Austin School Board members on Monday will consider adoption of a new unpaid lunch account policy, after giving the policy a first reading in July. The board meets at 5:30 p.m. in Austin City Hall chambers.

The new policy — now required by state law — being considered is what has been practiced in the district.

Students in kindergarten to fourth grade are given three written notices — teachers are given the notices and they are inserted in the students’ back packs — with the first given when children have $8 remaining in their account, then $2, then 0. Students in fifth to 12th grades receive daily
verbal reminders of the debt.

If the account reaches zero, a student may not charge more than three meals on the account.

No other meals may be purchased after that time, but the student is still offered a sandwich and fruit to eat, according to Food Services Director Mary Weikum earlier this year.

Weikum said payment could be made by sending the funds with the student to school, paying it by mail, or paying online through a checking account, credit or debit card. Approximately 3,000 students eat school lunches.

She said in a recent survey of lunch debt, 60 percent of the students with some lunch debt also qualified to eat free and reduced meals, but parents had not made application or were unaware of it. Only a small portion of students were full-pay students, she added.

In other business, the board will consider approval of custodian and paraeducator two-year contracts; dairy bids, and extended field trip requests. The field trips are largely for regional, state or national sports contests, should teams qualify; others are for overnight or out-of-state trips, such as the band which will travel to Atlanta, Georgia, next spring.