August , 2010

 

Dear Parents,

 

            School will be starting in a few weeks and I wanted to bring everyone up to date on the cafeteria this year.

 

            Our first day of lunch will be August 26^th. Our school website has a lunch menu for the first three weeks of school.  Please notice that the price of lunch with milk is $2.50. If your child brings their lunch and purchases milk the fee is .60. If your child comes back for extras there is a fee of .50.  They may come back for extra vegetables or fruit at no charge and we never give extra desserts.  If your child has an allergy to milk, please submit a form from your doctor to me and we will provide water for them.

 

            As many of you know we are using a computer system in the cafeteria. This has been very helpful in many ways. We no longer need volunteers to help with the morning prep work. The volunteers will come in at 11:00 and help serve the lunch and help with the cleanup. Normally everyone leaves about 1:00 or earlier.  The computer system will allow parents to sign up for an account to view their activity.  The company that we are working with is called Food Service Solutions. If you go to www.myschoolaccount.com it will walk you through setting up an account. This system will also send out e-mails telling you when your account is getting low or when you have gone into debt. (Keep in mind when you have a debt in excess of $5.00 there will be a late fee). Once your child is in the system they will remain in the system as long as they are enrolled at St. Tim’s. I will issue all the new students and kindergarteners an ID number.  I will notify parents prior to the start of classes of their ID number. We also will finger scan the new students at the beginning of the school year.

 

This next section is very important: how should the checks be made out? I really would like to get away from having cash brought in.  We would like to see checks written at all times. If you have two children you may still write one check. Just send us a note as to which child’s account the money should be placed in.  In years past we had family accounts, we now have individual accounts.  For example, one of your children may eat all the time and another child may only get milk and another child may only buy once or twice a year.  Let us know how you want the money divided up. It has been my experience that as the children get older they come back for extras more frequently, so it is always easier to have some extra money in their account.  Also, with the high temperatures, children will buy more then one milk, especially if they are coming to lunch following gym class.  The best advice I can give parents is to bulk up you account because the children will get extra milk and extras.

 

            We are on the federal lunch program and have to follow strict guidelines.  We are part of the offer vs. serve program.  This means that we have to offer the children everything, but the child does not have to take everything that is offered.  They have to take two out of the three choices offered.  This does not include dessert. We want their lunch period to be a pleasurable one and not one where they are afraid to say no thank you for an item. Also, being part of the Federal Lunch Program we have free lunch or reduced lunch for those who qualify, please get in touch with me at the number below so I can send a form to you.  This is all very confidential and the children are unaware that they are getting free lunches.

 

            I hope this helps. Please feel to call me if you have any questions.  My phone number is 451- 3605 and my e-mail address is mpbcafe@columbus.rr.com. I want to make this as pain free as possible.

 

Sincerely,

 

Mary Pat Boulware

Cafeteria Manager

 

August 15, 2010

 

Welcome back everyone!

            I hope you all had a great summer!

            I want to thank all of you for signing up to help in the cafeteria this year. You are such a tremendous help to us. 

            I want to go over a few directions for you.  We ask that you come in at 11:05am. If you would like to eat lunch please call us in the morning and we will have a tray ready for you at 10:55.We will supply aprons, gloves, our fancy hats and hairnets. Or if you prefer, you may bring a hat from home. This will fulfill the Health Department regulation requiring the use of head coverings. Please come casually dressed.

 

            Please remember, if you cannot work on your day, it is YOUR responsibility to find a replacement. Please feel free to call at any time if you have a question or problem. I ask that you call me not my staff if you need to switch on your scheduled day. Since I am the one who is ultimately responsible for running a smooth cafeteria-I feel I need to be the one informed of people switching days.

 

            Finally, we too have to take part in the program of “Protecting God’s Children”. Please go to www.virtusonline.org for your registration. Our password is “trust”. If you took part in the program in the last few years this does not pertain to you. Thank you for helping us in the days ahead. We look forward to seeing you soon.

 

Sincerely,   

 

Mary Pat Boulware

Cafeteria Manager