Nutrition Services

Free and reduced-price lunch options (Application for Educational Benefits)

• Every household is asked to complete the application each year. This annual process is required to receive educational benefits based on income.
• In Minnesota, reduced-price lunches are also served at no cost to the household and breakfast is free for all students each day in Richfield Public Schools. 
• While a full meal is available to students through this program, second entrees, à la carte items or individual milks without a meal purchase require payments and a positive balance in a student’s account.
• Families can reapply at any point during the school year. If you did not qualify earlier, but your household situation has changed since the beginning of the year, please consider reapplying.

To apply:

• Apply online or print out the application and return it to your child's school office. 
  • Application for Educational Benefits - English (PDF)
  • Application for Educational Benefits - Spanish (PDF)

You can check the status of your application on the NutriStatus website.

• High school and middle school: $2.95
• Elementary school: $2.70
• Double entree: $2.00
• Milk: .60 cents
• Breakfast is FREE for all RPS students

FeePay

• View your child’s meal balance and purchase history.
• Set automatic reminders when the account gets low.
• Make one-time payments or create automatic payments to your child’s account.
• Learn more about FeePay or login now.

ParentVUE

• Receive reminders about your child's lunch balance.
• Be sure to keep your phone number and email updated in ParentVUE, which is also used for a variety of school and district reminders and alerts. 
• Learn more about ParentVUE or login now.

Notifications

• When a student's account balance drops below -$0.05, we send an alert to parents via email, robocall and text. Please ensure your contact information is up-to-date in ParentVUE. These messages are automatically generated and are sent on Mondays and Thursdays during the school year. 
• When a student's account balance drops below -$0.05, we send a letter in your child’s backpack every week (if your child is in elementary school) or a mailed letter every two weeks (if your child is in grades 6-12).
• If you are having difficulty making payments, please notify our staff. We may be able to assist you with funds from the Sunshine Account, as well as other resources.

Meal Charging Policy

USDA guidelines state that all districts must administer a Meal Charge Policy to aid in maintaining the financial integrity of the nonprofit school food service account. All families of students will be notified prior to the meal account becoming negative in an effort to reduce or eliminate meal charging. Best efforts will be given to identify families who need financial assistance. Families with students who have negative meal account balances will be strongly encouraged to apply for free or reduced-price meals. When families keep their child's meal account positive, there are more funds available to provide higher quality food for all. 

MealViewer

• Check out what’s being served for breakfast and lunch.
• View nutrition and allergy information.
• Visit the MealViewer website or download the app (Apple | Google Play).

Does your child have food allergies?

If you set up a MealViewer profile for your child, you can save food allergens to their profile and receive an alert when an allergen is present on the menu. This helps alert you to a potentially dangerous situation for your child.

Lactose intolerance: If your child is lactose intolerant, please contact the Director of Food & Nutrition or send a note to the Nutrition Manager at your child's school requesting an alternative to cow's milk. Our electronic system will alert the nutrition services staff of this request and alternatives will be provided until we are informed otherwise.

Special dietary requests: If your child has special dietary requests, please have their medical doctor complete the Special Diet Request Form and return it to the school nurse at your child's school. Nutrition services staff will partner with both the school nurse and the family to make accommodations in the case of a disability and will make reasonable accommodations based on the wide inventory of items that we usually have in inventory for all other requests.

Note:  It may take several weeks to prepare an individualized meal plan with a completed special diet statement.  Parents/guardians are responsible to provide meals from home for their student until a completed meal plan is in place. 

Offer vs. serve is a system that decreases food waste while giving students greater flexibility in choosing what to eat for school breakfast or lunch.

Breakfast

• Students must take a combination of two or three of the four items offered (depending on serving size for the meal) to qualify for a reimbursable meal.

Lunch

• Students must take a serving of fruit OR vegetable plus two additional options of the five food items offered for the meal to qualify as a reimbursable meal. This is the minimum under federal program regulations.
• Students may take smaller portions of the declined items.
• The meal must be priced as a unit. That is, a student who takes two, four or five food items, or smaller portions of some items, pays the same price.

Under specific criteria, state and federal governments may reimburse school districts for a portion of the cost of producing school meals. Reimbursable meals are combinations of food items served to students at breakfast and lunch that meet either nutrition standards or calorie levels or the meal pattern specified in federal regulations. These meals are also priced as a unit (the advertised price). Because the meal needs to be purchased as a unit, we may ask students to take an additional item if they do not have a complete meal. The district does not receive reimbursement when students purchase a second meal. In that event, students are charged the full cost of an adult meal.

OR

"Non-reimbursable" is a term we use when a student does not take what the USDA considers a "complete lunch". Each lunch menu consists of a minimum of five components: milk, protein, grain, fruit and vegetable item. A student must take a fruit or a vegetable item and two other different items from the menu in order for the lunch to be a "complete lunch". When a student does not select a complete lunch, we are not reimbursed by federal and state agencies. If we are not reimbursed for the meal, we must pass those charges on to the student. The non-reimbursable lunch cost reflects the actual cost of the meal. 

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident.

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency or USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800)877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at How to File a Program Discrimination Complaint and at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax; (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: program.intake@usda.gov.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.