1.      How does a child qualify for free and reduced-price meals? Eligibility is generally based on family income,
      family size, and if the family has a food stamp number. The federal guidelines can be found in the free/reduced application.

2.      How are families notified if a child qualifies for free/reduced-price meals? Qualifying families are notified by the Child Nutrition Department by mail in a timely manner.

3.      How do children get an application? Applications are given to every student at the beginning of the school year. New students are given an application upon registration. During the year, applications are available in the cafeteria.

4.      How often does a free/reduced application need to be completed? An application must be completed each year.

5.      How long is the application valid? Students who participate in the free/reduced program during the previous year in Conroe ISD may continue to eat at the free or reduced-price for the first 30 days of school. After 30 days, a new application must be submitted and approved. 

6.      How long does it take to process an application? Upon receipt of a completed application, the Child Nutrition Department has ten business days to complete the processing procedure.

7.      Will parents need to pay for a child’s lunch until the application is processed? Yes

8.      Do Pre-Kindergarten students automatically qualify for free/reduced meals?  All students must complete an application each year.

9.      What does the school district do to protect the personal information about a child? All information is kept confidential in the Child Nutrition office and is only given to authorized school district officials.

10.  Once a child is approved for Free and Reduced meals, who pays for previous negative balances?  The Parent or Guardian.  The Government will only pay for meals after the date the Application is approved.

 10.  Is the school district required to meet any nutritional guidelines? The federal government requires that meals
        served in our cafeterias meet specific guidelines regarding portion size, food choices, and content (protein,
        carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fat).

 11.  Who determines what food goes on my child’s tray? By federal law, the school cafeteria must allow the child to
        choose what he/she wants to eat from the selections available. 

12.  What is a reimbursable meal? Only meals that meet the government requirements for meal patterns are subsidized.  For instance, in a   given day at lunch the requirements would be 2 ounces of meat, ¾ cup of fruit and/or vegetables, and ½ pint milk. Each week 8 servings of bread would be needed. In order for a meal to be reimbursable only 3 out of these 5 food groups would need to be chosen.

Menu Selection/Quality

 13.  Who determines what food choices will be available on the daily menu?

• The reimbursable menus are planned according to the Federal  nutrition guidelines, while meeting the preferences of the students. Each year, surveys are completed in elementary and intermediate schools to determine student choices. In addition, nutritional analysis is conducted by a Registered Dietitian on all reimbursable menus to be sure that they meet the RDA for that age
   group.

14.  What steps are taken in the Child Nutrition Department to ensure the quality of food products?

15.  What efforts are made to keep foods at the correct temperatures? Temperatures are checked on each batch of food after it is cooked and between serving times. During serving times, coolers, warmers, and steam tables are used to ensure proper temperatures are maintained. Cooler and freezer temperatures are also checked daily.

16.  Why is individual packaging used on food items? Due to severe labor shortages, we do not have the manpower to serve students individually anymore. Instead, students select individually packaged food items.

17.  Why is styrofoam used for packaging? Styrofoam is able to withstand temperatures inside the warmers.  Clear containers would be preferable, but they are highly susceptible to heat damage. 

18.  Why are supplemental foods sold in my school? Government guidelines allow the Child Nutrition Department to sell supplemental foods that meet certain nutrition values.  If a parent does not want their child to be able to purchase any of these items, they may send a letter to the Cafeteria Manager. 

19.  How do I know what is on the menu? Each elementary and intermediate campus distributes cycle menus at the beginning of the school year. Secondary schools have a variety of foods offered everyday.  Menus are also posted on the World Wide Web.  The district address is: http:www.conroeisd.net

 20.  Why do adult meals cost more than student meals? Federal regulation prohibits us from giving free lunches to
        adults or from utilizing program funds for the purpose of subsidizing adult meals.

        The formula for determining adult prices is as follows:

Federal reimbursement for each student paid meal                      

Federal commodities reimbursement per student meal               

                        CISD adult meals are  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                         2.50

21.  What is the district policy on charging meals? The district has adopted a “no charge” policy for all customers. In elementary and intermediate school, students are given a sandwich, milk and fruit if they do not have money to pay for their meal.  

22.  Why is the district using a computerized cash register system? In the spring of 2000, implementation of a district wide computerized cash register system called WinSNAP was completed. This program enables us to keep more accurate records for the government and the district. The program also keeps track of free/reduced status, prepayments, meal charges, billing, and individual account reports.

23.  How are student accounts accessed in the WinSNAP cash register system? Numbers are entered in a pin pad as each student checks out at the cash register.

24.  Why is there a $25.00 minimum on checks?  The number of returned checks increased in the last couple of years to a point that was unmanageable by the Finance and Child Nutrition Departments.  The $25.00 minimum was necessary as a way to decrease this problem while saving labor to handle small checks or insufficient funds checks.

25.  How can I obtain information about the Online Credit Card payment system?  Log onto our website @ http://info.conroeisd.net/department/childnutrition/mylunchmoney.htm. 

 Financial Accountability

 24.  Is the Child Nutrition Department self-funded? Yes. Our revenue is generated from individual sales and
       government funding of reimbursable free, reduced, and paid student meals. In addition, we receive commodity
       foods.

25.  How does the commodity food program work? The quantity of commodity foods received is based on the number of
      reimbursable meals served in our district. The USDA determines what will be sent to us based on availability from
      the agricultural sector.  The department must pay for storage of these foods (due to lack of district freezer space)
      and eventually for shipping to each campus.    

26.  Is the department required to use commodity foods? Yes.  Many foods are processed at an extra expense to the department in order to make them more desirable to our customers. For instance, chicken may be processed into chicken nuggets.

27.  What happens to any profits made by the department? Federal guidelines mandate that all money taken in by the department be spent directly on the Child Nutrition program. The department made its first profit in the 1998 to 1999 school year. This money funded badly needed kitchen equipment, the computerized cash register system as well as expenses to benefit the district, including electricity. There are still many older kitchens in the district that are in need of repairs, equipment, and remodeling.

28.  What happens if the department loses money? The district subsidizes the department at the expense of other programs in the district.

 Other Programs Offered by Child Nutrition

 29.  What effort does the Child Nutrition Department make to assist in educating the students on nutrition?  Each 
        cafeteria has a Nutrition Education Library available for use by teachers in the classrooms. Educational materials
        are age appropriate and include videos and lesson plans. In addition, most of the elementary schools have television
        monitors in each serving line that play nutrition education videos during serving times. 

30.  What is the Power Station? The Power Station is the name used for each of the cafeterias. In the 2002-2003 school  year, the Power Station introduced a mascots named “Power Station Pete and Penny” to the elementary schools.  Pete and Penny are friendly cartoon armadillos with many “Power Station Pals”.  They assist the department in marketing and education. The "Power Station" logo is a trademarked entity.