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Guidelines Regarding Meal Account Balances

The Food Service Department provides parents and guardians the convenience of internet access to student meal accounts through Infinite Campus Parent Portal which allows for the ability to review their child(s) account balances and purchases when needed. Maple River Public Schools follows the practices outlined below.

Meal Purchases

  • To purchase meals, a student’s meal account should have a positive balance.
  • Students are not allowed to purchase a la carte* items without the full amount of funds in their account or cash in-hand.
  • Students are not allowed to enter a sibling’s PIN for purchase of food items.

Low Balances

  • Cashiers will provide a verbal low balance reminder to all K-12 students when they have low in their account while purchasing ala carte.
  • Email reminders are sent to parents automatically through Infinite Campus Messenger each Thursday when the child’s account balance is negative.

Negative Balances

  • The Food Service Department also mails computer generated letters to families each Wednesday throughout the school year for any account that is -$15.00 or below.
  • For student accounts with negative balances over $20.00, phone calls are made to parents and voice messages are left requesting payment or that arrangements are required for a payment plan. If no response is received or payment made from the first phone call, a repeat phone call is made until getting a response.
  • If numerous attempts have been made to contact the family with no response, the school social worker or guidance counselor may be involved. The District reserves the right to contact a collection agency if the District and the family cannot, after multiple attempts, work out other payment arrangements.
  • The Food Service Department may transfer funds between student accounts within the same household to cover negative balances, unless otherwise notified by parent or guardian.
  • Once a meal has been placed on a tray or served to a student, the meal may not be subsequently withdrawn from the student by the cashier or other school official, whether or not the student has an outstanding meals balance.
  • A student who has been determined eligible for free and reduced-price lunch must always be served a reimbursable meal even if the student has an outstanding debt.

* A la carte food items include second meals, extras or any foods that are not a part of the complete reimbursable meal.