Big Lake Schools participates in the National School Lunch Program, which is a federally-assisted meal program established under the National School Lunch Act that provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free meals to students each school day.  It is administered at the federal level by the USDA.

Under this program, all children must select the required components in order for their meal to qualify as complete.  For a lunch to qualify as complete, a student must select a fruit or a vegetable plus two additional components. For breakfast, a student must select at least three items including one fruit.  If a complete meal is not selected, students are charged the a la cart price for each item as required by the program. Visit USDA's National School Lunch Program webpage for more information on meal requirements.

Under the National School Lunch Program, free and reduced-price meals are available to families who qualify based on household income.

Families can obtain more information about free and reduced price meals by viewing the Free and Reduced Price Meals Application (also known as the Educational Benefits Application).

Big Lake Schools encourages that all families apply even if they think they won't qualify.  Reduced price class fees, activity fees, and other cost-related items are often tied to a family's acceptance into this program.

Students are issued a meal account when they enroll at Big Lake Schools. It is a parent or guardian's responsibility to make sure adequate funds are available in his or her student(s) account each day for breakfast and/or lunch. We recommend having at least 2 weeks work of meals at all times.

Meal Prices:

Breakfast: $1.65 (free for kindergarten)

Lunch: $2.95 (grades pk-5); $3.05 (grades 6-12)

Adding Money:

Parents can add money electronically to their child's meal account through MySchoolBucks, or by providing cash or checks.

Through MySchoolBucks you can:

• Add money to meal accounts
• Sign up for low balance alerts
• View meal account transactions
• Setup automatic payments

Other ways to add money:

• Send cash/check with your child to school
• Mail or drop off cash/check to your child's school
• Make sure to include your child's name, PIN# and amount on envelope or check

*Cash/check payments may take 1-2 days to be credited to meal accounts

At each school, several options for lunches are available. A lunch consists of a main entree item, plus a hot and cold vegetable, a fruit, and milk choice. Specific menu items can be found on NutriSlice. 

Liberty Elementary Main Entree Choices:
Option 1: Hot Entree
Option 2: M/W is Fun Lunch Option, T/TH/F is Sandwich Option

Independence Elementary Main Entree Choices:
Option 1: Hot Entree
Option 2: Cold Sandwich
Option 3: M/W/F is Fun Lunch Option, T/TH is Cold Salad

Middle School Main Entree Choices:
Main Line: Varied Hot Entree
2Mato: Specialty pizza of the day, cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza
On-the-Go: Choice of cold salads, cold sandwiches, fruit & yogurt parfaits (at least 1 vegetarian sandwich/salad option available)
Grill: M/W/F is Specialty sandwich of the day, Crispy Chicken Sandwich, Cheeseburger, T/TH is Chicken Tenders w/ Dinner Roll, Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Cheeseburger

High School Main Entree Choices:
Main Line: Varied Hot Entree
2Mato: Specialty pizza of the day, cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza
On-the-Go: Choice of cold salads, cold sandwiches, fruit & yogurt parfaits (at least 1 vegetarian sandwich/salad option available)
Grill: M/W/F is Specialty sandwich/item of the day, Crispy Chicken Sandwich, Hamburger, Cheeseburger, T/TH is Chicken Tenders w/ Dinner Roll, Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Hamburger, Cheeseburger

Each school cafeteria has a peanut-free zone where students with a peanut allergy can safely sit and enjoy their lunch. We encourage other students with peanut-free lunches to join their friends at this table as well. Please contact your child's school for questions on where its peanut-free zone is located.

All meal purchases are to be prepaid before meal service begins. Families may add money to a student's account through the district's website or by sending payment to your child's school office. All students receive a full reimbursable meal - regardless of their meal account balance. Students with a negative account balance will not be able to purchase a la carte items, snack items, or extra servings.

