MealTime Online

Meal Time Breakfast and Lunch Program

Forest Ridge School District 142 uses MealTime, a computerized system for purchasing school meals (breakfast and lunch), or milk at Ridge, Foster, and Kerkstra Elementary Schools.  Students at Hille Middle School use the system for purchasing school meals (breakfast and lunch) as well as ala carte items.

Ridge, Foster, and Kerkstra School students have ID cards with the child’s student ID bar-coded on it, in order to access their account when paying for meals or milk in the cafeteria. The homeroom teacher keeps the ID cards in school. The cashier scans the roster (during breakfast service) or ID card (during lunch service) as the student passes through the food service line.

Hille Middle School students enter their student ID number on a keypad to access their account when paying for meals in the cafeteria. Please stress to your child that they must memorize their student ID number and they should NOT share this number with others.

Student accounts are utilized to deposit funds for meals, milk and ala carte purchases. Due to the current Health Requirements, cash or check payments will no longer be accepted in the school offices. All deposits MUST be made online at MyMealTime.com. Please see the instructions to set up your account below.

The program allows for the purchase of one breakfast and lunch per day at the meal price set up for Paid, Reduced, or Free qualifying status. If a student purchases a second meal, OR MILK ONLY, or any ala carte item at the middle school, their account is charged at the per item price regardless of eligibility.

The Meal Time system assures the privacy of students who qualify for free or reduced price meals, as well as allowing additional controls on an individual basis for things such as diet restrictions or use of funds at the parent’s request. The system also keeps track of how your student is spending their deposited funds. Parents can make deposits, view their student’s account history, and receive emailed low balance notifications by setting up an account at MyMealTime.com.

The following policy applies to student accounts:

• • No cash sales are accepted from students in the payment line.
    
    
  • Students with Paid and Reduced-Price status should not overspend their account by no more than $10.00. Students whose status is Free are allowed to overspend their accounts by no more than $1.20.  If a student’s account does not have sufficient funds, a student will be allowed to purchase milk separately, twice, allowing for their account to go into a negative balance of $1.20 only, before funds must be added to allow for additional milk purchases, regardless of a student’s eligibility status. 
    
    
  • Deposits must be made online. There is a minimum deposit of $20.00 for online transactions. The $20.00 may be split between multiple students as long as the TOTAL DEPOSIT is at least $20.00. 
    
    
  • Online deposits can be made at any time and are applied to a student’s account within one hour of submission. Statements are emailed home informing parents of negative balances, but may not be sent daily. We strongly encourage parents to use the online system to monitor your child’s account and sign up for low balance email reminders. PARENTS are responsible for making sure their children have enough money in their account to purchase meals!

• Forest Ridge School District 142 is committed to providing meals to students who choose to participate in the breakfast and lunch programs in accordance with Public Act 100-1092, also known as the Hunger-Free Student’s Bill of Rights, but also feels very strongly that there is an obligation for parents/guardians to satisfy all financial obligations to the school meal programs in a timely manner.
• District 142 encourages parents/guardians to pre-pay meals for their children through the Mealtime website, thereby eliminating situations that could develop during school-day meal periods because of negative balances. Students with no money for breakfast or lunch are able to “charge” their meal, with repayment expected within two (2) school days. Negative account balance notices will be emailed each day as a reminder to parents.
• A student’s account may be charged up to a maximum of $10.00 for all requested meals (one breakfast daily and one lunch daily) before the school will personally reach out directly to the parent/guardian for payment. Once the $10.00 negative meal charge is reached with no repayment, students should bring a sack lunch from home until the charges are paid in full. This applies to both full pay and reduced priced students.
• If a student’s account does not have sufficient funds, a student will be allowed to purchase milk separately, twice, allowing for their account to go into a negative balance of $1.20 only, before funds must be added to allow for additional milk purchases, regardless of a student’s eligibility status. 
• A student cannot purchase additional ala carte items if they do not have sufficient funds on their account.

MyMealTime.com provides the opportunity for you to view your student's purchase history, make credit/debit card deposits into your student's café account, and receive email notifications of low balances.

3 Easy Steps to Use MyMealTime.com

Open your web browser, type MyMealTime.com into the address bar and press enter.

1. Step 1: Register. Click on the “Register” button. Enter your birthdate. After reading the Terms of Use, click the box to agree to the terms. Next, enter your information to create your MyMealTime.com profile. Click “Register” when finished.
   
   Passwords must be at least 8 characters and include at least one upper case letter, one lower case letter, one number, and one special character.
   
   
2. Step 2: Link Your Student. Click the “Add Student” button, then click “New”. Select your state and then type the name of your child’s school and click to select. Enter your student’s ID number (provided by the school) and first name only. Click “Add”. Repeat Step 2 as needed for additional students.
   
   
3. Step 3: Make a Deposit. Click on “Home – Deposit Funds”. Click on the green “Add $” button and select the amount of the deposit.  Click “Go to Checkout”, or if you wish to make a deposit for another student, click “Add to Cart”.  Once you are finished entering payments, click “Go to Checkout” or click on the shopping cart icon in the upper right corner of your screen.

The Secure Checkout window will open.  Verify that the payment amounts are correct, and click “Add a payment method” to enter your credit card information. Click “Save for future purchases” if you would like to save this card for future transactions. Click “Use/Save Payment Method”. Review the amount your credit/debit card will be charged and click “Complete Transaction”.

The student’s balance will be updated after a synchronization process with the school’s lunchroom computer.

Congratulations! You can now login anytime, anywhere to securely and conveniently monitor your student’s meal account and make payments.