New lunch system coming (02/11/2009)

Jay County High School students will soon have more to do in the lunch line than choose what food they want to eat.

Students will be given a five-digit number to punch into a keypad each day in the lunch line. The screen will show what has been paid or if students receive free or reduced lunches, and will also bring up a copy of the student's photo.

With students not paying in the lunch line, the process should be quicker and, for students receiving free or reduced lunches, less conspicuous, school officials say.

Although the new personal identification number system is being implemented, students will still have the option of paying for lunches with cash. Students were receiving their P.I.N. numbers today.

Payments will be made to cashiers in the cafeteria with cash or a check before school begins each week. Payment isn't available online yet but "It will be before the year's over," said Bill Bussear, food service director for the Jay School Corporation.

Bussear also said students may pay more than one weekly payment at a time. The payment information will be logged in a computer.

After payment is available online, parents will later have the ability to put restrictions on what their child may eat or check to see what they have been eating.

The company installing the program, Lunch Box Company, Tallmadge, Ohio, began training workers Monday and Tuesday.

The program will be implemented Thursday at the high school and later at East and West Jay Middle Schools and the elementary schools.[[In-content Ad]]