Cafeteria & Food Service

Universal Free Breakfast

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is excited to report that the budget includes the Governor’s initiative for all schools participating in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) to provide free breakfasts for all enrolled students during the 2023-2024 School Year (SY). Additionally, students identified as eligible for reduced-price lunches through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) will not be charged for their meals.


Letter to Households (Revised – August 11, 2023)

Apply for Benefits Online – Click Here


Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT)

The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program is ending nationally on September 30, 2023.  The Department of Human Services (DHS) will leave the family P-EBT support center open for family P-EBT inquiries only through November 2023.  If you have any questions about your child’s P-EBT benefits for any year, you should contact the DHS family support center as soon as possible.

As a reminder, here are the family resources for P-EBT:


Free/Reduced Lunch Recipients — Affordable High-Speed Internet:

Families may qualify for affordable high-speed internet if you are eligible for public assistance programs such as the National School Lunch Program, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, and others.  Please visit internetessentials.com to apply today!

If parents need proof of free/reduced lunch, please contact Mrs. Jennifer Flannery at 724-658-4793 or jflannery@ntsd.org.


The Neshannock Township School District is committed to providing healthy and well-balanced meals for our students. We continuously strive to offer a large variety of quality food choices in the cafeteria that focus on health, wellness, and good nutrition.

Freshly prepared, nutritious lunches are provided daily by The Nutrition Group. Our program follows the nutritional requirements of the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program and the District’s Wellness Policy. This assures school meals meet the nutritional standards set forth by the USDA and Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Families that have children attending a public school district can apply online for free or reduced price school lunches through the National School Lunch Program using COMPASS or the SchoolCafe Website. COMPASS allows Pennsylvanians to apply for social services programs, such as Food Stamps (FS), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Energy Assistance, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), etc. online. The COMPASS Website is www.compass.state.pa.us. Parents can use the Schoolcafe app to apply for free or reduced lunches through the application process. The Schoolcafe website is www.schoolcafe.com. A new application is required each year for ALL participating students to keep receiving free or reduced meals. However, there is a 30 day carry over from the previous school year to the current school year. Parents should remember that after the 30 day carryover, lunches will be set back to a paid status if application has not been made. If parents do not have access to the Internet, a paper application can be made by contacting Jenny Flannery, Director of Educational Services, Neshannock Township School District, 3834 Mitchell Road, New Castle, PA 16105 at 724-658-4793 or jflannery@ntsd.org.


2023-2024 Breakfast and Lunch Menus:

Breakfast and Lunch Menus


The National School Lunch Program

Nut Free Snack Suggestions

Important Documents and Downloads

Cafeteria Procedures

  • Charging Ala’ Cart or Country Store items is not permitted.
  • Accounts with positive and negative balances will be carried over to the next school year.
  • Jr / Sr High Students are encouraged to use their Student ID cards to reduce account errors and speed up the line.
  • One student cannot charge another student’s lunch to their account.

We use Schoolcafé Points of Sale in our cafeterias. Parents can prepay their children’s lunches in a variety of ways.

Neshannock Memorial Elementary

  • Students can pay cash at the lunch line.
  • Cash can be sent in an envelope to the homeroom teacher or cafeteria manager.
  • Checks can be made payable to Neshannock Township School District and sent to school. Please list the student’s name and ID number on the check.
  • Parents can use the Schoolcafé Website, schoolcafe.com to prepay student meals.
  • Parents can setup an account by using their child’s school Student ID number.
  • The student ID number can be found on Student ID cards, report cards, or by contacting the school.

Neshannock Junior Senior High School

  • Students can pay cash at the lunch line.
  • Cash can be sent in an envelope to the homeroom teacher or cafeteria manager.
  • Checks can be made payable to Neshannock Township School District and sent to school. Please list the student’s name and ID number of the check.
  • Parents can use the Schoolcafé Website, schoolcafe.com, to prepay student meals. Parents can setup an account by using their child’s school Student ID number . The student ID number can be found on Student ID cards, schedules, report cards, or by contacting the school.
  • Students enter their Student ID number at the Point of Sale to access their account.
  • The cashier can see the student’s name and picture to assure the correct student is using the account.

Checking Lunch Account Balances

Lunch account balances are displayed on the Schoolcafé website. Parents can access a student’s account balance by logging into the dashboard. All payment and sales data should be on the Schoolcafé site within 24-48 hours after the transaction. Funds are available in the cafeteria within 2-24 hours after deposit.

