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Home My WebLink AboutResolution No. 2014-44COUNTY COUNCIL COUNTY OF KAUA’I t 0 luti j3 fl No.RESOLUTION URGING COOPERATION BY THE STATE OF HAWAI’I,THE HAWAI’I STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,AND COMMUNITY RESIDENTS IN PREVENTING THE DENIAL OF SCHOOL MEALS TO STUDENTS WHEREAS,the National School Lunch Program,a federally funded program that assists schools and other agencies in providing nutritious lunches to children at reasonable prices,was initiated in 1946;and WHEREAS,for children,the National School Lunch Program provides a nutritious meal that contains one-third of the recommended dietary allowance of necessary nutrients.For parents,the program offers a convenient method of providing a nutritionally balanced lunch at the lowest possible price.For schools,the program enhances children’s learning abilities by contributing to their physical and mental well-being;and WHEREAS,the Healthy,Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 authorizes funding for federal school meal and child nutrition programs and increases access to healthy food for low-income children;and WHEREAS,recognizing the correlation between nutrition,behavior,and learning,the school lunch program has continued to grow as an accepted part of the total educational program,and is recognized as a valuable tool in the learning process;and WHEREAS,the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service administers several programs that provide healthy food to children,including the National School Lunch Program,the School Breakfast Program,the Child and Adult Care Food Program,the Summer Food Service Program,the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program,and the Special Milk Program.Administered by State agencies,each of these programs helps fight hunger and obesity by reimbursing organizations such as schools,child care centers,and after school programs for providing healthy meals to children;and WHEREAS,the Department of Education (DOE),State of Hawai’i,through its Office of School Facilities and Support Services School Food Services Branch,administers the school lunch programs throughout the State of Hawai’i;and WHEREAS,a meal account is established for each individual student at the start of each school year;and WHEREAS,funds are deposited into the meal account by parents,legal guardians,or other responsible person(s)/entity(ies)for use by the student to purchase school meals;and WHEREAS,a meal tracker system for school lunch programs is used by the schools to monitor meal accounts to ensure the availability of funds to purchase school meals;and WHEREAS,the Department of Education’s policy for “Negative Balances for School Meals,”a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A,sets forth procedural guidelines for schools that choose to allow students to accrue negative account balances to purchase school meals;and WHEREAS,the procedural guidelines provides in part that “[Sjchools that have students with negative account balances should follow these procedures:1.Contact the parent/guardian via phone;2.Document the date of the call;3.Document the name of the person making the contact;4.Document the person who answered the call;and/or send home a letter that includes the balance due (printed from Meal Tracker or Etrition Point of Sale (POS)system)notifying the parent/guardian that the balance must be paid the following day or parent/guardian should send a home lunch with their child.a)Parents are responsible for keeping their child(ren)’s account current at all times.The DOE does not have funding resources to give free food or alternate meals to students whose parents have neglected to provide a means for their child(ren)to eat in school.b)If these notifications have been recorded with supporting documentation,and the negative balance is over the value of five (5)lunches,please contact the School Food Services Director via Lotus Notes or at (808)733-8400”;and WHEREAS,a student’s meal account may have a zero balance or deficit due to the negligence of an adult responsible for ensuring the availability of sufficient funds to purchase meals;and WHEREAS,incidents of students being denied a school meal because of insufficient funds in their meal account have been conveyed by parents;now,therefore,BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF KAUA’I,STATE OF HAWAI’I,that it urges cooperation by the State of Hawaii,the State Department of Education,and all parents and guardians in preventing the denial of a school meal to any child. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,that it requests the Department of Education to research possible solutions that would eliminate the situation of school personnel having to deny a school meal to any student.BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,that copies of this Resolution be sent to Governor Neil Abercrombie,Kaua’i’s State Legislative Delegation,the Hawai’i State Board of Education,School Food Services Branch Director Glenna Owens,Kaua’i Complex Area Superintendent William N.Arakaki,and Mayor Bernard P.Carvalho,Jr.Introduced by:I MEL RAPOZb V:\Resolutions\20 1-20 14-TERM-Denial of School Meals To Students-MR-AOlc.doc €3 2C x L 0 x ----------x--------wnwLa -c—te 7 o0 !CW 4 4.tt 2014-1i4 4 tP 4 KGG:,G€4 CQA,September 24.‘09-25-2014 Ekbibit A NEGATIVE BALANCES FOR SCHOOL MEALS Purpose:To provide procedural guidelines for schools that choose to allow students to accrue negative account balances to purchase school meals.Applies to:Principals and vice principals,School Administrative Services Assistants (SASA),School Food Service Managers (SFSM),Meal Count Assistants (MCA)Background:Pursuant to the Office of Management and Budget (0MB),Code of Federal Regulations Part 225,0MB Circular A-87,Appendix B,states that bad debts,including losses arising from uncollectable accounts and other claims whether actual or estimated,related collection costs,and related legal costs,are unallowable.It should be noted however,that very young children and students who are in the special education program should be given special consideration.Procedural Guidelines:A.Schools that have students with negative account balances should follow these procedures:1.Contact the parent/guardian via phone;2.Document the date of the call;3.Document the name of the person making the contact;4.Document the person who answered the call;and/or send home a letter that includes the balance due (printed from Meal Tracker or Etrition Point of Sale (POS)system)notifying the parent/guardian that the balance must be paid the following day or parent/guardian should send a home lunch with their child.a)Parents are responsible for keeping their child(ren)’s account current at all times.The DOE does not have funding resources to give free food or alternate meals to students whose parents have neglected to provide a means for their child(ren)to eat in school.b)If these notifications have been recorded with supporting documentation,and the negative balance is over the value of five (5)lunches,please contact the School Food Services Director via Lotus Notes or at (808)733-8400.B.At a minimum,the school must ensure parents/guardians are fully aware of their obligation to pay for their child(ren)’s meals.Deficit student accounts must be recorded in the Meal Tracker or Etrition POS system,however all deficit accounts must be cleared at the end of the fiscal year.C.Schools must remit a check to the School Food Services Branch at the end of the fiscal year with a summary of negative balance accounts from Meal Tracker or Etrition POS.The School Food Services Program presumes all student negative accounts will be cleared as of the beginning of every school year.D.Schools must maintain a separate ledger if a student(s)has a negative account balance and has exhausted all remedies to recover the money from the parent(s).a)0 -c C.)52 Exhibit A E.A defic[t account is deemed uncollectible (OFS SP 1106:Revenue/Cash Collection)if any of the following apply:1.Debtor or party causing damage to property,belonging to the State,is no longer within the jurisdiction of the State.2.The debtor or party causing damage to the State cannot be located.3.The party causing damage to property is unknown or cannot be identified.4.The debtor has filed bankruptcy and has listed the State as a creditor.5.Such other account as may be deemed by the Attorney General to be uneconomical or impractical to collect.F.The approval request to write off obligations that have been outstanding for two consecutive years should be identified by one of the five definitions listed above (E.)as a reason to write off outstanding obligations as uncollectible.1.Requests should be reviewed by the Complex Area Superintendent and the Chief Financial Officer and then forwarded to the Attorney General for permission to write off the account.2.Once permission from the Attorney General is received,school/office should maintain a permanent record of the uncollectible account that has been written off.3.Uncollectible obligations that are written off can be reinstated if the account becomes collectible or the facts presented to the Attorney General were misstated.References,Resources,and Forms:(a)OFS:SP 1106 Revenue/Cash doliection (b)Office of Management and Budget (0MB),Code of Federal Regulations Part 225,0MB Circular A-87,Appendix B ci)C-)53