School lunch money

There's no such thing as a free lunch, but for students with negative balance lunch accounts, their schools will still feed them.

It's usually simple -- a sandwich, some fruit and milk -- but it's something. Schools aren't going to let kids go hungry because they don't have  money for lunch.

In Iowa City, student lunch accounts can hit -$6.00 before they are cut off from the regular hot lunch program. I found that out when I neglected to read the notice my daughter had brought home informing us that her lunch account has a negative balance.

(For the record, she brought the note home Tuesday.)

The thing is, parents can view their children's lunch account online and sign up for e-mail notifications. I did not know this, so I signed up and made a request to be e-mailed when my childrens' accounts have a $1 balance. Then I wrote a check, drove to my daughter's school and swung by the office. I had packed her a lunch, just in case, but was told my payment would allow her to have a regular hot lunch.

Crisis solved.

But here's a thought. If school districts have the technology to give parents access to their child's lunch account for viewing purposes, wouldn't it be great if we could transfer money into the account, too?

Do any districts in Eastern Iowa have this technology? Let me know.