 The following procedures occur to alert parents of low balances and of unpaid accounts:

• At $5 or less an automated email will be sent once per week to parent or guardian
• At negative $10, an automated email will be sent twice per week to parent or guardian and will continue until the account balance goes into the positive
• At negative $25, the Director of Food Service will call the parent or guardian
• At negative $50, a letter will be sent home to the family encouraging payment and completion of an Application for Meal Charges

For more information, read the entire Unpaid Meal Account Procedure.

STANDARDS AND NUTRITION GUIDELINES

1. School Meals
   1. Big Lake Schools will provide healthy and safe school meal programs that comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations.
   2. The private food service vendor’s personnel will provide students with access to a variety of affordable, nutritious, and appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of students.
   3. The private food service vendor’s personnel will try to accommodate the religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the student body in meal planning.
   4. The private food service vendor’s personnel will provide clean, safe, and pleasant settings and adequate time for students to eat.
   5. The private food service vendor’s personnel will take every measure to ensure that student access to foods and beverages meets or exceeds all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations and that reimbursable school meals meet USDA nutrition standards.
   6. The private food service vendor’s personnel shall adhere to all applicable federal, state, and local food safety and security guidelines.
   7. Big Lake Schools will make every effort to eliminate any social stigma attached to, and prevent the overt identification of, students who are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals.
   8. Big Lake Schools will provide students access to hand washing or hand sanitizing before they eat meals or snacks.
   9. Big Lake Schools will provide students with a minimum of ten minutes at breakfast and a minimum of twenty minutes at lunch to eat after sitting down for school meals and will schedule meal periods at appropriate times during the school day.
   10. Big Lake Schools will discourage tutoring, club, or organizational meetings or activities during mealtimes unless students may eat during such activities.
2. School Food Service Program/Personnel
   1. The Big Lake School District shall assure the private food service vendor designates an appropriate person to be responsible for the Big Lake School District’s food service program, whose duties shall include the creation of nutrition guidelines and procedures for the selection of foods and beverages made available on campus to ensure food and beverage choices are consistent with current USDA guidelines.
   2. As part of the private food service vendor’s responsibility to operate the food service program, the private food service vendor will provide continuing professional development for all of its food service personnel who work in Big Lake Schools.
3. Competitive Foods and Beverages

            All foods and beverages sold on school grounds to students, outside of reimbursable meals, are considered “competitive foods.”  Competitive foods include items sold a la carte in the cafeteria, from vending machines, school stores, and for in-school fundraisers.

1. All competitive foods will meet the USDA Smart Snacks in School (Smart Snacks) nutrition standards and any applicable state nutrition standards, at a minimum. Smart Snacks aim to improve student health and well-being, increase consumption of healthful foods during the school day, and create an environment that reinforces the development of healthy eating habits.
2. Before and Aftercare (child care) programs must also comply with Big Lake Schools’ nutrition standards unless they are reimbursable under USDA school meals program, in which case they must comply with all applicable USDA standards.

1. Other Foods and Beverages Made Available to Students
   1. Student wellness will be a consideration for all foods offered, but not sold, to students on the school campus, including those foods provided through:
      1. Celebrations and parties. Big Lake Schools will provide a list of healthy party ideas to parents and teachers, including non-food celebration ideas.
      2. Classroom snacks brought by parents. Big Lake Schools will provide to parents a list of suggested foods and beverages that meet Smart Snacks nutrition standards.
   2. Rewards and incentives. Schools will not use foods or beverages as rewards for academic performance or good behavior (unless this practice is allowed by a student’s individual education plan or behavior intervention plan) and will not withhold food or beverages as punishment.
   3. Big Lake Schools will make available to parents and teachers a list of suggested healthy fundraising ideas.
2. Food and Beverage Marketing in Schools
   1. School-based marketing will be consistent with nutrition education and health promotion.
   2. Schools will restrict food and beverage marketing to the promotion of only those foods and beverages that meet the Smart Snacks nutrition standards.