Food Services

Free and Reduced-Price Meals| Food Menus| Breakfast| Elementary School Lunch| Middle School and High School Lunch| Additional Food Purchases| New York State and Federal Regulations| Payment Information| Prohibition Against Meal Shaming| Wellness Policy 5405: Physical Activity and Nutrition   

The Food Services Department at VCSD understands the importance of providing options to meet every student’s nutritional and cultural requirements. Our daily meals are designed to provide a balanced diet and may be customized to meet the needs of individual students.

All meals at VCSD meet or exceed the required federal guidelines in regard to fat, sodium, sugar and whole grain dietary content. In addition, the Food Service Department offers further customization to meet additional student needs. Each day, students will have gluten-free, Halal and vegetarian meal options available on request. The staff of the Food Services Department is trained to distinguish these selections and can help students identify foods that fit their individual needs.

While a variety of food choices are made available to all students, parents and guardians may also request meal modifications if the available options do not meet their child’s dietary needs. To discuss a medical or specific meal modification, please contact Food Service Director Paul Franchini, 518-765-3314, ext. 2195. A  form or a doctor’s note may be required. 

Free and Reduced-Price Meals

Through a new state law, all Voorheesville Central School District students will receive one free breakfast and one free lunch every school day. There is a charge for second meals, à la carte items, snacks, and beverages

While no application is required to receive free meals, we strongly encourage families to complete the 2025-26 free and reduced-price meal application.  The application is also available in each school building. It may be submitted at any time during the school year. The information collected through this form helps determine the amount of funding our district receives to support student programs and services.

Families who qualify may also be eligible for benefits such as waivers for AP exams and college applications and discounts on other school-related programs.

Additional information about filling out the application is available here.

Additional Food Purchases

There is a charge for second meals, à la carte items, snacks, and beverages.

• Please be sure your child has money for these items as they are not part of the free meal program.
• Cash and checks for these purchases will be handled at the cafeteria register. Checks should be made out to VCSD Food Service.
• Questions? Please contact Food Service Director Paul Franchini, 518-765-3314, ext. 2195.

Payment Information

All students are eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch every school day.

The accepted means of paying for additional school meals or snacks are cash, check, or MySchoolBucks payment. Cash and checks are accepted and processed with no fee. MySchoolBucks includes convenience fees related to the type of payment. 

A student may pay by cash or check at the cafeteria register. Checks should be made out to the Voorheesville Central School District.

The MySchoolBucks payment system works like a debit plan (but without a debit card), meaning users deposit money into an account and the cost of each meal is deducted from the account. Parents and guardians will need their child’s student ID number to register on the MySchoolBucks website. Once logged into MySchoolBucks, parents and guardians can view information specific to their children and the food service accounts, including a 90-day history of food purchases and how much money is left in the accounts. 

Paying by credit card through MySchoolBucks incurs a fixed fee of $3.25 per transaction for school lunch and 4.95% for school store payments. Paying by e-check incurs a fixed fee of $2.75 per transaction. Parents, guardians and staff can deposit as much as they want into the accounts, but there is no discount for paying in advance.

To minimize fixed fees, there is an annual option for e-check transactions that can be accessed through MySchoolBucks. The annual fee is $12.95 per child or $26.95 per family (more than 2 children) and allows unlimited e-check transactions with no additional fee. 

To access the annual option from a computer:

1.   Go to the MySchoolBucks website and sign in
2.   In the upper right hand corner, click on person icon
3.   Scroll down to membership
4.   Follow steps from there

Heartland Payment Systems (the owner of MySchoolBucks) receives all convenience fees. No portion of any convenience fee is kept by the school. MySchoolBucks website for more information on the payment system and MySchoolBucks accounts.

If you have questions about mySchoolBucks, please contact Paul Franchini.

