School Lunch 2007 is designed to manage your existing school lunch program. It accounts for all money, lunches eaten, and money paid by students and adults.

Money is deposited into an account at the office. Students fill out a lunch deposit slip and present it at the office along with cash or a check. Any amount of money may be deposited. Office personnel compare the money with the deposit slip then and enter the deposit into the computer or set it aside for entry later. Students must know how to write their name, their lunch number, and the money amount; a task even a first-grader can handle. A copy of the receipt is then given to the student. About mid-morning the office personnel records the deposit slips on the computer. School Lunch will print a deposit record of each deposit slip and keep a summary file on the disk for end-of-month accounting.

At lunch time, the teacher distributes the student lunch cards. Secondary students may keep their lunch card as they would keep a credit card. As a student enters the lunchroom the card is handed to the computer operator and the card is scanned with the card reader. (Some schools collect the cards and run them through the card reader back in the office). When the card is accepted, account information is displayed on the screen. Audible beeps signal the operator when an account is out of money, has been used before during the lunch session, or has been closed. The computer can inform the student when he is low on lunch money. When secondary students run out of money, the operator may retain the card. When the student deposits money, their lunch card is returned.

At the end of the meal period a report is printed of all account activity. The report gives totals on the different kinds of lunches that were served; free, reduced, adult, etc. The summary page of this report may be copied and given to the kitchen for comparison to the actual tray count. A summary of the lunch activity is saved in a summary file for an end of the month report.

Parents may call the office any time and receive a printed summary of their student's lunch record. This record gives the total lunches eaten, total money paid into the account, the last date the account was used for lunch, breakfast, or deposit, and the amount of the last deposit.

All students, whether free, reduced, or pay, are handled in the same manner. Records of free and reduced students can be held in confidence and be viewed when needed. School Lunch will generate labels that can be affixed to cards that may be sent to parents of students that owe lunch money. School Lunch allows students to charge lunches. The account will be balanced when the student makes a deposit. Refunds can also be given at the end of the year or when a student moves.
Deposit slips, refund slips, deposit records, and lunchroom records should be kept on file for audit purposes. End-of-month reports may also be printed. Student accounts may be corrected if needed.

School Lunch will print reports of daily meal activities and will process students through the lunch line. Selling lunch tickets, or keeping track of student accounts in a roll book is now a thing of the past.

Lunch Cards
A non-descript lunch card is used to process students through the lunch line and serves as a back-up record in case of power failure or equipment malfunction. The student name and account number are printed on the label that is affixed to the card. A teacher's name also prints on the label in order to easily trace the student. School Lunch will print bar code labels on an ImageWriter // or compatible printer. Laser printer labels can be printed through a data export feature using a standard database program.

In elementary schools, the card can be held by the teacher and given to the student just prior to lunch. The student hands the card to the computer operator and the account number is typed directly into the computer or can be scanned by a card reader. Cards are returned to the teacher at the end of the day.

In a secondary school the card may be kept by the student. The card can be retained if the computer indicates money is owed, the card is being used twice, or the card has been lost. Find a method that best works for your school.
School Lunch is designed to be used in the lunchroom to process the students and adults through the lunch line. It may also be used in the office to process the student accounts. Guests may purchase a guest card at the office and present it to the operator and then be returned to the office after use.

Overt Identification
During day-to-day operations, students are not identified by their status. Fellow students are unable to identify the status of another student yet the status of any student is accessible to the proper personnel at any time. After every meal a report is produced that gives the name, account number and balance of each person who ate lunch. This report does not identify a student status. The report is held in confidence and is used only for accounting purposes.
Implementation

One of the nice things about a program like School Lunch is it can be implemented at anytime during the year. You don't need to wait for the special order of printed tickets to arrive. You can begin the program with one or two classes. As you become familiar with the program, add the rest of the school as time permits. Becoming familiar with the program early in the game on your own terms has advantages over forced implementation at the beginning of a school year.
When you do make the change, be sure to involve parents and students. If handled properly, students can learn the value and responsibility of the debit card. Explaining the values and advantages of the system to parents will add their support and ensure a successful implementation (see letter to parents).

Features
School Lunch 2007 handles breakfast, lunch, and allows up to 20 a la carte categories per day. Six different meal prices are available for both breakfast and lunch; free, reduced, pay 1, pay 2, pay 3, and adult. The three different pay categories allow schools to set different prices in different age groups, (i.e. first grade $.95 vs. high school $1.25). A default transaction type allows schools to charge kindergarten snacks, etc. when not in the lunchroom. The default setting also facilitates running an a la carte line only, etc.

An optional wand or card scanner is available to help maintain accuracy and speed data entry at the lunch line.
The wand style scanner has a particular advantage with the School Lunch Mac if you are serving a la carte. All data entry may be accomplished entirely with the wand never needing to use the mouse or keyboard.

A complete set of reports (samples included) can be generated for daily transaction of meals eaten and deposits, status lists, delinquent information, monthly summaries. An optional District Accounting program can be purchased which will combine data from each school in a district on a monthly basis so district personnel can evaluate the current condition of the lunch program on a district wide basis.

The family file concept which allows family money to be held in a family account so all students in the same family can eat from the same account. This simplifys record keeping, delinquent notification, etc.

Multiple Line Option
School Lunch 2007 is also available in a multi-user configuration. Several computers may be connected through a LocalTalk or EtherNET network to share student data information as students pass through the lunch line. Administrators may access the data at the office or the lunchroom.