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A Better Way to Grab a Bite:
District Adds NUTRIKIDS System to School Cafeterias

June 2009

The Schalmont Food Services Department is in the process of switching to a NUTRIKIDS Point of Sale (POS) Computer System to improve the speed, accuracy and privacy of cafeteria purchases.

The system was piloted at Jefferson Elementary School beginning in the second week of June 2009. It will be rolled out to all five Schalmont schools beginning in the third week of September 2009.

"Until recently, we were one of the few districts in the Capital District still using a paper system of recording meals. We made this switch so our cafeterias would run more efficiently and be more accurate in reporting to the state Education Department," said Marcy von Maucher, director of Food Services.

Under the POS system, all students will be issued a four digit pin number to use for all meal plan-based cafeteria purchases, both breakfast and lunch.

"For students, the benefit is not having to remember to get lunch money from mom or dad every day. Also, when you purchase a 20-meal plan, you get a bonus meal," said von Maucher.

A student who does not have a meal plan will still have a four digit pin number, but he/she may choose not to use it and instead pay by cash.

Pin numbers will be issued for all students and sent to their homes with class schedules/back-to-school packets in August 2009 unless they were a part of the pilot program at Jefferson Elementary School. Each student’s pin number will remain the same throughout his/her K-12 education.

Purchasing a Meal

Under this new system, the process for purchasing a cafeteria item at the MS or HS will be as follows:

•A student selects food/beverage items in the cafeteria.

•A student enters a pin number on a key pad by the cashier.

•If a student has forgotten his/her pin number, the cashier finds it and the student’s account by searching an alphabetical listing of student names.

•Once a pin number is entered, a student’s name, photograph and any food allergies will appear on the cashier’s POS computer screen. The screen will not display a student’s free or reduced lunch status.

•The cashier will then scan the student’s selected items.

At the elementary schools, students will not have to memorize a pin number because the cashier will access a class roster on the computer system and select students by name.

"After the initial transition period, we will be able to serve more students faster," said von Maucher.

Parent Perks

For the immediate future, parents will continue to use the current system of adding money to students’ meal plan accounts, which involves sending in a check or cash to the cafeteria.

Approximately two to three months after the complete rollout of the POS system this fall, parents will be able to go online to add money – via credit card – to their students’ meal plan accounts. They will also be able to review their children’s purchases by accessing an online database of information linked to their children’s individual pin numbers.

"NUTRIKIDS offers our families a lot of benefits," said von Maucher.