Nutrition Services

There are a few ways to pay for your student's school meals. This is for all meals, whether paying full-price or reduced-price.
 

Refund Policy
If you have added funds to your student’s account and would like that money back at the end of the school year (graduation, moving to another district, etc.) the district will review your Refund Request. 

First, we will first review any outstanding obligations. If the student or household owes fees to the district, those amounts will be deducted from the refund. If there are no outstanding obligations, the full balance will be refunded.

Obligations may include, but are not limited to: technology fees, activity passes, lost or damaged books, prior-year meal balances, and childcare fees. If multiple fees are owed across different categories, deductions will be made in the order listed above.

All refunds must be requested within 90 calendar days of the last day of the current school year. 

Request Refund of Student Account

Note: positive balances at the end of a school year cannot be used to cover unpaid meal charges. By law, any positive balances must be submitted to the State as unclaimed funds.

Donate or transfer funds

Parents or guardians of students who are graduating or transferring out of the district have the option to donate any remaining positive balance in their student’s meal account to help cover the costs of school meals for other students who may have a need. It may also be transferred to another student account - a sibling, for example.

Please contact Nutrition Services and include your student’s name and student ID number in your request.

Unpaid Meal Charges

The Independence School District recognizes that proper nutrition is essential for students’ academic, physical, and emotional well-being. While we remain committed to ensuring all students receive healthy meals every day, unpaid meal charges place a financial burden on the Nutrition Services Department.

Meal Availability

• Your student will not go hungry at school. All students—whether eligible for free, reduced, or paid meals—will be provided a full, reimbursable breakfast and/or lunch that meets USDA requirements, even if they do not have funds available at the time of service.
• If your student does not have the funds to cover a meal, when they pick up the food, it will get charged to their student account. These are called Charged Meals. They enter their student ID on the keypad just like other students in line, so no attention is drawn to the fact that they’re getting a Charged Meal. Note: extra items - or a la carte items - are not allowed to be charged, so those will not be provided to students with insufficient funds in their student account.

Negative Balances

• Students may continue to carry a negative balance; however, families are expected to pay off the amount owed. If a student brings money to pay for a school meal, that money will go toward the day’s meal - not the negative amount in their account. Note: district employees are not allowed to charge meals. Payment must be received at time of meal service.
• If a student becomes eligible for free or reduced-price meals after accruing a negative balance, the parent/guardian remains responsible for any charges incurred prior to the status change.
• Negative balances follow the student throughout their time in the district and remain the responsibility of the parent/guardian, even if the student graduates or transfers.

Balance Notifications

• The contacts listed during the student’s enrollment will receive daily automated notifications through ParentSquare once a student’s account balance becomes negative. 
• Staff may also reach out to offer support and assistance with the Free and Reduced meal application or payment options.

Communication Plan

In addition to living here on the Nutrition Services webpage, this information is also shared with families: 

• at the beginning of the school year
• when transferring into the district
• in student handbooks and school-specific back-to-school packets

It is also shared with relevant staff including:

• Food service workers and cashiers
• Family School Liaisons, school nurses
• Building and district administrators