Utica City School District to see new lunch program
By: Chelsea Rarrick
Updated: September 20, 2011
The Utica City School District is seeing some change in the lunchroom.
The students at Proctor High School will no longer be able to rack up those charges on school lunches.
The changes call for more accountability from both parents and students.
It's called "The Red Light, Green Light System."
This is a new lunch program to stop the large negative balances in the district.
The process begins by students getting in line with a server. The server will have a monitor in front of them where students will then punch in their ID's in a pin pad.
Their picture will come up on the monitor, which is only seen by the server.
Mary Kay VanDreason, the food service director for the district says a red light will go off if a student has a negative balance. She says that will indicate the server if the student needs to be offered the alternate meal.
Although the district's reasoning for the new system is because of large debt from lunch servings, the staff at Proctor High School does not want students feeling uncomfortable if they have a negative balance.
"We're not going to make them feel worse then they already feel. We want to get the parents responsible for this. We don't want to make the kids feel like they're doing something wrong," said Supervisor, Felix Colosimo.
The students have already been informed of the change in the lunch process, along with a letter sent home to parents regarding the system.
But, one student disagrees.
"I don't think it's fair because some people don't have the money to get the lunch that they want," said Proctor High School Student, Rayeanne Ferguson.
Mary Kay VanDreason says the students are able to apply for free or reduced lunches if needed.
She says the program is not aimed at preventing children from getting a lunch.
"We will feed any child. That's never an issue. We will always feed a student, but it's to help prevent them from taking advantage and racking up large charges," said VanDreason.
The new system is set to be in effect this week for Proctor High School.
Donovan Middle School and John F. Kennedy Middle School will soon follow with the change.
The students at Proctor High School will no longer be able to rack up those charges on school lunches.
The changes call for more accountability from both parents and students.
It's called "The Red Light, Green Light System."
This is a new lunch program to stop the large negative balances in the district.
The process begins by students getting in line with a server. The server will have a monitor in front of them where students will then punch in their ID's in a pin pad.
Their picture will come up on the monitor, which is only seen by the server.
Mary Kay VanDreason, the food service director for the district says a red light will go off if a student has a negative balance. She says that will indicate the server if the student needs to be offered the alternate meal.
Although the district's reasoning for the new system is because of large debt from lunch servings, the staff at Proctor High School does not want students feeling uncomfortable if they have a negative balance.
"We're not going to make them feel worse then they already feel. We want to get the parents responsible for this. We don't want to make the kids feel like they're doing something wrong," said Supervisor, Felix Colosimo.
The students have already been informed of the change in the lunch process, along with a letter sent home to parents regarding the system.
But, one student disagrees.
"I don't think it's fair because some people don't have the money to get the lunch that they want," said Proctor High School Student, Rayeanne Ferguson.
Mary Kay VanDreason says the students are able to apply for free or reduced lunches if needed.
She says the program is not aimed at preventing children from getting a lunch.
"We will feed any child. That's never an issue. We will always feed a student, but it's to help prevent them from taking advantage and racking up large charges," said VanDreason.
The new system is set to be in effect this week for Proctor High School.
Donovan Middle School and John F. Kennedy Middle School will soon follow with the change.
