Published: January 14, 2009 01:19 am      

CITY OF TONAWANDA: Student lunch choices to be posted for parents online

By John Hopkins/john.hopkins@gnnewspaper.com — Parents in the Tonawanda City School District will be able to keep a closer eye on their child’s nutritional and spending habits at school by using a new tool that will soon be available on the district’s Web site.

Computer software authorized for purchase Tuesday by the Board of Education allows parents to ensure their children are eating balanced meals, and also allows them to replenish their accounts online through the pilot program, offered by Linstar, Inc. of Williamsville.

Tonawanda is one of the first districts in Western New York to offer the service, Peter Michaelsen, assistant superintendent for business and finance, said.

Other companies offer similar programs, Michaelsen said, noting that the East Aurora school district provides an Internet service for residents to make community education payments online. However, Tonawanda may be the first to allow the online lunch program.

Michaelsen said the software, which costs $1,195 for the year, allows parents to review the last 30 days of purchases made by their child. It will be money well spent, Michaelsen said, because the program allows parents — at their leisure — to handle the lunch accounts on their own, freeing district personnel to perform other tasks.

“We field between 12 to 25 inquiries a week,” Michaelsen said of the calls parents make to find out how much their children have spent.

The program allows a parent to confirm that his or her child purchased a burger and fries, for example, at lunch and not a can of Pepsi and Doritos.

Reviewing purchases is free for parents. However, if they wish to use the program to replenish their child’s account by using a credit card, there will be an Internet transaction cost of between 2 to 5 percent of the total amount, Michaelsen said.

The program will be used on a trial basis for one year. If district officials and parents are satisfied with it, the district will continue using the software.

“Is there anything that could be a potential problem with student information being exposed?” board member James Weber inquired, adding its cost appears “very reasonable.”

Weber was assured that the program includes security features to ensure privacy.

• Tuesday’s meeting started with accolades for dozens of the district’s student-athletes.

Athletics Director Dawn Bak introduced 67 students, including 41 girls and 26 boys from seven fall sports teams, who were named to the New York state Scholar Athlete Team.

District officials were thrilled with the number of students who achieved grades of 90 or better, qualifying them for the academic team.

“When this list was delivered to me I was ecstatic because of the number of students on this list,” Superintendent of Schools Whitney K. Vantine said.

• Mia Sette, a middle school seventh grader, was honored for winning the school’s annual spelling bee. Sette was declared the winner when she correctly spelled “bequeath.”

Sette qualifies for a regional competition and if her spelling success continues, she could represent the area at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Contact Night City Editor John J. Hopkins at 693-1000, ext. 150.