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Bienvenidos a Northfield Public Schools!

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Northfield Public Schools

  • Yogurt Parfaits
    Fruit and Yogurt Parfait
  • Green Beans
    Farm Fresh Green Beans
  • Students sampling smoothies
    Students sampling smoothies
  • Lunch Tray
    Lunch Tray with Fireside Apple, Whole Grain Chicken Sandwich, Farm Fresh Squash and Fresh Vegetables
  • Fruit and Veggie Bar
    Fruit and Veggie Bar
  • Students Eating Lunch Meal
    Students Eating Lunch Meal
  • Watermelon
    Farm Fresh Watermelon
  • Lunch Tray with Ferndale Farms Turkey Breast, Whole Grain Dinner Roll, Vegetables and "Super Food" Blueberries
  • Celebrating World Language Week- HS Lunch Tray with Bean or Chicken Burrito, mango salsa, guacamole and cinnamon spiced plantains.
  • Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad

Child Nutrition Services

Fueling Student Learning With Nutritious Food

Our mission is to provide quality nutritious meals that support the growth and development of our students to fuel their learning. Our cafeterias continue to meet challenging federal nutrition standards for school meals and snacks, ensuring that they are healthy, well balanced and include fresh, local foods.

For questions regarding payments, account balances or invoices, please contact Rachael Caspers at 507.663.0621 or Stephany Stromme at 507.645.3432. Please place calls to the kitchen managers before 10:30 a.m. or after 12:30 p.m.

Child Nutrition Services Staff

What’s Happening

Free School Meals for Kids Program

Our schools offer healthy meals each day. Starting school year 2023-24, we are joining Minnesota’s Free School Meals for Kids Program. All students can get one breakfast and one lunch free of charge each day at school. For more information on this program click here (para español). Although no application is required to receive this free meal benefit, filling out the Application for Educational Benefits is still important! Your child(ren) may qualify for other benefits like reduced fees for school sports & activities. Your application may also help the school qualify for education funds, discounts, and other meal programs.

PLEASE BE SURE TO FILL OUT A MEAL BENEFIT APPLICATION UNDER THE ONLINE & PRINT APPLICATIONS TAB.  EACH FAMILY ENROLLED IN THE DISTRICT WILL BE MAILED AN APPLICATION PACKET LATE JULY/EARLY AUGUST.  IF YOU RECEIVE A LETTER BY EMAIL THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN APPROVED TO RECEIVE FREE MEALS FOR SCHOOL YEAR ’23-’24 YOU DO NOT HAVE TO COMPLETE THE APPLICATION.

It is REALLY IMPORTANT that you complete the meal benefit application if your family has been approved in the past or if you feel your family may qualify for these benefits.  Our schools receive funding to support students based on the number of families that qualify for free or reduced meals.  You may also receive reduced rates for fee based activities.

Milk is included in the price of a breakfast and lunch meal. Students who take milk only at meals will be charged $0.50 per carton.  Please know that if your child is bringing lunch from home and ordering milk they will be charged $.50.

Please see menu section below for specific meal information at your child’s school.

Menus

FARM to school

We continue to grow our Farm-to-School initiative, with local products indicated by a MN logo on the menus.  Watch for grass fed beef from Thousand Hills in Cannon Falls, turkey from Ferndale Farms in Cannon Falls and apples from Fireside Orchard in Northfield.  We will also be working with The Good Acre to provide produce from several local farms such as Open Hands, Sogn Valley and Seed’s Farm.  All schools serve both hot and cold vegetables daily to offer a wide variety of choices.

 

Burrito Line

We will be offering a “Build Your Own Burrito” line at the high school (every Wednesday located in the salad bar line) and middle school (every other Monday located in the grill line). Students have the option of creating a whole grain, soft-shell burrito or a burrito bowl with a variety of fresh vegetable toppings.

Grill line

We will be offering a Raider Nation Grill’d Greats line daily at the middle school and high school. This line will allow students to choose an entree from a two week menu rotation and select a variety of fresh fruits and veggies to make a complete meal.

Natural Breakfast Cereal

Child Nutrition Services continues looking at ways to incorporate more foods with cleaner labels.  As part of this initiative many of our cereals and hot breakfast items will have no artificial colors and no artificial flavorings.

Smart Snacks

We continue to make annual changes to our snack and ala carte products to meet the USDA competitive foods final rule and the Healthier US School Challenge guidelines. We will continue to make changes to be in compliance with guidelines and to provide nutritional alternatives to supplement our main menu.

