PVRSD Families,

Welcome to the 2022-2023 School Year! I hope you are all as happy as I am that we are able to start our new school year, fresh year means a fresh start. As we come into this new year with all of the changes that it brings for our Districts’ staff, students, and parents I wanted to make sure you all know that PVRSD Food Service is once again dedicated to serving delicious, wholesome, quality meals that meet the latest nutritional guidelines. As a refresher, here are some of the features your children enjoy and information to help you navigate the School Lunch Program.

Every student in the school district is automatically enrolled in the food service program. All schools have computerized systems and your student will receive a picture ID card to use when receiving school lunch.

You are responsible of all charges on your child's account. If you do not wish your child to be able to make purchases through the food service program, please send a letter stating that to the Food Service Director Michael Onorato at onoratom@pvrsdk12.org . A child wishing to purchase a meal or snack will only be refused if a letter from the parent or guardian is on file. Parents are responsible for all charges on a student’s account. Please discuss with your child and decide what you would like them to purchase. The only purchase options that will be available at the beginning of the school year will be milks which are $0.65 each and second lunches at $3.50 at Elementary Schools and $3.75 at PVRS each. Students requesting a second lunch will need to have a POSITIVE school lunch account balance to receive a second lunch. Second lunches are not guaranteed to be available every day at every school.

PVRSD Food Service is self-funded and receives no local tax dollars other than utilities. Funds from the State and Federal Government are received through meal reimbursement and the Government Food Surplus Program. PVRSD school cafeterias are meeting and exceeding new strict federal nutrition standards for school meals, ensuring that meals are healthy and well-balanced, portion controlled and provide students all the nutrition they need to succeed at school and at home.

School meals offer students 1% or fat free milk, a large variety of fruits and vegetables, proteins and grains, and they must meet strict limits on saturated fat and portion size. School lunches must also meet additional standards requiring:

Age-appropriate calorie limits

Larger servings of vegetables and fruits (students must take at least one serving of produce at both breakfast and lunch)

A wider variety of vegetables, including dark green and red/orange vegetables and legumes

Fat-free or 1% milk (flavored milk must be fat-free)

Whole grains rich foods Reduced sodium levels

School meals are a great value and are convenient for busy families too! Please see our pricing link for the breakdown of pricing for each school. We look forward to welcoming your children to the cafeteria this year and feeding them fun and healthy meals!

Payment Process, how to deposit money into your students account. You can make payments by;

a. Write a check for the amount you would like to have deposited into the account. Any amount left in your students account at the end of the school year will roll over into the following year.

b. Please make checks payable to PVRSD Food Service

c. Check Payments – be sure that your students full name and school are written in the memo section of your check.

d. You can send the check in with your student or mail it to; Food Service Director PVRSD Central Office 97 F Sumner Turner Road Northfield, MA 01360

Cash Payments (we do not recommend) Cash cannot be traced if lost. Put the money into a sealed envelope with your students full name and school on it and send it in with your child to school.

PaySchools Central is just what its name implies—a central hub for all parent payment activities. To manage school lunches, fees, and activities, parents log in to PaySchools Central online and pay with a link to their bank account or a credit or debit card. It’s simple—but when you dig deeper, you’ll see that it’s also an incredibly powerful and full-featured tool. Visit www.PaySchoolsCentral.com for more information.

Free/Reduced Meals Re-Application Deadline October 1, 2022. Applications are sent home with each student at the beginning of the school year. Please return applications as soon as possible to your students’ school or mail to; PVRSD Food Service PVRSD Central Office 97 F Sumner Turner Road Northfield, MA 01360

Ala Carte Items and snack drinks are not included under the Free and Reduced Meals Program. This relates to lunch milks and snack milks, receiving only a milk would be considered an Ala Carte charge whether a student is Free, Reduced, or Paid status.

If your student was free or reduced last year, your new application must be returned by October 1th, 2022, otherwise the account by law will automatically be returned to paid status on October 1, 2022. The family is responsible for all meal charges while on paid status until an application is received, processed, and approved.

At anytime during the school year applications may be requested from your school’s front office or the district office or downloaded from the PVRSD Food Service page www.pvrsdk12.org/pvrsd-departments/food-services. These Applications are also accessible at the link below.

Michael Onorato

Food Service Director

onoratom@pvrsdk12.org

413-498-2911 ext 602