Table of Contents
Food Services
Food Services Director: Brian Nolan
Phone: 518-237-9100 ext. 1411
Food Services
Visit the Food Services page to view meal times and menus, free and reduced meals information, and to access a student account.
Learn about the district Prohibition Against Meal Shaming policy.
The Cohoes City School District participates in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Through these programs, the District receives commodities and subsidies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Cohoes City School District offers meals to all students in its schools, and serves the meals according to federal requirements.
Free Breakfast at Select Schools
All students in Grades K-12 receive free breakfast and lunch every day through the Community Eligibility Program (CEP).
Families are encouraged to fill out a CEP Form 2024-2025. Qualifying families could help the district with funding eligibility based on need.
Please send completed forms to:
Cohoes City Schools Food Service
Attn: Laura Manzer
1 Tiger Circle
Cohoes, NY 12047
Or scan and email to Laura Manzer.
If you are unable to access this document and need them in a different format, please contact our communications office.
Child Nutrition Program Authorization
Since the Cohoes City School District participates in one or more Child Nutrition Program, the Superintendent has developed rules which address:
- What can be charged;
- The system used for identifying and recording charged meals;
- The system used for collection of repayments; and
- Ongoing communication of this protocol to parents and students.
The Cohoes City School District’s meal-charge policy and procedures will be distributed to all households that transfer into the Cohoes City School District during the school year. The policy and procedures may vary by grade. The Cohoes City School District will also provide details regarding payment methods on its website.
Charging Meals
The goal of the Cohoes City School District is to provide student access to nutritious meals each school day and to ensure that a pupil whose parent/guardian has unpaid school meal charge balances is not shamed or treated differently than a pupil whose parent/guardian does not have unpaid meal fees.
The purpose of this policy is to ensure the District is in compliance with federal requirements for the USDA Child Nutrition Program and, and to provide oversight and accountability for the collection of outstanding student meal balances. The District shall ensure that students with unpaid balances are not subject to stigmatization, distress or embarrassment.
The provisions of this policy pertain to regular priced reimbursable school breakfast & lunch meals only. The Cohoes City School District provides this protocol as a courtesy to those students that have forgotten or lost their money. Unpaid meal balances place a financial burden on the District. In an effort to minimize the District’s financial exposure, charging of items outside of the reimbursable meal (a la carte items, adult meals, snacks, ice cream, etc.) are expressly prohibited.
Benefit Policy
All students in Grades K-12 receive free breakfast and lunch every day through the Community Eligibility Program (CEP). A la carte items or other snack items must be paid/prepaid.
The Cohoes City School District’s point-of-sale system (nutri-kids) will track all charges and payments.
Ongoing Staff Training
Staff will be trained annually and throughout the year (as needed) on the procedures for managing meal charges using the NYSED Webinar or training programs provided by the Cohoes City School District.
Staff training shall include ongoing eligibility certification for free or reduced price meals.
Parent Notification
Unpaid meal charges will be addressed directly with the student’s parent or guardian who is responsible for providing funds for meal purchases; discreet notifications of low, exhausted, or deficit balances will be sent at appropriate intervals during the school year. Parents/guardians will be notified that a student’s account balance is exhausted and has accrued meal charges within 1 day of the charge and then every week thereafter.
The notification may include a repayment schedule, but will not charge any interest or fees related to meals charged prior to being paid. Cohoes City School District administration will further consider the benefits of attempted collections and the costs that would be expended in collection attempts.
Parent Outreach
School staff will communicate with parents/guardians with five or more meal charges to determine eligibility for free or reduced price meals.
School staff will make two documented attempts to reach out to parents/guardians to complete a meal application in addition to the application and instructions provided in the school enrollment packet.
School staff will contact the parent/guardian to aid with completion of meal application to determine if there are other issues within the household causing the child to have insufficient funds, offering any other assistance that is appropriate.
Minimizing Student Distress
School and Food Service Management Company (FSMC) staff will not publicly identify or stigmatize any student on the serving line or discuss any outstanding meal debt in the presence of any other students.
School and Food Service Management Company (FSMC) staff will not throw away a meal after it has been served because of the student’s inability to pay for the meal or because of previous meal charges.
School and Food Service Management Company (FSMC) staff will not take any action directed at a pupil to collect unpaid school meal fees.
School staff shall deal directly with parents/guardians regarding unpaid school meal fees.
Ongoing Eligibility Certification
School staff will conduct direct certification with NYSSIS or using NYSED Roster Upload at least monthly to maximize free eligibility.
School staff will provide parents/guardians with free and reduced price application and instructions at the beginning of each school year in school enrollment packet.
Should the Cohoes City School District begin using electronic meal applications, the district will provide an explanation of the process in the school enrollment packet and instructions on how to request a paper application at no cost.
School staff will provide at least two additional free and reduced price applications throughout the school year to families identified as owing meal charges.
School staff will use administrative prerogative judiciously, only after using exhaustive efforts to obtain a completed application from the parent/guardian only with available information on family size and income that falls within approvable guidelines.
School staff shall coordinate with the Chief Information Officer (CIO) regarding foster, homeless, migrant & runaway statuses at least monthly to certify eligible students.
Prepayments and Refunds
Students/Parents/Guardians may pay for meals in advance via K12paymentcenter.com or with a check payable to Cohoes City School District. You can also download the K12PaymentCenter app from the Apple Store or Google Play store for free. Funds should be maintained in accounts to minimize the possibility that a child may be without meal money on any given day. Any remaining funds for a student will be carried over to the next school year.
Refunds for withdrawn and graduating students require submission of a written or e-mailed request for a refund of any money remaining in their account. Students who are graduating at the end of the year will be given the option to transfer to a sibling’s account with a written request.
Unclaimed Funds must be requested within one school year. Unclaimed funds will then become the property of the Cohoes City School District Food Service Program.
Account Balances
Remaining funds will be carried over to the next school year. When students leave the district or graduate, the district will attempt to contact the parent/guardian to return remaining funds. Parents/guardians may request that funds be transferred to other students (i.e., siblings, unpaid accounts). All transfer requests must be in writing. Unclaimed funds remaining at the end of school year shall be absorbed by the school meal account.
Staff
Staff members are allowed to purchase food from the district’s food services. However, all purchases must be paid for at the point of sale. Staff members are not allowed to charge meals to be repaid later.