There are several important reminders about school meals for the upcoming school year. We want to ensure all families—both new and returning—have the information they need to access healthy and delicious meals for their students.
All-in-One Access with SchoolCafe
This school year, all families will continue to use SchoolCafe to manage their student's meal account. You can use SchoolCafe to:
Make Meal Payments: Add funds to your student's account at any time.
Set up Auto-Pay and Purchase Restrictions: Customize your account to automatically add money when the balance is low and set limits on what your child can purchase.
View Menus: See what's being served for breakfast and lunch, with nutritional and allergen information for each item.
Get Low Balance Alerts: Receive notifications so you can add funds before your child's account runs out of money.
Submit Free and Reduced-Price Meal Applications:
Apply for meal benefits quickly and easily online.
Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility
Students can qualify for free or reduced-price meals in a few ways:
Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Schools: If your student attends a CEP school, they automatically receive both breakfast and lunch at no cost. No application is needed. Find a complete list of our CEP schools on our website.
Direct Certification: If your family receives benefits like SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid, you may receive a letter from the district stating your children qualify for free or reduced-price meals. No application is needed.
Household Application: Families who do not automatically qualify are encouraged to submit an application for free and reduced school meals.
For families who do not automatically qualify for free or reduced-price meals, we highly recommend those families submit a free and reduced meal application before the school year begins to prevent any gap in benefits. A new application must be submitted each year. The online application, through SchoolCafe, is available in multiple languages, is easy to complete, and is processed faster than the paper version. An approved application may also qualify students for other benefits. You only need to submit one application per household.
Families who are not automatically qualified via CEP school or other benefits are encouraged to apply for free or reduced-price meals before the start of the school year so there is no gap in benefits.
Ensuring Your Student's Account is Ready
For students who do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals, it is essential that their meal account has a positive balance. You can add funds and manage your student’s account through SchoolCafe. Please remember that a positive balance is needed for both breakfast and lunch, and funds can also be used for extra food, snacks, or drinks available for purchase.
We are committed to providing healthy meal options for every student. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact the School Nutrition Services department.
View all Community Eligibility Provisions (CEP) schools in our district!
Account Updates in your Email Inbox
To help you stay on top of your student's meal account, School Nutrition Services sends weekly email reminders to families with a negative balance. To make payment arrangements, please contact Lana Tebault at the School Nutrition Services Office at 757-547-1470 or by email at lana.tebault@cpschools.com.
For more information, please contact School Nutrition Services.