A new app that will be available to parents in the Marion County School District will allow them to pay for their children’s lunches at the click of a button.
The “My School Bucks” app will increase the speed of serving lines, while reducing cash and check handling in the district, according to Child Nutrition Director Melinda Trahan.
“They can use the app to put money on their children’s accounts to pay for their meals,” she said. “They are able to put extra money anytime. In the cafeterias they can pay as they go or they can put money on their accounts and get meals from it. This app is designed so they can do it easily and put money on the accounts. They don’t have to come into the school to do it.”
The app is free to download, but there will be a charge for using it; those charges will be included in the user agreement.
Benefits include being able to track spending.
“Parents can view all payments and purchases for 90 days,” Trahan said. “Sometimes they’ll contact us about payments and say, ‘My child has been bringing their lunch.’ This will help them know if their child purchased something. They don’t realize they are still going through the line and making purchases.”
Trahan said parents had asked in the past for a service like this and that it should be available before school begins in August.
She said parents can call the nutrition department at (601) 731-2083 once the service gets going with any questions. She said the food service department page on the school district website, marionk12.org, will have updates as well.
Pictured Above: Parents and guardians of students in the Marion County School District will soon be able to add money to their students’ lunch payment accounts via a new app.
