
More and more schools are providing parents the option to access and control what their children are eating through online tools. Clear Creek is the latest in this trend.
Clear Creek takes lunch online
System provides parental control over children’s cafeteria accounts and eating habits
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
Students forgetting their lunch money is becoming a thing of the past in the Clear Creek school district with a new program that allows parents to deposit money into their children’s accounts via the Internet.
The new MealpayPlus system, which began earlier this month, allows parents to make credit card and debit card payments into their children’s account over the Internet or by telephone.
The program also lets parents monitor what their children are buying and how much money is left in their account. Parents get e-mail alerts when their children’s cafeteria account is nearly depleted.
“If your son buys a peanut butter and jelly sandwich five days in a row, you’re going to know. Or, if every day your child is getting a snack on top of his lunch, you’ll know,” said Carrie Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Clear Creek Independent School District. “This is much more than a lunch payment system. You’ll really be able to monitor what your child is purchasing and how the money is being spent.”
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Other area school districts have implemented similar programs.
The Houston Independent School District launched one a year ago, giving parents the ability to ban their children from spending lunch money on junk food.
The payment plan not only is a convenience for parents but also provides the technology to eliminate the type of bookkeeping errors that caused HISD to overcharge the federal government for meals.
The Houston district had to pay a $220,000 penalty because of its inability to keep accurate counts of free meals served to students from poor families.
The lunch payment program and tracking system is becoming the norm nationwide. The Dallas, Austin and Pearland school districts also have similar programs.
To register for the MealpayPlus program in the Clear Creek school district, parents can log onto www.mealpayplus.com or by telephone at 866-286-7228. Locally, questions can be directed to the district’s child nutrition services office at 281-284-0701.
