School Lunch

Smart Snacks in School are federal nutrition standards that apply to foods and beverages sold to students on campus during the school day outside of reimbursable school meals. These standards help ensure that food and beverage choices offered at school support student health and wellness.

Smart Snacks requirements generally apply to foods and beverages sold at school, including certain fundraisers during the school day. They do not automatically prohibit a student from bringing a snack from home. Bagged lunch guidelines can be found here. Special classroom celebrations, shared treats, and other school activities may be subject to different guidelines. Check with your child's teacher if you have a question.

Items sold to students during the school day must meet applicable Smart Snacks nutrition standards. This means that not every snack, candy, or beverage available at a grocery store is eligible for sale at school.

Parents can review the USDA's Smart Snacks in School guidelines for additional information about the nutrition standards.

Parents can use MySchoolBucks to view account balances and manage payments. Keeping an eye on your child's balance helps prevent unexpected low-balance situations. There is even an app for that!

Log in to your MySchoolBucks account and follow the prompts to make a payment to your child's meal account. You can choose the amount that works best for your family.

Auto Pay is a convenient option that can help you avoid having to remember to add money to your child's account each month. You may be able to establish automatic payments when your child's balance reaches a specified amount.

For example, one of our Bluejay parents shared how helpful it is to set an account threshold of $15 and an automatic payment of $30. When the child's balance falls below the selected threshold, the system automatically adds the chosen amount. Parents can select the threshold and payment amount that best fit their family's needs.

This is a great option for busy families who want to help ensure that their children's accounts remain funded without having to log in and make a payment manually each month.

1. Log in to your MySchoolBucks account.
2. Navigate to your child's meal account or payment settings.
3. Look for the Auto Pay or automatic payment options.
4. Select your preferred low-balance threshold and payment amount.
5. Follow the prompts to save your settings and confirm your payment method.

If you have multiple children enrolled at St. Cecilia, check the settings for each child's account. You may need to configure automatic payments separately for each child, depending on how your MySchoolBucks account is set up.

We encourage parents to monitor balances and consider automatic payments when available. Maintaining a positive balance helps make the lunch process smoother for students and families.

If you have questions about your child's cafeteria account, payments, or school lunch procedures, please contact our Cafeteria Manager, Mrs. Dorothy Trahan. For technical assistance with logging in, payment methods, or MySchoolBucks features, you may also use the support resources available through MySchoolBucks.

Yes! Ice cream is now available as an optional, separate purchase for students in grades K–8. We first shared that this option was coming in an early September edition of the Bluejay Bulletin. Additional information, including the available options and nutrition details, was shared in a flyer recently. Unfortunately, the flyer was inadvertently omitted from the published version of the bulletin. We apologize for any confusion!

You can review the Ice Cream Flyer, including nutrition information, here.

No. Ice cream is an optional purchase and is not included as a required part of the school lunch.
 

We encourage parents to communicate their preferences directly with their children and help them understand the family's expectations regarding optional purchases at school. Open communication between parents and children is the best way to manage these decisions and help students learn to make responsible choices. If additional support is needed to ensure your child does not purchase ice cream, you may contact Mrs. Dorothy Trahan, our Cafeteria Manager, to request that your child's account be noted accordingly.

Thank you for partnering with us as we continue to provide options for our Bluejay Family while respecting each family's preferences.