FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICES PROCEDURES: GHC has introduced a cutting-edge biometric technology, which will allow our students to purchase food from the school by providing a scan of their finger at the register. The equipment scans each student’s finger, links that student’s lunch account with their finger scan, and allows them to purchase food without having to remember a card or worry about losing the card or money. Please be advised that upon participation in this program, your child’s finger scan and associated personal information needed for lunch purchases will be part of his/her educational records. These records will be kept confidential to the extent required by applicable law. All GHC students participate in the finger scan food purchasing system. Students will not be able to purchase food through the use of cash or other means of payment. You may opt out of this program by written request. There is one line inside the cafeteria where your student’s ID card can be utilized.
Summary of FERPA Rights Regarding Personally Identifiable Information
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) affords parents and students over 18 years of age (“eligible students”) certain rights with respect to the student's education records. The right to provide written consent before GHC discloses personally identifiable information (“PII”) from the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. Pursuant to §99.3, PII includes among other things, personal identifiers, such as the student's social security number, student number, or biometric record (which includes fingerprints; retina and iris patterns; voiceprints; DNA sequence; facial characteristics; and handwriting).
FERPA permits the disclosure of PII from students’ education records, without consent of the parent or eligible student, if the disclosure meets certain conditions found in 34 CFR §99.31 of the FERPA regulations. A school may disclose PII from the education records of a student without obtaining prior written consent of the parents or the eligible student to other school officials, including teachers, within the educational agency or institution whom the school has determined to have legitimate educational interests. This includes contractors, consultants, volunteers, or other parties to whom the school has outsourced institutional services or functions.
Please forward federal nutrition program civil rights complaints to:
| Child Nutrition Programs Civil Rights and Program Complaint Coordinator California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division 1430 N Street, Room 4503 Sacramento, CA 95814-2342 916-445-7760 | Or | USDA, Director, Office of Adjudication 1400 Independence Avenue, Southwest Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 866-632-9992 Federal Relay Service 800-877-8339 (English) or 800-845-6136 (Spanish) |
MEAL PRICES AND STUDENT MEAL ACCOUNTS
Parents or students deposit money into a personal account established for each student. The money in the account is used to pay for meals in the cafeteria, such as breakfast, lunch, and a la carte items including, but not limited to, bottled water, sports drinks, cookies, pizza, frozen yogurt, chips, and other items. Cash in hand will be required in all vending machines on campus, which are only available at times when class is not in session.
GHC will once again be covering the cost of reduced price meals for qualifying students. This means that students that qualify for reduced price meals will not be required to pay the $0.30 for breakfast or the $0.40 for lunch and will receive their meals free of charge.
Meal prices for the school year are listed below:
| Grades | Breakfast | Lunch |
|
K-5 6-8 9-12 |
$2.50 $2.75 $3.00 |
$3.50 $3.75 $4.25 |
Parents must deposit money into their student’s account on a regular basis in order to maintain a positive balance for purchases. There are three ways to deposit money in a student’s account:
Mail a check directly to the Zelzah Campus – GHC CAFETERIA, 10535 Zelzah Ave, Granada Hills, CA 91344 – be sure to always write the student’s name and ID number on the check in order to credit the payment to the proper account. Checks should be made payable to Granada Hills Charter. The minimum amount is $5.00.
Send a check or cash to the school with the student - payment should be made at the Cafeteria payment window prior to lunch. Envelopes are available throughout the day at any serving line where food is served. The envelopes may be turned in to a cafeteria worker at a serving line or into the mailbox located outside the cafeteria.
Via the Internet – go to www.ghctk12.com/cafeteria/ click on pre-payment options. Then click on the blue “Online Payments” box. Have the student’s ID number ready and follow the instructions to make a secure payment online using a credit or debit card. The full amount of your payment is credited and there are no surcharges for paying in this manner. The minimum amount to deposit online is $10.00. You may also set up automatic payments where payments may be made at set intervals or when your student’s account reaches a low balance.
We will notify parents regularly via email, phone calls, and mobile texts as soon as the student reaches a negative balance. Students will not be denied a meal due to lack of funds. However, they will not be able to purchase extra items or extra meals until you have established a positive balance. It is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that the student’s account has sufficient funds available. Account transactions describing what items have been purchased may be reviewed online. If you have further questions regarding the student’s account you may call the cafeteria at (818)363-7303 or by sending an email to cafeteria@ghctk12.com.