Crescent School District

We can take payment as follows:

1. Cash or Check. If you send it with a student, please put it in an envelope and write the student's name on the outside and that it is for food payment.
2. Credit or Debit Online via Parent Square. Paying online is a cinch!

Meal Charging

The district does not want to burden any family with unpaid accumulating debt. When a student’s account drops below zero, an automated phone call will be made to the family.  Automated phone calls go out twice a week.  After five meals have been charged without sufficient funds in the account, the business manager, the school principal, or a school counselor will contact the parent/guardian to determine a remedy to make the student’s account whole again. At no time will the student be denied a meal for non-sufficient funds.  Every precaution will be made to protect the student’s identity.

Crescent staff may charge meals on account.  Staff members may check their balance in Skyward or contact the school office at any time to find out their balance.  We encourage all staff members to keep their account current with a positive amount.  If the account becomes negative, the staff member will be notified, and the account must be paid in full in a timely manner.

Communication with the Parent/Guardian of the Household

We make every effort to communicate any unpaid account balance information directly with the parent/guardian of the household.  We do not offer chores for a meal, provide hand-stamps, or give any account balance notes directly to the student, although we may send a sealed envelope addressed to the parent home with the student. A parent may check their students account balance at any time in Skyward or by contacting someone in the office.
  - Automated phone calls reach all households for any unpaid meal charges every Monday and Thursday evening around 5 p.m. The automated phone call will state the student’s name and unpaid account balance

Positive Balances and Unpaid Meal Charges

A student’s balance (either positive or negative) will remain pending and will follow a student year to year. If your student is leaving the district, any unpaid meal charges will need to be paid in full. Please contact the business manager if your student has a positive account balance and you would like a refund, or if you would like to transfer the balance to another student. We contact all graduating senior households to initiate this process each June

Collection Efforts for Unpaid Meal Charges

We will continue to contact the household through automated messages or direct communications to get a student’s account in good standing. Federal requirements require all uncollectable debt must be written off as operating losses. The business manager will use clear documentation in the event there is an account determined to be uncollectible. Repayment of debt resulting from unpaid meal charges is an unallowable cost; therefore, we must restore using non-federal funds (i.e. general fund, special funding from state or local government, or any other non-federal sources).

Repaying an NSF Check (Non-Sufficient Funds)

We only accept cash to repay any NSF check returned by the bank. Until it has been paid we can no longer accept checks from the household. If the district receives three NSF checks from the same household during the school year, our district guidelines state that no further checks will be accepted in the district for that current year

Account Balance Refunds & Donations

You may request a refund at any point during the school year.  When a student leaves the district, a refund will be initiated in the check-out process.  If a graduating student has a family-member-student still in the district, we may ask the family if they would like to transfer the balance to the sibling’s account.  Upon request by the parent/guardian, the balance may be donated to another student’s account who is not a family member. Households approved for reduced price benefits, however, must receive a refund.  

For refunds, contact the business office at 360-928-3311 ext. 1005. Refund checks will be mailed to the parent/guardian’s home 1-2 weeks after the request has been made.

Occasionally our department will receive local monetary donations to pay off student unpaid meal charges. Any student account impacted by a donation will be documented clearly

Distribution of these Guidelines to each Household & Staff

These guidelines will be communicated to households each year so that school district employees, families and students have a shared understanding of expectations regarding meal charges.

Online: Child Nutrition/Food Services tab and in the student handbooks of the Crescent School Website.

Printed: Distributed to each household at the beginning of the school year and when new students enroll.  Also available in print upon request.

Electronically: Emailed to staff members at the beginning of each school year

Free and Reduced Price Meals

Where there is a need and family income is within guidelines set by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, application for free and reduced price lunches may be made through the school business office or on our website.

The state food program does not pay for milks purchased as a single item. Students who bring a sack lunch to school and would like to receive a school provided milk will be charged $0.50 for their milk.