Cafeteria line goes hi-tech with Web debit system

WESTFALL — Students within the Delaware Valley School District will no longer need to bring a wallet of cash with them to lunch each day, now that the district has implemented “point-of-sale” technology to render money transactions in the serving line similar to those on a college campus. This new cafeteria system, called “Lunchbox,” is a Web-based software program that provides communication and interaction between the district’s central office and schools. Instead of paying for lunch with paper money, students will use this online payment system. Parents or guardians will place money into their student’s account via check or credit card. When students reach the end of the lunch line, they will punch into a touchscreen their student ID number. Their school photo will pop up, a cafeteria employee will verify their identity, and the process is finished. According to Associate Director of Support Services Chris Lordi, this new system aims to expedite movement through the lunch lines, provide parents the opportunity both to see what their children are eating and to control the amount of money students spend; and to enable cafeteria manager Luverne Scully to better inventory food products and plan menus, and makes free and reduced lunch transactions more confidential. “This system takes the humiliation out of that,” Lordi said. “Students won’t even have to say out-loud they’re getting a free or reduced lunch, they’ll just type in their number and the cafeteria worker will see.” Eventually, Lordi said, the online accounts can pay for everything a student purchases at school, from tickets to T-shirts. Students are encouraged but not obligated to use the point-of-sale technology. Unlike middle and high schoolers, children in the elementary schools use a swipe card akin to a credit card to purchase meals, since Lordi says it is harder for the younger students to keep track of an ID number. The Lunchbox system was implemented in DVES and DVMS in early March, and was recently installed in the DVHS cafeteria this past week. Shohola Elementary School and the Dingmans campus will receive the technology in April and early May. During implementation, cafeteria workers are given on-site training by a Lunchbox technology representative. All district schools will have a fully functional system by the end of the school year. Lunchbox is a 10-year agreement that costs $8,500 per year. According to Lordi, the cafeteria is technically a for-profit business that operates instead as a break-even business. As such, Lunchbox costs are completely covered by funds generated by past cafeteria transactions, rather than by district taxes. There are roughly 650,000 lunch transactions per year in the district, equaling a penny per transaction.