This page was last updated on September 8, 2011.
Santa Barbara Unified School District is part of the Santa Barbara County Education Office.
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Food Services
Cafeteria Information
- Schoolmenu.com: lunch menus and nutritional information
- Cafeteria prepayments: add money and check the balance on your student's cafeteria account using MyNutrikids.com or in the school cafeteria
- Cafeteria price list
- Free and reduced-price meal application for 2011-12 (pdf)
- Eligibility scale for free and reduced-price meals for 2011-12 (pdf)
- USDA Recipes for Schools website (outside source)
- Catering Menu (pdf)
Breakfast
A nutritious breakfast is served every morning in each school cafeteria. Please check with your school cafeteria to identify the time of service. Breakfast includes a choice of an entrée, juice/fruit and milk. In the secondary schools additional items are available for purchase.
Lunch
In the secondary schools there are several choices daily for lunch. In the elementary schools there is only one entrée offered daily. Menus are available on the Santa Barbara Unified School District’s website. Students on the Free and Reduced Program are entitled to receive a daily entrée, a trip to the salad bar and either milk or juice. Additional items are sold for an additional charge.
Free and Reduced Priced Meal Program
National School Lunch Program Application forms are in every school student summer packet. In addition, applications are available in your school office. The information received from the application is critical to the district and is used to determine eligibility for additional funding. All information is confidential. The completion of the Free and Reduced Priced Meal Program Application may also determine the student’s eligibility for subsidized bus tickets and/or a reduction in the cost of Advanced Placement exams. If you are eligible for Free or Reduced Priced Meals, a new form must be completed each year. Free meals are at no charge and reduced priced lunches cost $.40 per day.
It is the goal of the Santa Barbara Unified School District Food Services Department to ensure that all students are receiving proper nutrition each school day. Breakfast and lunch are prepared and made available to all students daily in each school’s cafeteria under one of three plans: the full-price plan, the reduced-price plan, or the free meal plan. The full-price plan signifies that the student is required to purchase meals and other nutritional menu items at the full cafeteria menu price.
Before the beginning of each school year, all parents will receive, and are responsible for completing, an application for the National School Lunch Program if they believe they might be eligible. Unless an application for the National School Lunch Program is received by Food Services, students will be expected to pay for their meals under the full-price plan. Parents must submit these applications as quickly as possible so that eligibility status can be activated promptly.
If a parent has not submitted an application and their child is without the funds necessary to purchase food in the cafeteria, the cafeteria manager will allow that student to obtain three meals without payment. The cafeteria manager will, however, enter the cost of these “grace-period” meals into the student’s account record as money the student owes to the school cafeteria.
After two of the grace-period meals have been served, and the student is still without the money to pay for meals, the Cafeteria Manager will contact Food Services. Food Services will then contact the student’s parent to: inform them of the situation in the cafeteria; inform them of the availability of the National School Lunch Program; and, provide assistance to the parent in completing their application, if necessary.
Except for the three grace period meals just noted, the cafeteria will generally not provide meals to students who do not have the funds to pay or do not have funds in their account.
Cafeteria Line Procedures
If the cafeteria is to operate successfully, cooperation is needed in the following manner:
- All students (except kindergartners and some first graders) need to enter their student ID on the keypad in order to purchase or receive food in the school cafeteria. We recommend parents of younger students teach their child their six-digit ID number before school begins each year.
- Having cash readily available when approaching the cash registers will expedite the serving lines.
- Students should bring the proper amount and be prepared to pay at the cash register in the school cafeteria.
- When finished eating, students are to throw their garbage in the trashcans and/or recycle bins.
- Eating food in the serving areas is not permitted.