Lunch Menus/Nutrition Services

Holy Spirit Catholic School, St. Francis of Assisi School, and St. Pius X School and Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist Middle School provides a federally subsidized lunch program that is regulated and monitored through the Food and Nutrition Program of the Minnesota Department of Education. Additionally, the Olmsted County Public Health Department inspects each site’s food preparation areas twice per year.

Contact Information

Holy Spirit Catholic School
Terrie Brandt
Head Cook
tbrandt@rcsmn.org

St. Francis of Assisi School 
Mary Friedrich
Head Cook
mfriedrich@rcsmn.org

St. Pius X School 
Paula Hansen 
Food Service Manager, Taher Foods
phansen@rcsmn.org

Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist School
Paula Hansen 
Food Service Manager, Taher Foods
phansen@rcsmn.org

The USDA approved from Congress to extend a meal waiver program through the end of June 2022 that will allow all students at Holy Spirit Catholic School, St. Francis of Assisi School, Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist Middle School, and St. Pius X School to receive one meal for lunch, free of charge.  Students who choose to purchase a milk, an additional entree, a la carte items at lunch, or kindergarten snack milk will be charged for those items.  We hope this meal waiver program will be a benefit to all our families who may still be experiencing financial impacts from the effects of the pandemic.  You may still choose to send a cold lunch to school if you would like. 

If a second entree is purchased they are priced at $1.25.  A second complete lunch costs $3.10.  This includes milk (white skim, 1%, and chocolate skim). Students are also welcome to bring a nutritious lunch from home and purchase milk separately for $.50. The “Offer versus Serve” concept is used where meat, grain product, vegetable, fruit, and milk is offered. The student must take at least 3 of the 5 items, with one item being a fruit or vegetable. Students are allowed to take additional servings of fruits and vegetables.

The meal accounting process is a pre-paid system. Parents/guardians are asked to keep a minimum balance of $15 in the family account. Lunch payments may be made by check, cash, or on-line via the Infinite Campus parent portal. Low Balance reminders will be sent by email weekly when the account falls below $15.

To obtain the daily activity and current balance, logging into Infinite Campus parent portal is a convenient way to view daily activity and make on-line payments.

All RCS lunch accounts with Infinite Campus will be separated into individual accounts instead of family accounts. Each student will now have a separate account balance which will have to be maintained separately. If you pay online through the Infinite Campus parent portal, you can make a single payment with a single transaction fee for all your students, regardless of what RCS school they attend. You can decide what amount to put in each of the accounts and the payments are automatically routed to the correct school. For those wanting to pay by check or cash, place it in an envelope and give to the school office.

Guidelines for Negative Lunch Balance
Students are allowed to charge five meals. Once five meals (-$15.25) have been charged to a student’s account without reimbursement, the building principal is notified and will contact the family. Students will not be allowed to purchase any a la carte items if the account is negative. No student will be denied lunch. Building Principals will work with families to apply for free and reduced lunch (if they qualify), or will work with the Food Service Manager and Accounts person to cover the cost of lunches for the child through the Angel Fund (Lourdes) or other funding resources. Families are encouraged to apply for free and reduced hot lunches.    

Policy for Nonsufficient Funds (NSF) Checks
You will be advised, by letter, if a NSF notice is received. The service charge from the bank will be added to the NSF debt. Rochester Catholic Schools will accept cash only for all NSF checks. If the debt is not paid in full within five days, the student’s lunch account will be closed until the balance is paid in full. If not resolved, the debt will be turned over to a collection agency and the collection agency fee will be added to the NSF amount.

Applications for Educational Benefits
Applications for free or reduced priced school meals are available and can be filled out any time throughout the school year. Children can receive free or reduced price school meals if the total household income is within the limits shown in the letter that is with the application for Educational Benefits. Children in households receiving SNAP, MFIP, and FDPIR benefits and foster, homeless, migrant, and runaway children can receive free meals without reporting household income.

Application
 

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA.

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.), should contact the Agency (State or local) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

To file a program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, (AD-3027) or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by:

1. Mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture
   Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
   1400 Independence Avenue, SW
   Washington, D.C. 20250-9410
2. Fax: (202) 690-7442
3. Email: program.intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Diet Disability Plan
This form needs to be completed by your child's physician. It gives Rochester Catholic Schools Nutrition Services direction on appropriate meal substitutions for a child's special diet (e.g. food allergies that result in severe, life-threatening (anaphylactic) reactions).

Food Intolerances Allergies
This form provides guidelines for your child’s classroom and special area classrooms. If your child will be eating school meals and/or taking a beverage and will be needing substitutions due to a food intolerance or allergy, please contact your child's school front office.