Apply for Free/Reduced Educational Benefits

Our schools offer healthy meals each day. Starting school year 2023-24, we are joining Minnesota’s Free School Meals Program. All students can get one breakfast and one lunch free of charge each day at school. Although no application is required to receive this free meal benefit, filling out the Application for Educational Benefits is still important! Your child(ren) may qualify for other benefits like reduced activity fees at school. Your application may also help the school qualify for education funds, discounts, and other meal programs. The appropriate form must be completed each school year and submitted to Child Nutrition Services for review and approval. Applications are available online to print on your own, at each principal’s office, each school kitchen and are mailed to each household in August. If an application is needed in a different language please contact Child Nutrition Services. Applications are also available to fill out online in Family Access under the “Food Service” tab.

Minnesota Health Care Programs also have free and low-cost health insurance for families who qualify. Please click here for more information. Haga clic aquí para obtener más información en español.

  • Application Timeline

    Child Nutrition Services will review applications on a timely basis, however, it may take 7-10 days for an application to be reviewed.  A response will be sent to the parents/guardian by email.  Please save this letter as proof of benefits for other school programs.  If a letter is not available a WAIVER OF CONFIDENTIALITY FORM (Spanish form) will need to be completed before Child Nutrition Services can release your child’s meal eligibility status. Benefits from the previous school year will be carried over until October 16, 2023. Applications may be completed at any time throughout the year, however, any family that has not reapplied by October 16 will not be eligible for reduced fees until a new application is received to determine meal eligibility. Families receiving MFIP, Food Stamps or FDPIR and enrolled in Northfield Public Schools by June 15 for the following year may be directly certified by the State of Minnesota to receive free meals and may not need to complete an application.

     

  • Online & Print Applications
    Online Applications

    Families can now complete the educational benefits application online through Family Access. If you wish to complete your application online, you must first login to Family Access. After logging in, click the Food Service button located on the left side of the screen and select a child’s name. Click the applications tab and follow the prompts to complete the application.

    Wondering if you may qualify?  Please review the 23-24 Household Income Guidelines listed here. Haga clic aquí para español.

    English –
    2023-24 Educational Benefits Instructions and Application

    Spanish –
    2023-24 Educational Benefits Instructions and Application

     

Payments & Pricing

Students and staff may purchase meals and food items by submitting a payment to their meal account or by making a payment at the time of service. New students and staff are assigned an individual meal account with a 4-digit personal identification number (PIN). Returning students use the same PIN as in the previous year.

For questions regarding payments, account balances or invoices, please contact Administrative Support Assistant Rachael Caspers, at 507.663.0621, or Child Nutrition Director Stephany Stromme, at 507.645.3432.

  • How to Pay/Negative Balance Procedures/Request Refunds/Angel Funds

    Families may pay for meals using cash, check or our online payment systems. Checks may be made out to Northfield Public Schools and must include the student’s first and last name and personal identification number (PIN). All schools have payment envelopes and collection boxes placed in the Child Nutrition area for receipt of payments. Cash payments will be accepted in a sealed envelope with the student and parent’s first and last name, PIN, and the amount of payment written on the outside of the envelope. Payments may also be mailed to Northfield Public Schools, Child Nutrition Office, 201 Orchard Street South, Northfield, MN 55057.

    Online Payment

    Payments using a debit/credit card or a checking account can be made online through Family Access & RevTrak.

    Family Access Payment Steps
    • Go to northfieldschools.org and click on Payments or click the button below. You can either login to Family Access to continue or apply for a Family Access account if you do not have one. If you do not have or do not know your Family Access login and password click here. (Spanish form).
    • After you have logged into Family Access, you will need to click on the Food Service tab to the left of the screen.
    • This will bring up your child/children. Click “Make a Payment” (next to the child’s name),
    • Next click update payment amount for the student.
    • Enter the amount and click on update cart.
    • Complete these steps for each additional child or if your order is complete click the “Pay with Vendor” button located on the top right of current page.
    • Click “Go to check out” button.
    • Set up an account with RevTrak using your email address.
    • Continue to follow prompts to complete billing and payment information.
    • Now available with RevTrak is the auto replenish option.  Auto-replenish is available mid-August and each school year you will need to select if you would like this option. Auto-replenish will only be on during the school year.

    For more information about Skylert food service notifications, please see the Family Access information on the Tech Access page.

    Make a Payment

    Account Balance Statements

    Parents or guardians are responsible for monitoring their student’s meal account balances. Child Nutrition Services will make every reasonable effort to notify families of the need for a meal account payment. We utilize an automated school messenger system to contact families about low and negative balances using both phone calls and email notifications.

