School Nutrition Services

OUR GOAL

The goal of School Nutrition Services is to provide nutritionally adequate, moderately priced breakfast and lunch meals to enable students to take full advantage of the educational process as meeting the nutritional needs of each student leads to a better learning environment.  

Students are encouraged to take part in our U.S. Department of Agriculture’s federally-assisted School Breakfast and Lunch Programs, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program as well as our After school Snack Programs.  

Our ANSI (American National Standards Institute) Certified Food Protection cafeteria managers are dedicated to the health and well-being of our students serving approximately 940,000 breakfasts and 2,000,000 lunch meals annually to approximately 13,000 students across the district.  Our nutritious meals are served according to the USDA Dietary Guidelines.  Students have access to a variety of fresh fruits, wholesome vegetables, healthy entrees and a variety of low-fat or fat-free milk.  
Nutritious supplemental items such as extra milk and menu items or snacks are also available for purchase.

 
Student CEP and Free/Reduced Priced Meal Information:

Under the USDA Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Program – a key provision of The Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA, Public Law 111-296; December 13, 2010), breakfast and lunch meals are provided at no cost to enrolled students in 32 schools.  CEP is a meal service option for schools and districts in low-income areas.  Students who attend a CEP school do not have to complete a free/reduced meal application.  

To apply for free or reduced price meals at a non-CEP school, parents must complete an application which is sent home to all parents on the first day of school each year.  Families whose income falls below federal eligibility guidelines are approved for free or reduced price meals. New applications must be completed for each household at the beginning of each new school year, unless you receive a letter by mail from the Wayne County School Districts School Nutrition Program that you are not required to do so because of conditions that pre-qualify your children.  If you receive such a letter from the School Nutrition Office, please be sure to read it carefully and follow all instructions included with the letter.  Contact the School Nutrition Office if you have any questions you may need answers to in reference to the letter. It is very important that we have all the correct information on your child or children that are listed on the letter, such as correct name, school, grade, etc.  Please read all letters carefully and check to make sure you receive a letter or letters with the names of all children residing in your home who are enrolled in Wayne County Public Schools.  If any children's names are omitted you will need to notify us as soon as possible to see what actions need to be taken.

A new application may also be completed at any time during the school year if your income or family status changes. Applications may be obtained from any school office or cafeteria. You will receive a letter by mail after your application is processed by the School Nutrition Program informing you whether your application was approved or denied.  If approved, it will list your child's name showing their meal status as either free or reduced.
We hope the information you find here will be helpful and informative to you and your family.  If you have any questions or concerns about our School Nutrition Program, you may contact:
Dewana Faison, School Nutrition Director at 919.705.6139 or dewanafaison@wcps.org  

https://www.fns.usda.gov/civil-rights/usda-nondiscrimination-statement-other-fns-programs

Selection & Prices

Community Eligibility Provision program

The Wayne County Board of Education approved the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) method for the 2023-24 school year.  CEP is a key provision of The Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) authorized by Congress in 2010.   CEP allows districts the opportunity to serve breakfast and lunch meals at no cost to all enrolled students without the burden of collecting household student meal applications.  CEP is available to all schools within an LEA, a group of schools or individual schools that meet USDA requirements.
  

CEP Schools: All schools except Charles B. Aycock High, Wayne Early/Middle College High School, Wayne School of Engineering, and Wayne School of Technical Arts (which do not qualify). 

Schools that do not qualify for CEP will continue to follow the traditional free/reduced meal application method.  There will be no increase in student meal prices for the 2023-24 School Year.

Full price student lunch - $2.35

Full price student breakfast - No cost to student/parent (Universal Free Breakfast)

Reduced price student lunch -  No cost to student/parent (State Budget Reduced Price Co-pay Funding)

Reduce price student breakfast - No cost to student/parent - (Universal Free Breakfast)

https://www.fns.usda.gov/civil-rights/usda-nondiscrimination-statement-other-fns-programs

K12PaymentCenter.com

Student Lunch and Ala Carte Prepayments

K12PaymentCenter, formerly LunchPrepay.com, is the one-stop shop for automated school meal account management. 

  • Make meal payments on the internet using your credit card.

  • Check your child's cafeteria account balance.

  • Get low balance alerts for your child's account by e-mail.

  • See daily meal transactions for your child. 

K12PaymentCenter brings school lunch into the age of technology. Using the secure site to make payments and monitor your student's account gives you the assurance of knowing where your money is going and how it is being spent. Using K12PaymentCenter will remove the stress that comes with making sure your student has cash for lunch.

K12PaymentCenter is an easy, secure and convenient way to pay for lunch. 

  https://www.fns.usda.gov/civil-rights/usda-nondiscrimination-statement-other-fns-programs