District tackles thousands of dollars in unpaid lunch accounts

Bonneville Joint School District No. 93 board members met Wednesday with the food services department to absorb $4,000 in unpaid lunch charges. In March parents within the district accumulated more than $8,000in charges, leaving half of that for the district to deal with at the end of the school year.

Food Services Director Heather Plain said the department is only working with the district to become more aware of preventative policies, to help parents and student with unpaid bills.

“I think the biggest obstacle is communication,” said Plain. “We really try to turn the tables where the parents have as much opportunity as possible to know where the kids stand in the cafeteria.”

Plain said new policy restricts the department from absorbing past due lunch fees so the funds come out of the district’s general budget instead. In an effort to keep students “out of the red,” the district notifies parents if accounts are overdrawn more than $3. Parents are also emailed and called through an automated system that states the student’s name, when payment should be sent to clear the balance and the online website where parents can check their student’s account. Three weeks into this school year, the district said all these efforts have proven to decrease account debt, but the problem is still apparent.

“When you figure the total charges were $2,700 last year for the active children, we’re already at 30 percent of those charges in the first three weeks,” said Plain.

Although debt reduction is important for district operations, the district said the students’ overall well-being is top priority. Schools have implemented a policy that provides every student with lunch, regardless of their account status.

“We feed every child. If they come to us in our line, we feed them,” said Plain. “We are in the business of feeding them not turning them away.”