For information about the end of Emergency SNAP Benefits, please contact the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance by visiting this link.
Food Allergies or Intolerances
If your child has any dietary restrictions or food allergies, please communicate this directly to our district school nurse. Once this information is received, it will be passed to the Food Service Department.
School Meal Costs for 2022-2023
Breakfast $1.50
UPK-6 Lunch - $1.75
7-12 Lunch - $2.00
Adult Breakfast $2.75
Adult Lunch $5.00
Contact Information
Waterford-Halfmoon Food Services Director
Ross Tuskey
[email protected]
Phone: (518) 598-8151
WHUFSD Free and Reduced Price Lunch Program Coordinator
Erin Wright
Shared Food Service Program Specialist
Capital Region BOCES
900 Watervliet-Shaker Road
Albany, NY 12205
[email protected]
Phone: (518) 464-3945
Fax: (518) 862-4903
My School Bucks Online Meal Payment System
Register/Login Here
Great news! We are offering an exciting new option to help make your life easier. mySchoolBucks.com® is an on-line system that will allow you to make deposits into your student's school meal accounts. For more information go to the mySchooBucks page.
Free and Reduced Meal Application
Please complete and submit a free/reduced meal application for the 2022-23 school year. Families are encouraged to complete an application online, which can be found here.
A hard copy version is also available to print and submit at your students’ main office. That application can be located here. Questions can be directed to [email protected] or Erin Wright at (518) 464-3945.
It is important for families who believe they may qualify for the Free and Reduced Price Meals Program to submit an application to document their needs. Children from households that meet federal income guidelines are eligible for free meals or reduced price meals. Students who qualify for free and reduced price lunch also qualify for free and reduced price breakfast.
Students who wish to purchase snacks or beverages must have money in their K-12 Payment Center account.
Waterford-Halfmoon School District Wellness Policy #5661
Waterford-Halfmoon School District Policy #5660:
MEAL CHARGING AND PROHIBITION AGAINST MEAL SHAMING
It is the District's goal to provide students with access to nutritious no- or low-cost meals each school day and to ensure that a student whose parent/guardian has unpaid meal charges is not shamed or treated differently than a student whose parent/guardian does not have unpaid meal charges.
Unpaid meal charges place a large financial burden on the District. The purpose of this policy is to ensure compliance with federal requirements for the USDA Child Nutrition Program and to provide oversight and accountability for the collection of outstanding student meal balances to ensure that the student is not stigmatized, distressed, or embarrassed.
The intent of this policy is to establish procedures to address unpaid meal charges throughout the District in a way that does not stigmatize, distress, or embarrass students. The provisions of this policy pertain to regular priced reimbursable school breakfast, lunch and snack meals only. Charging of items outside of the reimbursable meals (a la carte items, adult meals, etc.) is expressly prohibited.
Access to Meals
a) Free meal benefit eligible students will be allowed to receive a free breakfast and lunch meal of their choice each day. A la carte items or other similar items must be paid/prepaid.
b) Reduced meal benefit eligible students will be allowed to receive a breakfast of their choice for $.25 and lunch of their choice for $.25 each day. A student will be allowed to charge a maximum of three (3) meals to their account after the balance reaches zero. The charge meals offered to students will be reimbursable meals available to all students, unless the student's parent or guardian has specifically provided written permission to the District to withhold a meal. A la carte items or other similar items must be paid/prepaid.
c) Full pay students will pay for meals at the District's published paid meal rate each day. A student will be allowed to charge a maximum of three (3) meals to their account after the balance reaches zero. The charge meals offered to students will be reimbursable meals available to all students, unless the student's parent or guardian has specifically provided written permission to the District to withhold a meal. A la carte items or other similar items must be paid/prepaid.
Ongoing Staff Training
a) Staff will be trained annually and throughout the year as needed on the procedures for managing meal charges using the State Education Department (SED) Webinar or the District's training program.
b) Staff training will include ongoing eligibility certification for free or reduced price meals.
Parent Notification
a) Parents/guardians will be notified that a student's account balance is exhausted within thirty (30) days and then every week thereafter.
b) Parents/guardians will be notified that a student has accrued unpaid meal charges within three (3) days of the charge and then every week thereafter.
Parent Outreach
a) Staff will communicate with parents/guardians with five or more unpaid meal charges to determine eligibility for free or reduced price meals.
b) Staff will make two documented attempts to reach out to parents/guardians to complete a meal application in addition to the application and instructions provided in the school enrollment packet.
c) Staff will contact the parent/guardian to offer assistance with completion of meal application to determine if there are other issues within the household causing the student to have insufficient funds, offering any other assistance that is appropriate.
d) District will not use the services of a debt collector.
Minimizing Student Distress
a) Staff will not publicly identify or stigmatize any student in line for a meal or discuss any outstanding meal debt in the presence of any other students.
b) Students with unpaid meal charges will not be required to wear a wristband or handstamp, or to do chores or other work to pay for meals.
c) Staff will not throw away a meal after it has been served because of the student's inability to pay for the meal or because of previous unpaid meal charges.
d) Staff will not take any action directed at a student to collect unpaid meal charges.
e) Staff will deal directly with parents/guardians regarding unpaid meal charges.
f) Staff will not serve alternate meals to students with unpaid meal charges.
Ongoing Eligibility Certification
a) Staff will conduct direct certification through the New York Student Identification System (NYSSIS) or using SED Roster Upload at least monthly to maximize free eligibility.
b) Staff will provide parents/guardians with free and reduced price application and instructions at the beginning of each school year in the school enrollment packet.
c) If the District uses an electronic meal application, it will provide an explanation of the process in the school enrollment packet and instructions on how to request a paper application at no cost.
d) The District will provide at least two additional free and reduced price applications throughout the school year to families identified as owing meal charges.
e) The District will use its administrative prerogative to complete an application on a student's behalf judiciously, and only after using exhaustive efforts to obtain a completed application from the student's parent/guardian. The District will complete the application using only available information on family size and income that falls within approvable guidelines.
f) The District will coordinate with the foster, homeless, migrant, and runaway coordinators at least monthly to certify eligible students.
Prepaid Accounts
Students/Parents/Guardians may pay for meals in advance via the school district’s website www.whufsd.org or with a check payable to Waterford-Halfmoon School. Further details are available on the District's webpage at www.whufsd.org. Funds should be maintained in accounts to minimize the possibility that a student may be without meal money on any given day. Any remaining funds for a particular student may be carried over to the next school year.
To obtain a refund for a withdrawn or graduating student, a written or e-mailed request for a refund of any money remaining in the student's account must be submitted. Students who are graduating at the end of the year will be given the option to transfer any remaining money to a sibling's account through a written request.
Unclaimed funds must be requested within one school year. Unclaimed funds will then become the property of the District Food Service Program.
New York State Child Nutrition Program http://portal.nysed.gov/portal/page/pref/CNKC
USDA Nondiscrimination Statement
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf(link is external), from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
- Mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
- Fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
- Email:
[email protected](link is external)
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.