Child Nutrition FAQ's

Beginning in July of each year, meal benefit applications can be filled out online and paper applications are available at the school on the first day of school. Once the school year begins, meal benefit applications can be submitted throughout the school year when/if a family’s household income status changes. Note that all meal benefit applications are processed at the School Nutrition Office, not the individual school. If determined eligible for benefits, the benefit becomes active on the day the application is processed at the School Nutrition Office. The Benefit status is not retroactive.

All families should apply for free/reduced lunch, even if they do not think they will qualify.  The more families apply, the more it benefits all families and the district.  Additionally, families may qualify even if they think they will not.

The income eligibility guidelines are on the back of each meal benefit application and are changed/updated each year as determined by USDA.

Yes. If you filled out a meal benefit application last school year and your children were approved for meal benefits, then a new meal benefit application would need to be completed and submitted again if you feel your family will qualify for meal benefits based on the new income eligibility guidelines.

No. If your children were approved through Direct Certification, you do not need to fill out a meal benefit application.  In some cases, a separate letter will be sent for each child, and in other cases, all children will be on the same letter. If you have not received a letter for each child, or you do not see all your children’s names on the same letter, then contact the School Nutrition office to add the missing children’s names.

No, the income eligibility guidelines and required information changes each year and must be updated on the applications.  Please check the website or at your child’s school for the most current application.

Once the application is processed, a letter is generated and mailed to the address on file at your child’s school notifying the guardians of approval or denial of meal benefits.  It is important that the head of household and mailing address information at your child’s school is current and up to date.

Yes, our cafeterias can accommodate special dietary needs.  For a fluid milk substitution, the guardian can fill out and submit the Fluid Milk Substitution form to request soy milk in the place of cow’s milk.  For all other mealtime requests, the guardian can have the child’s provider fill out and sign the Medical Statement for Students with Unique Mealtime Needs for School Meals form to submit for request for accommodations.

Payments can be made online at k12paymentcenter.com.  Cash or check payments can also be made at your child’s school cafeteria.  However, please be aware that credit or debit cards are not accepted at the point of sale at the school cafeteria.  Those payments can only be made at k12paymentcenter.com.

Yes. You can check us out on the OCS website under the School Nutrition tab, where guardians can access the mealtime accommodation forms, links to websites, menus, and much more: OCS School Nutrition and Fitness.