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Food Menus

PLEASE NOTE: A fruit or vegetable must be taken by a student for a meal to be reimbursable. Otherwise ala carte pricing will be charged. Menu items subject to change

Breakfast

Available Daily:

• Assorted Cereal, Whole Grain Muffin, Whole Wheat Bagel, Egg and Cheese on Whole Wheat Bagel, Ham, Egg and Cheese on Whole Grain Muffin, Sausage, Egg and Cheese on Whole Grain Muffin
• Choice of Low Fat Milk: 1% White, Fat Free White or Fat Free Chocolate
• Choice of Juice or Fruit: Apple, Orange or Grape Juice, Fresh Apples, Oranges or Bananas

Elementary School Lunch

View the printer-friendly version of the April menu.

 

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Middle School and High School Lunch

Menu items subject to change.

GF: Gluten-free
H: Halal
V: Vegetarian
WG: Whole Grain

Lunch Items Available Daily:

10” WG Wraps (2 Ounce. Meat and ½ Ounce. Cheese): LS Turkey, LS Ham, Italian Mixed, Roast Beef, Grilled Chicken or Veggies and Hummus

Served with Lettuce and Tomato, LS Mayo or Mustard
2 All Beef Hot Dogs on WW Roll served with 2 PC’s Ketchup or Mustard
Grab and Go Salads: Garden Salad, Chef Salad, Grilled Chicken Salad, Fruit Salad

Fruit, Yogurt and Granola Salad, Caesar Salad with Egg
Served with Wheat Crackers, 1 PC RF Salad Dressing

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New York State and Federal Guidelines

Elementary School Grades K-5:

Daily minimums: ½ cup fruit serving, ¾ cup vegetable serving ½ c legumes,  ½ c dark greens,  ¾  c red/orange, ½ c starchy, plus ½ c other, 1 grain per day minimum (No noodles or rice can be in the soups to meet this requirement), 1 Ounce. protein minimum, Assorted low-fat and fat-free milk only

Minimum-maximum calories 550-650, saturated fat – less than 10% of total calories, sodium – 1110 mg or less, zero trans fat

Middle School:

Daily minimums: 1⁄2 cup fruit serving, ¾ cup vegetable serving, ½ cup legumes, ½ cup dark greens, ¾ cup red/orange, ½ c starchy, ½ cup other, 1 grain per day minimum w/a 2 grain per day maximum (No noodles or rice can be in the soups to meet this requirement), 1 Ounce. protein minimum w/a two protein maximum on all sandwiches and entrees, assorted low-fat and fat-free milk only

Minimum-maximum calories 600-700, saturated fat – less than 10% of total calories, sodium – 1225 mg or less, zero trans fat

High School:

Daily minimums: 1 cup fruit serving, 1 cup vegetable serving,  ½ cup legumes, ½ cup  dark greens, 1 ¼ cup red/orange, ½ cup starchy, plus ¾ cup other, 2 grain minimum with a 10 grain per week maximum (No noodles or rice can be in the soups to meet this requirement), 2 Ounce. protein minimum with a 10 protein maximum per week, assorted low-fat and fat-free milk only

Minimum-maximum calories 750-850, saturated fat – less than 10% of total calories, sodium – 1280 mg or less, zero trans fat

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Prohibition Against Meal Shaming

For the 2025-26 school year, all Voorheesville students receive free breakfast and lunch under New York State’s recently enacted Universal Free School Meals Program.

Although meal charges are no longer applicable, the long-standing district policy against meal shaming remains in place as part of our commitment to treating all students with dignity and ensuring access to nutritious meals. The policy is as follows:

The Board of Education recognizes that, on occasion, students may forget to bring meal money to school.  To ensure that students do not go hungry, but also to promote responsible student behavior and to minimize the fiscal burden on the district, all district schools shall follow guidelines with regard to meal charges.

• Once a student account is negative, only regular meals may be charged, that is, only the type A meal on the menu.  No student shall be denied a regular type A meal regardless of the account balance.
• No snacks may be charged once an account is negative
• A computer-generated point-of-sale system shall be used for identifying and recording all charged meals as well as collected repayments

This policy applies to all paying students whether they are paying full-price or reduced-price.  Students with a negative balance of at least two meals will be immediately notified by the building administrator or designee regarding the status of their accounts.

The school district shall send notification to all parents on an annual basis, prior to the opening day of school, notifying them of the requirements of this policy.

The district shall maintain a system for accounting for charged meals that follows state guidelines.