Food Service Department
Food Service Department
LINQ Connect is a secure, online system that allows parents to:
- Make an online payment to their children’s cafeteria meal accounts
- Remotely monitor their children’s accounts
- Set up automatic recurring payments
- Set up low balance e-mail message alerts
- And submit an online application for free and/or reduced meals
Food Service Policies
Lunch Line Policies
Offer Versus Serve (OvS) is a meal service method designed to reduce food waste and food costs in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program without jeopardizing the nutritional integrity of the meals served.
At lunch, schools must offer all five components (fruit, vegetables, grains, meat/meat alternates, fluid milk) and students must select at least three components, one of which is 1/2 cup of fruit and/or vegetable.
At breakfast, schools must offer at least four food items from three required components (fruit, grains, fluid milk) and students must select at least three food items, one of which is 1/2 cup of fruit and/or vegetable.
Students should always be allowed to take all of the components in full portion sizes if they choose. For more information about OvS check out the fact sheets linked below.
Negative Account Balances
Parents initially shall be notified. Negative balances are expected to be corrected upon the notification by Corporation personnel.
Students shall be permitted to purchase meals from the Corporation's food service using either cash on hand or a food service account. A student may be allowed to incur a negative food service account balance subject to the following conditions.
Students may be permitted to accumulate a negative food service account balance not to exceed $10.00. A student shall not be permitted to purchase a la carte items without a sufficient food service account balance or cash on hand.
A student who has exceeded the permissible negative balance amount in their food service account and does not have cash on hand sufficient to purchase a meal will be treated respectfully. The Corporation shall provide meals to students with unpaid meal balances without stigmatizing them, shall provide parents of students who charge meals with notification when a student charges a meal, and shall make efforts to collect the charges incurred by the students so that the unpaid charges are not classified as bad debt at the end of the school year.
If a student has a significant negative food service account balance, they shall be provided an alternate meal. The alternate meal will be a low-cost alternative to the regular reimbursable meal and shall meet USDA nutritional standards or the Smart Snacks in Schools Regulations so that it qualifies for reimbursement under the National School Lunch/Breakfast Program.
Negative food service account balances will carry over from year to year until paid in full.
Students who have qualified for free lunches are still responsible for paying off any debt that was incurred prior to qualifying for free lunches.
General Information
Positive balances on your student’s account will carry over to next year. It does not matter if your student is changing buildings. You can see the balances through the LINQ Connect Portal via the website or application
If you would like a refund of your student's lunch account, please contact the Food Service Director at reafsnyders@mcsin-k12.org or 574-825-9425
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Students who qualify for SNAP and TANF with the Family and Social Services Administration office will automatically qualify for free school meals and curricular material rental fees. Once direct certification is complete, FSSA will notify the family explaining the benefits for the entire school year.
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MCS receives data from the state for students that are directly certified. However, parents should contact the Food Service Director at reafsnyders@mcsin-k12.org to ensure their school meal account is correct. Sometimes other household members are excluded from the data that MCS receives.
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- Yes, applications from the previous school year expire at the end of September. In order to continue to receive free or reduced prices on meals, families must complete a new application every year. We ask that you complete the application prior to the start of the school year.
- Applications received before July 1 will not be effective for the current school year.
- Current-school year applications will be available after July 1.
- Households are encouraged to apply before the start of the school year to avoid unpaid meal charges. Students who are not approved for free or reduced-price meal benefits before the start of the school year will be classified as paid status and meal charges may begin to accumulate starting the first day of school. Meal charges accrued before the approval of a meal benefit application will be the responsibility of the household.
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- You do NOT need to complete an application if you know your household does not qualify for meal benefits.
- Please have money in your child’s meal account on the first day of school.
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- Yes, you may apply anytime during the school year if your income changes.
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- Yes, when we receive paper applications, they get manually entered into LINQ Connect.
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- Yes, by submitting your application online, it’s CONVENIENT, SECURE, and WORRY-FREE! Not to mention, it saves our school money and decreases the amount of stored personally identifiable information (PII). You may apply online at LINQ Connect.
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- Yes, it’s available in Spanish