Lunch Program

Dear Families
Child nutrition programs have been essential throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring kids continued to get the nutrition they need. We understand the coming school year will be a significant transition for families as we return to pre-pandemic meal programs with paid, free, and reduced-priced eligibilities for students.
 
Schools had federal flexibilities during COVID so they could serve all kids free meals. Some of those options expired, so we can no longer serve all meals free anymore. Instead, families will do what they did before COVID. Schools will take applications and use family income to qualify kids for free, reduce-price, or paid meals.
 
Schools are facing the same challenges many grocery stores and other places are having with getting all the food and supplies they need. When this happens,our school nutrition professionals are doing everything they can to serve healthy meals to your child. Sometimes that means needing to swap out some foods for others because some foods are easier to get. Please be patient and understanding with our efforts. As school meals must meet strong nutrition standards, we are committed to making sure our kids get the healthy meals they need to learn and grow.
 
See below the communication shared in May 2022 regarding the 2022-2023 school year.

2022-2023 School year prices

Milk only

     Milk – $.40 per carton
     Choice of 1% white or fat free chocolate

Lunch

     Student Paid Rate: $3.70 per lunch (based on USDA reimbursable rates)

     Student Reduced Rate: $0.40 per lunch (based on USDA reimbursable rates)

     Staff Lunch: $4.50 per lunch

 

Riverside District 96 School Meals Meet New Nutrition Standards
As students return to school this fall, they’ll find healthy choices in their school cafeteria.
 
Our Cafeteria will be providing school meals that meet new federal nutrition standards, ensuring that meals are healthy, well balanced and provide students all the nutrition they need to succeed at school.
 
School meals offer students milk, fruits and vegetables, proteins and grains, and they must meet strict limits for saturated fat and portion size. School lunches meet additional standards requiring:
    • Age-appropriate calorie limits
    • Larger servings of vegetables and fruits (students must take at least one serving of produce)
    • A wider variety of vegetables, including dark green and red/orange vegetables and legumes
    • Fat-free or 1% milk (flavored milk must be fat-free)
    • More whole grains
    • And less sodium

We are always working to offer our students healthier and tastier choices. School meals are a great value and a huge convenience for busy families.