Price of Meals

Children need healthy meals to learn. Neshannock Township School District offers healthy meals every school day. Breakfast costs $1.00 (breakfast is free for all students during the 2022-2023 school year); lunch costs $2.25 for elementary students and $2.50 for middle school and high school students. Your children may qualify for free meals or for reduced price meals. Reduced price is $.30 for breakfast and $.40 for lunch.


Payment of School Meal Accounts – Policy 808

PAYMENT OF SCHOOL MEAL ACCOUNTS

School Meal Charges and Accounts

The District permits students to incur reasonable charges for school meals. In an effort to ensure the effective operation of the District’s Food Service Program, the District establishes the following procedures for student payment of school meals:

Parents/Guardians are solely responsible for providing their children with meals, either through money to purchase meals at school or by packing a meal from home. If for any reason a parent/guardian cannot afford to provide a meal for their child, Free and Reduced Meal benefits may be applied for, in English or Spanish, by accessing the application www.paschoolmeals.com or www.nstd.org under Cafeteria and Food Services.

Parents/guardians and students are encouraged to deposit money in their cafeteria account so that adequate money is readily available to purchase school meals. This will eliminate the need for the parent/guardian to send money with the child each day. Parents/guardians can deposit money by sending a check or cash with their child to school or by accessing https://www.schoolcafe.com.

Children who qualify for free meals may never be denied a meal, even if they have accrued a negative balance from other purchases in the cafeteria.

The NTSD will consider the effective date of eligibility for free school benefits to be the date of the automated data matching file which first identifies the child as eligible for direct certification rather than the date the eligibility is accessed or processed into the local point of service.

Charging of à la carte or extra items (e.g. a second milk or additional entrée) will be prohibited by any student with a negative balance, regardless of the student’s eligibility status.

Parents are encouraged to use PrimeroEdge https://www.paschoolmealsses.com or COMPASS https://www.compass.state.pa.us or contact the Neshannock Township School District Director of Pupil Services to find assistance with applying for free or reduced price school meals. Parents can visit the www.ntsd.org in order to find additional information about the National School Lunch Program, our District policies, and links to PrimeroEdge and COMPASS.

Collection of Unpaid Meal Charges

When a student comes through the serving line without money and/or has a negative balance in his/her account, the Neshannock Township School District will utilize the following procedures:

  1. Students unable to pay for a meal at the time of the meal service are allowed to charge a meal. Breakfast and Lunch purchases can be charged.
  2. Students will receive a reimbursable meal when there is debt. There will not be a limit to the number of charges. The price of either a breakfast or lunch reimbursable meal will be added to the outstanding debt.
  3. The Food Service Provider will notify parents/guardians of low or negative balances.
  4. The Food Service Provider Director will review charges weekly and will be responsible for managing the charges.
  5. When debt is uncollectable, the Cafeteria Manager will consider this delinquent debt as “bad debt” and will consult with a School Administrator.
  6. Local Meal Charge Policy will be communicated through the District website, student handbooks, and the parent portal.
  7. Repayment plans for bad debt will be determined individually by Administration and if necessary, the School Solicitor.
  8. Unpaid meals charges will be carried over at the end of the school year (beyond June 30); therefore, collection efforts may continue into the new school year.
  9. Parents should use the Student Transfer and Graduation form on the District’s website to request transfer of funds to siblings or to request refunds.
  10. Delinquent debt collections will not adversely affect the children involved, but instead focus on the adults responsible for providing funds for meal purchases.
  11. Low or negative account balances are confidential. Food Services professionals will not notify children of their meal charge debt in front of other students.
  12. When School Administrators or the School Solicitor determine delinquent debt is uncollectable and no further collection efforts will be made, the debt will be reclassified as “bad debt.” Bad debt, by definition, must be written off as operating losses. Repayment of bad debt resulting from unpaid meal charges is an unallowable cost; therefore, the NSFSA must be restored using non-Federal funds. These funds may come from:
    1. The School District’s general fund,
    2. Special funding from state or local governments, or
    3. Any other non-Federal sources. 13. The Neshannock Township School District will follow recordkeeping requirements for bad debt in accordance with the record retention requirements outlined in 7 CFR 210.9(b)(17) and 7 CFR 210.15(b).

Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)

summerfoodsmallThe Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) ensures that low-income children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. This summer, USDA plans to serve more than 200 million free meals to children 18 years and under at approved SFSP sites.

Nutritious free meals are available for children and teens 18 and younger at many locations throughout the nation throughout the summer while school is out of session.

Schools or families can use any of the following methods to locate sites that serve free meals to children during the summer:


USDA NONDISCRIMINATION STATEMENT AND COMPLAINT PROCEDURE

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.
05/05/2022