    Family Access will allow you to view meal account balances, payments and purchases. Statements will be made available upon request or can be printed using Family Access. To request a statement, parents, guardians and staff may contact the kitchen at each school or the district office. We will make every reasonable effort to contact you if your student’s account balance is running low or negative. Please review the following procedure for any questions that you may have concerning your students account balance. Please see Policy 534 for additional information regarding school meals.

    Negative Balance & NSF Procedure

    (NSF) Proceso de saldo negativo en español

    Refunds

    Balances remaining on accounts at the end of the school year will be automatically carried forward when school reopens. Balances follow students to their next building assignment.  Positive senior meal balances will be transferred to a younger siblings account or Angel funds account if no other siblings attend Northfield schools and a refund is not requested.  Refund requests must be submitted in writing by completing the refund request form. A check will be issued in the amount of the refund. No cash refunds will be made.  Before submitting a refund request please make sure that you have auto replenish turned off. Click here for instructions on how to turn off auto-replenish payments in RevTrak.

    Angel Funds

    Angel fund accounts have been created at each of our schools (Northfield High School, Northfield Middle School, Bridgewater Elementary, Greenvale Park Elementary, Spring Creek Elementary, ALC and NCEC).  Individuals are able to donate on-line through Rev-Trak or make cash/check donations.  Donations can be made to a specific school.  If a specific school is not requested the account in which donated funds will be applied will be determined by greatest school need.  If a specific school is not requested and the donation made is over $1,000.00 the donation funds will be reviewed by the school board and divided based on the percentage of debt owed at each school. 

  • Meal, Milk & A la Carte Prices

    Milk is included in the price of a breakfast and lunch meal. Students who take milk only at meals will be charged $0.50 per carton.  Please know that if your child is bringing lunch from home and ordering milk they will be charged $.50. Please note that milk without a meal, extra milk, second meals and a la carte purchases will be charged at full price. There will be no charging of a la carte items if an account has a negative balance. A la carte purchases must have sufficient funds in the account for the total purchase amount. A la carte item prices available at checkout.

    Offer vs Serve: Federal regulation requires that students be offered five food components comprising the lunch meal. Students may choose three, four or five lunch items based on their preferences. A student is required to include at least 1/2 cup fruit or vegetable as one of their components. Students will be offered four food components at breakfast and must choose at least three. Federal regulations require meals to be priced as a complete unit and students must pay the full price even if they did not choose the complete meal.

    Elementary Student Meal

    Main line, pre-made salad and cold sandwich option are all priced the same.

    Breakfast Lunch Both
    Full Price $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
    Free/Reduced Free Free Free

     

    Secondary Student Meal

    Main line, salad bar, sandwich line and grill line meals are all priced the same.

    Breakfast Lunch Both
    Full Price $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
    Free/Reduced Free Free Free

     

    Staff / Adult / Visitor / Second Meal

    Parents, guardians and other family members may eat with students during their meal time. All visitors are required to sign in at the school office. Staff meals, visitor meals and second student meals are priced higher because Child Nutrition Services does not receive any federal or state reimbursement for those meals, as we do for a student’s first meal.

    Breakfast Lunch Both
    Full Price $2.50 $5.00 $7.50
  • Snack Cart Pricing & Forms

    All the elementary schools will have the opportunity to sign up to receive a healthy snack every school day for a total cost of $75 a year. It is a way to offer students and families the opportunity to select fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products and other nutritionally sound choices for a minimal price to encourage students to make good eating decisions for optimal health. The program is completely optional for all families and is not part of the educational benefits application that provides school meal benefits to families who qualify.

    Healthy Snack Cart Information

    Snack Cart Sign up Form

Menus and Mealtimes

Northfield Public Schools participates in the National School Breakfast and School Lunch Program.  Menus are planned using the USDA Menu Planning Guidelines.

Wellness Policy

In 2017, Northfield Public Schools developed a wellness policy based on guidelines of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The policy includes changes that will apply or have already been applied to food served by Child Nutrition Services. It also includes food used in classrooms for rewards and celebrations and food sold by organizations for fundraisers during the school day. A Guide to Smart Snacks in School.

Wellness Policy    Wellness Policy Assessment

Wellness Resources

Find ideas below for alternative, non-food options for school-day activities, plus snack suggestions and more.

Smart Snacks Compliance Food Decision Tree
Smart Snacks Compliance Beverage Decision Tree 

Click on the below link for a calculator to help you determine whether your beverage, snack, side or entrée item meets the new USDA Smart Snacks in School Guidelines.

Smart Snack Calculator

Alternative Fundraising Ideas

Catering Requests

Child Nutrition Services offers a variety of catering options for events during the school year. We are a great choice to provide breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack for any size group at a reasonable cost. Please fill out a catering services request form and contact the kitchen manager with questions.

Catering Brochure

Health Inspection Reports