Food Service

Kent City Nutrition Services

The very heart of what we do each day is Service. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve your families’ school meal needs and strive to serve delicious, well-balanced meals in a safe, cheerful and caring atmosphere.

The Kent City School District participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School
Breakfast Program (SBP) and federally funded After School Snack Program (CACFP) &
Summer Lunch Program (SLP). This allows us to serve breakfast, lunch and snack at each
school daily and food during the summer break.

During the pandemic, federal waivers allowed schools to offer free meals to all students.
Congress let those waivers expire on June 30, so now we must charge families for meals unless
they apply for and are approved to receive meal benefits.  Beginning in August 2022, the Nutrition Services Department will change back to the way it operated before March 2020.

Breakfast and lunch will still be available to all students; however, they will not be free to all
students. That means that families will need to complete the Free and Reduced-price Family
Application to qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The students who do not qualify for free
or reduced-priced meals must pay full price for breakfast and lunch:

              Breakfast             Lunch
K-5        Free                      $2.60
6-12      $1.50                     $3.50

Those who qualify for Reduced-price $0.30 for breakfast and $0.40 for lunch.

New this year is our Family Portal. Kentcity.familyportal.cloud. Through this link, you will fill out
your Free/Reduced meal application and deposit money to your child’s account. This site also
gives you the ability to check student lunch account balances. This site can be found on our
website under the Food Service link. Meal applications are also used in determining P-EBT
payments, fee waivers and Title I funding for the school. Online applications are the safest and
quickest way to fill out the form. Please consider online first. Paper applications will be
available in each buildings office. All applications are confidential. You only need to fill out
one application per family.

Safety remains our top priority. Students, staff and parents can have peace of mind knowing
that our plans are rooted in the most stringent health and safety practice aligned with federal
and state regulations, along with local health department recommendations. We are proud to
share that all Nutrition Services staff are ServSafe certified.

Following is a description of how our program runs:
Every student has a food service account upon enrollment even if they do not purchase school
meals. Their account number is their School Student ID number. The food and beverages we serve at both schools meet the state and federal requirements, which are based on the USDA Dietary Guidelines and Smart Snack guidelines.

• The daily breakfast serve consists of at least 3 to 4 components and a student must choose at least 3 components, one of which must be a fruit for it to be charged as a meal.
• The daily lunch serve consists of 5 components and a student must choose at least 3 components, one of which must be a fruit or a vegetable.
• The snack serve is a unitized serve and two components must be taken.

Thanks to a generous donation, most of our student charges/negative balances from past years
for breakfast and lunch have been cleared. This means most students start the 2022-23 school
year with no debt. Please strive to keep your child’s account balance positive! Please note our
School Meals Charging Policy.

Medical disability forms for meal substitutions or replacements are required to be filled out and
signed by a Physician each school year. Please see the link for a form or copies are available
in the Nutrition Services Office.

If you would like to join our School Wellness Committee, please contact: Beth Ohman or Will Lepech.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. We truly appreciate your
business and look forward to serving your child this school year.

Sincerely,

Beth Ohman, Food Service Director

beth.ohman@kentcityschools.org or 616-678-4214 x 2105