Cashier Training
Frequently Asked Questions
Reference: Eligibility Manual for School Meals, January 2008
Free and Reduced Priced Meal Applications
1.
What is SNAP?
The term Food Stamp has been changed to SNAP which stands for
Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program.
2. When completing a Free and Reduced Price Meal application, do parents have to
include a social security number?
The disclosure of a social security number is voluntary; however, a social security
number or an indication of “none” is required for approval of the application.
If a parent has a social security number and refused to enter the number on the
application, the application is incomplete and is denied. (pages 11, 17 & 58)
3.
Can a district use a shorter or longer carry over period?
No. LEAs cannot establish a shorter or longer time frame for carry over. A carry
over is for 30 operating days without a completed and approved application.
(page 16)
4. If a student qualifies for a free meal in one school district and moves to another,
are they automatically free?
No. You must have documentation on file to verify the status of all children.
You may obtain a copy of the application from another LEA. The accepting LEA
should review the application for arithmetic errors and compare the income and
household size to the applicable IEGs to ensure that the correct level of benefits
was assigned. If the accepting LEA determines that an arithmetic error occurred
that changed the child’s benefit level, the accepting LEA must notify the
household that it must file an application in the new LEA in order to receive
benefits. Also the accepting LEA must make changes that occur as a result of any
verification activities or review findings conducted in that LEA. (page 25)
5. Is a SNAP number (formerly Food Stamp) for one county allowable in another
county for free and reduced priced meal eligibility?
Yes
6.
If two families move in together under one roof, but maintain two separate
households, are they considered one or two economic units?
Two. Just because they share a roof, they are maintaining independent economic
units and paying bills for their living and household expenses. (page 38)
7.
A student leaves a school district but returns; do they have to complete another
application?
No. The application is good for the entire year regardless of how long the child
was out of school, as long as it is within the same school year. The application
can be retrieved from the transfer file to the active file for reinstatement of
eligibility benefits. (page 15)
8. Can a sibling of a child who received free or reduced priced meals during the
previous school year receive the category of meal during the 30 operating day
carry over period?
Only if the child was qualified to receive benefits by income, SNAP, or Direct
Certification. If the child was qualified by either Head Start or Migrant, the
sibling does not qualify for the same benefit. Per memo SP 38-2009 “Extending
Categorical Eligibility to Additional Children in a Household”
9. If a child is staying with a family as a foreign exchange student, do they qualify to
receive free or reduced priced meals?
Only if the family he/she is staying with qualified for the benefits. A foreign
exchange student is considered to be a member of the household in which he/she
resides and the household for the exchange student must complete an application
for benefits to be determined for the family. (page 32)
10. What happens if a household refuses to complete the application?
Any household can choose to refuse benefits. Households are not required to
complete an application. (page 15)
11. A child lives between two divorce parents, who should submit the application? If
both parents apply for benefits in the same LEA for the child, and different
eligibility statuses result, the greater benefit level is used. (page 32)
12. If a household submits an application with a “0” income, do they have to
complete another application if their income changes?
An application with “0” income should be approved for 45 days. At the end of 45
days, the LEA should contact the household to determine if the status of the
household has changed. If the circumstances have changed, school officials must
request that the household file a new application or update the information on the
existing application and initial the changes. The LEA must implement the
changes within 3 operating days. Because these are temporary approvals that
expire at the end of the time period, a notice of adverse action is not required. If
the circumstances have not changed, the district may either: continue eligibility on
a temporary basis and re-evaluate the situation at another interval or make the
approval valid for the duration of the current school year which would allow for
carry-over of that status into the next school year. (page 21-22)
13. Can local officials submit an application for a child?
Superintendents, principals, guidance counselors or homeless coordinators may
submit an application for a child if they have information about the household and
the household fails to apply. These applications should be excluded from
verification; however, the household must be notified that the child has been
certified to receive free or reduced price benefits. This option is intended for
limited use and cannot be made for groups of children. (page 22)
14. When completing an application, is alimony considered income?
Yes, alimony is considered income and should be included as part of the
household income. (page 33)
15. A household calls and they are no longer receiving overtime. Overtime was
included in the income of the household on an application, the application was
approved, and the child received the appropriate benefits for several months.
What should you do?
Overtime that is not received on a continuous basis should not be included as part
of the income on the application. If the income of the household has changed,
they should complete another application. (page 35)
16. A household has a foster child in addition to other children. Should they include
the foster child on the same application as the other children?
