This form is used by a medical professional to certify dietary needs related to a student’s health condition or disability

Medical Statement for Children with Special Needs in the School Breakfast and Lunch Program

Breakfast & Lunch is served at Penn High School.

Menus:

Benefits of Breakfast 

• Eating breakfast can help improve math, reading, and standardized test scores
• Children who eat breakfast are more likely to behave better in school and get along with their peers than those who do not
• Breakfast helps children pay attention, perform problem-solving tasks, and improves memory
• Children who eat school breakfast are likely to have fewer absences and incidents of tardiness than those who do not
• By eating breakfast, students get more of important nutrients, vitamins and minerals such as calcium, dietary fiber, folate and protein
• Studies have shown that children who eat breakfast on a regular basis are less likely to be overweight
• Eating breakfast as a child is important for establishing healthy habits for later in life
• Schools that provide breakfast in the classroom to all students have shown decreases in tardiness and suspensions as well as improved student behavior and attentiveness
• What you eat for breakfast can have an impact on learning. One study showed that eating breakfast food high in fiber and low in sugar for breakfast helped students sustain the cognitive effects of breakfast
• School Breakfast provides daily servings of fruit, whole grains, and milk, plus roughly ¼ the recommended calories needed for lasting energy

SchoolCafé is an online platform and mobile app that allows parents and students to easily manage school meals. Through SchoolCafé, families can view daily cafeteria menus (including nutritional and allergen information), add funds to meal accounts, set up balance alerts, and monitor purchases. The platform also provides a convenient way to apply for free or reduced-price meals—all in one place.

*Parents can set spending limits for their student(s) accounts. Please visit www.schoolcafe.com to create your new accounts.

The SchoolCafé secure payment portal at www.schoolcafe.com allows parents to pay online using credit or debit cards. Other SchoolCafé benefits include:

• Easy to enroll
• Downloadable app
• View your child’s cafeteria balance
• Apply for Free and Reduced Meal Assistance
• See what your child ate & spent
• 24/7 access to your account
• Set up automatic payments
• Get low balance email reminders
• Apply online for Free/Reduced Lunch & Textbook Assistance 

Click here to download a pdf of step-by-step instructions to set up your account today. 

SchoolCafé will charge a 5% service fee for each transaction (no minimum required). Parents may find it most beneficial to add $39 at a time to their child’s account which would keep the SchoolCafé service fee at $1.95.

To create a SchoolCafé account, you will need a valid email address and your child’s school ID. Then go to www.schoolcafe.com and follow the steps. 

• Once you’ve created your account, all the school children in your family, no matter which P-H-M school they attend, can be added to your one account. 
• Remember to bookmark www.schoolcafe.com in your browser—or you can get there quickly through all P-H-M websites. Just look under QUICK NAVIGATION in the lower left corner of the page and click on PAY MEALS ONLINE.

DOWNLOAD THE SCHOOLCAFÉ MOBILE APP   

SCHOOLCAFÉ CUSTOMER SUPPORT

• WEBSITE:  www.schoolcafe.com
• EMAIL: customercare@schoolcafe.com
• CALL: (855) PAY-2EAT (729-2328), Monday-Friday 6:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. CST

CASH OR CHECK

​If you prefer to pay the school via cash or check, please write your child’s name and “lunch money” on the envelope. Don’t forget to specify either “Meal account” or “Ala-carte account.”  The meal account only allows full meal purchases, while ala-carte allows for the purchase of snacks as well as meals.

Note that when you provide a check as payment for a food purchase in the food service department, you authorize the P-H-M Food Service Department to process the payment as a check transaction. Federal Automated Recovery Systems (FARS) processes our electronic collection of checks returned for insufficient funds (NSF).  ​

PAYMENT TERMS

Please make sure that your child has lunch money available each day. Children without lunch money may be required to call home, or be served a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, milk and fruit, after the first charged meal. You will still be charged for peanut butter and jelly meals. Ala-carte and snack items may not be charged.

If your child has a negative balance, they will not be allowed to purchase snacks. Food Services is not allowed to carry negative balances on children’s accounts in the National School Lunch Program so if a meal is charged for your student, you must pay the amount due the following day.

During the school year, P-H-M offers breakfast and lunch at all 15 schools.

Please click for information on our Student Food Program.

• Elementary School Menus
• Middle School Menus
• Penn High School Menus
• Student Meal Choice Explained (Offer vs Serve)

*School menus are also posted in Schoolcafe.com. 

**Please note that menus are subject to change due to school delays or closings. 

***If a student has a specific dietary need, the family is welcome to fill out a special diet form that can be obtained from the school nurse or click here to download it off our website, and then there will be a full meal waiting for the student each day.