Manage Student Meal Accounts in School Cafe

School Cafe Account Balance Notifications: 

Parents are able to set up balance account notifications in their School Cafe account. This feature allows parents to set up a meal account balance amount for each student at which time, the parent will receive a notification reminding them that the student’s account balance is low. Parents can set up automatic balance notifications on their user account by following these steps:

  1. Click on “Not Set” next to School Cafe account under a student on the account.  
  2. Enter a “balance threshold” to set how low the student’s balance must be before the automatic payment is initiated.
  3. Enter how often you would like to receive a reminder that the student’s balance is below the threshold. This is helpful in case you miss an email or alert.
  4. Select Save. 

Review Meal Account Purchase History: 

If a parent wishes to have a detailed report of their student’s meal account purchases and transaction history, this may be obtained on our parent portal in the School Cafe account or School Cafe phone app by clicking “Purchase History” under the student’s name. Parents will need to register for an account to view these reports but do not have to use the site to make payments if they do not wish to do so. 

Meal Account Restrictions: 

REIMBURSABLE MEALS: Per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Student Nutrition Services must make reimbursable meals available to all enrolled students at the campus if school meals are being provided at that campus. For this reason, parents cannot request to restrict student access to reimbursable meals being offered on the campus. The only allowable exception to this policy is Special Diet Modification accommodations requested by a parent related to a student's disability and/or severe, life threatening (anaphylactic) food allergy and requiring a Physician’s Diet Modification form.

If a parent does not want his/her student to obtain reimbursable school meals, it is the responsibility of the parent to direct the student not to obtain a reimbursable meal in the campus serving line. Student Nutrition Services will not deny enrolled students access to reimbursable school meals if they are being provided on the student’s campus.

Á LA CARTE PURCHASES: Parents can restrict á la carte purchases made by his/her student at any time using his/her School Cafe account. This can be done by clicking Purchase Restrictions in the user dashboard or Purchase Restrictions under the student’s name.

If a parent wishes to restrict the purchase of á la carte items to his/her student every day or only on certain days of the school week, he/she can use their School Cafe accountto request any or all of following meal account restrictions:

  1. No á la carte purchases allowed with cash/check – any funds (cash or check) presented by the student will be used for purchasing reimbursable meals only.
  2. No á la carte purchases allowed with meal account – the student’s meal account will be used for purchasing reimbursable meals only. The student is still allowed to use cash/check to purchase á la carte items.
  3. A limited number of á la carte purchases allowed – the student will only be allowed to purchase a certain number of á la carte items each day with cash or meal account balance.