New system lets parents pay online, track eating habits.

Students pick up their lunch inside the cafeteria at Blaney Elementary School. Blaney was one of the pilot school for Kershaw County’s new online food service.

By MARJORIE RIDDLE
mriddle@thestate.com

After months of delays, Kershaw County school’s online food service is now running, allowing parents to go online to pay for their kids’ school meals and monitor their eating habits.

The LunchBox system was supposed to go online in October, but compatibility with the district’s anti-virus software kept it out of commission until last week.

As of Monday, four parents districtwide add opted to pay online, all 30 have signed up for account so they can monitor what their children are eating and check their balances, with the option of making online payments.

Mary Hall, who has an eighth grade daughter at Lugoff-Elgin Middle, has already used the system to check her balance.

“Sometimes she doesn’t let me know when she’s about out and then will say, ‘I need money,'” Hall said. “With the system, it’s so much easier to keep track of.”

While some parents like seeing what their kids are purchasing and placing restrictions on what they can buy, a $2 fee – charged each time money is added to an account – is a sticking point.

“They would have a lot more people pay online if they didn’t have the fee” said Karen Fogle, who has a son at Lugoff-Elgin High and another at Lugoff-Elgin Middle. “When I can write a check, and it doesn’t cost me anything to write, I’m going to do that.”

Data Futures, the Kentucky-based company that produces LunchBox, works directly with PayPal, which requirs the $2 fee. The fee is the same whether a parent pays once a week or once a year.

“While the fee would be a deterrent for some parents, adding money to their child’s balance online is going to be wonderful for some, especially if they have three children at three schools,” said Laurie Jones, mother of three and a cashier in the Blaney Elementary cafeteria.

There is also a three to five day delay for the money to register in a child’s account, said Lisa Carter, principal at Blaney Elementary.

“If a child has a zero balance, you can’t just go online and put money in their account,” she said. “But once parents get into the routine of paying online, it will be helpful.”

The district’s cafeterias will benefit because there will be less cash and checks to handle, and the lines likely will move faster, said Pam Jeffers, cafeteria manager at Blaney Elementary.

And children will probably have to charge fewer meals because their parents will see when their balance is getting low, said Linda Hall, cafeteria manager at Lugoff-Elgin High.

With the restriction, “the online system will affect the elementary and middle schools more than the high schools,” she said. “But even high school kids forget their money.”

The district expects more use of the system next year, especially since there is only about a month of school left, Hilton said.

The district paid. $145,000 to install the software at 18 of their 20 schools. The system will cost roughly $2,300 a year to maintain.

The software is in use at more than 3,700 schools nation wide and 15 to 20 S. C. school districts, said Doug Boals, a vice president for Data Futures.

Reach Riddle at (803) 771-8435.

HOW TO REGISTER FOR A LUNCHBOX ACCOUNT

• Go to the Kershaw County School District Web site at www.kershaw.k12.sc.us/.
• Click on the parent tab at the top of the page.
• Click on the Online Meal Service link.
• Click on the link that says, “Use our online meal service.”
• Click on the tab that says “Sign up.”
• Enter your e-mail address, name and child’s identification number.
• Within 10 minutes, a password will be e-mailed to the account entered.
• Go back to the LunchBox home page for Kershaw County and enter your name for user ID and the password that was e-mailed.
• Once you are logged in, you can add students, monitor your child’s account, restrict purchases or pay online.

Students input their PINs in a keypad, which help parents track what their children are eating for lunch.