No, the foster child should be on a separate application and is not counted as a
family member. (pages 28, 32 &34)
17. When an application is completed and all of the household members are not
listed, do I process the application?
Yes. The application is accepted at face value; however, the application can be
verified for cause.
18. At the beginning of the year, teachers in our elementary school ask for a class list
of the students and their meal classification status. Can I give this to them?
No, unless parental consent is given. The issues of privacy and confidentiality of
personal data are complicated as well as sensitive. (page 53)
19. Can a copy of a child’s application be given to a Special Education Teacher for
IEP meetings?
Confidentiality is crucial and information given out should be guarded. Specific
application income information should not be given to anyone other than the
superintendent. The number of eligible children by category may be provided;
however, a list of students by name may not be given to anyone other than the
superintendent.
20. Should tuition reimbursed to an individual be included as income for the Free and
Reduced-Price Meal Application? No, student financial assistance provided for
the costs of attendance at an educational institution, such as grants and
scholarships, awarded to meet educational expenses and not available to pay for
meals should not be included. (page 35 & 53)
21. What should I do in the following situation?
A father comes to eat lunch with his daughter and asks how much money is in her
lunch account; and whether she will have enough money for the rest of the year?
The parents are divorced and the father was not aware that his daughter was
receiving free meals.
Tell the father she has enough. The issues of privacy and confidentiality of
personal data are complicated as well as sensitive. A legal case in Florida has set
precedence that the father in this case would not be entitled to receive information
on the free or reduced status of the child or any other information from the
application.
Meal Counting and Claiming
22. Does the superintendent, CNP director, or secretary have to pay for their meals?
Yes. Only employees DIRECTLY involved in preparation of meals receive a
meal at no charge.
23. What happens when you serve 420 total students but the official school
attendance for that school day is only 405?
Daily attendance should be checked. You should work with your principal and
CNP director to determine the cause for the overage. If the cause cannot be
determined, the extra meals may not be claimed for reimbursement.
24. Should I be concerned if I never see a short or over on the daily cash
reconciliation sheet?
Yes. No one is perfect. Accurate cash counts should be recorded. A cashier
should record the exact change available in the cash drawer at the end of the day.
Never add or take cash out of the cash drawer to balance with the end of day cash
report.
25. Can a teacher, principal or other school official limit what is served to a child?
No. All food components must be served as part of the unitized meal. If offer
verses serve is used at the school, these guidelines must be followed. Students
may not be punished by restriction of food items.
26. Can a teacher, principal, or other school official withhold food as punishment for
a child?
No. The entire meal must be offered to the child.
27. If a child forgets money for lunch and is given an alternative meal can this meal
be counted for reimbursement?
The Alabama Child Nutrition Program encourages you to provide the child with a
meal including all required components. If all of the meal components are offered
the child, the meal is considered a reimbursable meal and may be claimed for
reimbursement. If the meal does not include all of the required components, it
may not be claimed. In addition, meals cannot be denied to students in grades K-3
or disabled students, (State Department of Education Policy, October 1988)
28. How long must CNP documents be kept on file?
The Child Nutrition Program is a federal program and must follow the federal
guideline of the current year plus four for retaining records. That means that all
CNP records should be kept for 5 years. If an audit is open, documents must be
kept by the school district until the audit is cleared and a closure letter has been
received indicating closure. An open audit may result in keeping records longer
than 5 years.
29. If a new child comes in and the approving official has determined that they will
receive free meals, but the information has not been entered into the computer
(POS), how is this handled?
Use the “any free” key and keep documentation by writing the student’s name on
a list and attaching the list to the end of day report.
30. If a student chooses carrots, fruit cup, and milk is this a reimbursable meal?
If Offer versus Serve is used, yes the meal is reimbursable, if the correct portion
size is used. A child does not have to select a meat or meat alternate or an entrée
under the Food Based Menu Planning. If you are using Nutrient Standard Menu
Planning, the child must take an entrée.
31. What is the appropriate counting and claiming procedure for field trips?
The teacher should provide the CNP manager or cashier with a list of students
who plan to attend the field trip that want a meal. After the field trip, the teacher
should give you a roster of the children that received the meals with her signature
and date. These meals can then be entered into the POS system. Or, if students
come through the serving line in the morning prior to leaving, and get a meal by
either paying or entering their identification number, this will meet meal counting
and claiming requirements.
32. Can lunch card numbers be transferred from one school district to another?
No. That lunch number is for that school district only.