As students in the Governor Mifflin School District prepare to head back to school, they and their parents can look forward to a new web-based lunch deposit system in the district’s school cafeterias. It is a system district officials say is more robust than the previous system; giving parents a little more control in what their children are purchasing – and when.
The new point-of-sale system is called ParentOnline.net. On the secure website, parents will be able to make deposits into their child’s lunch accounts, view purchase history and receive low balance reminders.
In the past, parents were able to make deposits to their children’s, according to district Food Service Director, Jenelle Himmelreich. But that was all they could do. And updates were made to the system only once a day, at midnight. Himmelreich said that meant a parent who made a deposit in the morning to cover their child’s lunch for the day – did not have that deposit credited until after the school day had ended.
‘Now with the new system, it will take a matter of 20 minutes to three hours, and I’ll have the deposit and any changes show up,’ Himmelreich said. ‘That means a parent could make a change in the morning and see it reflected at lunchtime. There are children who would tell parents I need money today or call from the office or text and say they had no money for lunch. The parent would say they called to make a deposit, but it wouldn’t be showing up yet. This will be more efficient.’
And not only can parents make deposits into the accounts online, they can also select what they want their child to purchase – full meals, a la carte or snacks – even specifying which days specific purchases can be made. Parents are also able to log on to verify the purchases.
Himmelreich said that parents will need to set up an account for the new system, but said the process should only take a few minutes. Parents can log on to www.parentonline.net to begin the process. Once on the site, the parents should select ‘create an account.’ On the registration page, they will select the state and the school district and complete the information requested.
Himmelreich said she started looking at the system in May, and spoke with school districts that were already using www.parentonline.net. She said the only equipment that was necessary to purchase other than the program itself was new PIN keypads.
Once in the cashier line, students will punch their six-digit number into the keypad and the cost of the meal will be deducted from their balance.
For students in K-4, the experience will be a little different at the cashier than in past years.
‘They used to do a biometric finger scan at the cashier, and now they will use their six digit number,’ Himmelreich said.
She added that for those elementary students who don’t know or cannot remember their numbers, the system allows the cashier to pull up pictures of each student.
‘The new program is pretty neat because at the cashier station they can pull up the classroom with a picture and a name and they can tap onto the picture and see the profile. It won’t delay the lines,’ Himmelreich said.
And, once someone goes through the line, the photo is removed, from the display, so the cashier is only looking at photos of students who have not yet purchased their meal.
Himmelreich said parents can use debit or credit cards to add money to the account online. She said there is a $1.75 transaction fee for doing it online, but it is per transaction, not per child. That means a family with multiple children in the district would be charged $1.75 for the transaction. And Himmelreich said parents can still use the deposit envelopes.
Himmelreich estimated that fewer than half of the district’s parents made use of the previous online system. She’s hoping for an increase this year.
‘It’s going to be more user friendly for parents in their child’s purchasing,’ she said.
Follow Donna Rovins on Twitter at @sthrnberksnews
