Free breakfast for all students coming Oct. 1

Have you heard that ALL Colonial School District students will be eligible for FREE breakfasts starting Oct. 1, 2022? We are excited to share this information as announced by Governor Tom Wolf. Every school cafeteria in the district offers a variety of tasty breakfast options daily. Although no applications are required for this free breakfast, families still must apply to receive free or reduced-price lunches.

Colonial understands the importance of nutrition as it relates to academic performance. We also understand that some families may not officially qualify for free/reduced price meals based on federal guidelines but may still be experiencing financial difficulty.  Therefore, Colonial has secured funding to help families in need. We will be using this funding to pay for lunches for a designated number of students whose family income may exceed federal guidelines in addition to those that already qualify. Any family that would like to be considered must fill out the free and reduced lunch application. If you have already submitted an application for the 2022-2023 school year, no further action is required on your part. Meal applications are available at www.schoolcafe.com.  If you need a paper version, please reach out to Jennifer Masorli at 610-834-1670 ext. 8207.

Federal guidance requires the local meal charge policy be communicated to parents/guardians annually. A summary is provided below:  

• To ensure that all students have a healthy meal and that no child goes hungry, students will be permitted to charge lunches – if their account has insufficient funds – according to the following guidelines:
• Grades K-5: A regular lunch will be served to all students and charged to their account. No ala carte or snack items may be charged if there are insufficient funds in the account but these items may be purchased with cash.  
• Grades 6-8: A regular lunch will be served to all students and charged to their account. If a student’s meal account balance exceeds - $10.00 they will no longer be able to charge a la carte items or snacks.
• Grades 9-12: A regular lunch will be served to all students and charged to their account. If a student’s meal account balance exceeds -$20.00 they will no longer be able to charge a la carte items or snacks.
• Policy 808.1 is available for viewing in its entirety at www.colonialsd.org.

Finally, My School Bucks is our third-party online portal that allows parents/guardians to pay for student meals and other school-related costs and fees in one secure location. We were made aware that some parents are experiencing a lack of timely responses from their customer support line. We would like to remind families that payments can also be made by sending cash or checks to your child’s school cafeteria. Thank you for your patience as we work with My School Bucks on improving their service to our families.