Free Breakfast and Lunch
For the 2024-25 school year, ALL West Shore School District schools qualify to serve one free breakfast and one free lunch to every student, regardless of their family's economic status. This means EVERY student in the West Shore School District will receive free meals! Any additional servings beyond one free breakfast and one free lunch per day will require payment.
Summer Meal Program
To ensure our children continue receiving meals throughout the summer months, we are once again offering a free summer meals program! From June 17 through August 15, all kids up to age 18 can receive free breakfast and lunch on Mondays through Thursdays regardless of their family’s economic status or school district of residence. More details in the pictures on this page and
here.
Other Summer Meal Sites The Summer Food Service Program is a federally funded program operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered in Pennsylvania by the Department of Education. Parents can also use the following link to find locations near their neighborhoods:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/summerfoodrocks
Families seeking food assistance for their children can also contact The
USDA National Hunger Hotline, operated by Hunger Free America. The hotline can be reached Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET at
- 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479) (for English) or
- 1-877-8-HAMBRE (1-877-842-6273) (for Spanish).
- Families may also: Call 211
Special Information for Graduating Seniors
Shortly after their final day of school, seniors will automatically receive a meal account refund request form if they have a positive account balance. Remaining funds may be transferred to younger students or (if greater than $4) refunded to the family. For graduates who do not return the refund form by June 20 and for those graduates with positive account balances $4 or under, the money will anonymously be donated to school meal accounts of those students with recognized economic challenges. In order to request a refund, the completed refund request
form must be returned to the food service office (PO Box 803, New Cumberland, PA 17070) by June 20.
Food Service Employment Opportunities
The Food Service Department continues looking for permanent part-time and substitute staff members. If you are looking for part time school year work opportunities (generally 4-5.5 hours per day), the Food Service Department might just be the place for you. Please complete our online application and begin working on getting your background checks for employment. The starting wage for 2024-2025 is $15/hour for entry level positions.
Meals in 2023-2024
All students will be eligible for a free breakfast each day in 2023-2024, regardless of their family's financial status. Second breakfasts, incomplete meals, and a la carte items (ex. milk, juice cups, bottled water) will still need to be paid for at the advertised prices.
Students will be required to pay full price for lunch meals this year, unless they are approved for free/reduced price meals (through application, CEP, or direct certification). Applications will be sent home on the first day of school, but families may already fill them out online. Meal prices for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 are found on the menus portion of the website. These prices as well as a la carte prices are subject to change if market conditions necessitate. Menus are online, but subject to change.
Physical Activity and Nutrition Advisory Council Seeks Members
The District’s Physical Activity and Nutrition Advisory Council (PANAC) serves as an advisory committee regarding student health issues, periodically reviewing and recommending changes to the District’s Student Physical Activity and Nutrition Policy. PANAC also serves as a Food Services Advisory Council providing students, parents/guardians, and staff the opportunity to provide feedback on the District’s Food Services Program.
PANAC continues currently looking for students, parents, and staff who may be interested in participating on the council for next year. Each building is encouraged to have a staff member, a parent, and/or a student participate. Meetings are scheduled for 3:00 at the Administration Center in September 2024, November 2024, February 2025, and April 2025. Please contact Dr. Argot [email protected] if you are interested in volunteering.
Online Fees
Effective January 1, 2024, for those who submit electronic payments through LINQ Connect, the credit and debit card convenience fees for all payments will be 3.95% of the transaction amount with a minimum fee of $2.85 per transaction, while ACH or eCheck transactions, if applicable, will be a flat fee of $1.85 per transaction. By way of example, a payment of $85 would be charged $3.24 for card payments or $1.85 for eCheck payments.
What does a meal look like?
We are providing “offer vs. serve” this year. This means that food service will offer fruit, vegetable, milk, grain, and meat or meat alternative for lunch, but students only need to take three of these components. One must be a fruit or a vegetable. For instance, a chicken patty on a bun with sliced apples would count as a meal. Milk is not a requirement. Students may have two fruits and two vegetables as part of their free meal.
Allergies
Parents of students who have a medical necessity for variations to the meal requirements are encouraged to have their student's medical provider complete and return the Medical Plan of Care for School Food Service to your school's office.
Summer EBT/SUN Bucks
Please click here for more information about this year's Summer EBT/SUN Bucks program.