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February 10, 2012

CCS to offer online food service payments

BY MICHELLE MILLER

STAFF WRITER

Cooperstown Central School is launching an online payment option for purchases of school lunches, breakfasts and other food items.

Parents have the chance to add money to their child’s lunch account through the  district’s web store, powered by RevTrak-anational credit card payment processor. Payments can be made by using Discover, VISA, or MasterCard credit or debit cards. “Parents can make payments online while on their home or work computer, any time of the day,” Amy Kukenberger, business and building administrator said Tuesday morning.

One of the main reasons the school decided to go ahead with this, according to Kukenberger, is because there have been a lot of parent requests to be able to see their children’s balances throughout the years. She said the use of credit cards is just an added convenience for parents. Money is more likely to be used on what it is intended for, said Kukenberger. “There has always been an issue, for instance, of a parent giving a student a $20 bill and having no account to how that money was spent,” she said.

Sabine Curry, who serves as a half-time food supervisor at CCS and Milford Central School, said it is especially nice for the younger students who seem to lose their money or leave it in the bottom of their backpacks. “It seems like the right direction to go because at this time it (online) is how most of us pay our bills,” Curry said.

Kukenberger agreed. “Now, people are more comfortable using the Internet,” she said. It is a more-secure method and provides financial control for incoming money, Kukenberger added.

Both Kukenberger and Curry said they think the ability to check balances is going to the most used feature. Although parents cannot see individual purchases made, Kukenberger said parents will have some sort of idea of what the money is used for based on how much was spent each day. The goal is to eventually have each transaction available, she said.

There is a fee of $2.50 per checkout, so it would be most cost-effective to put larger amounts of money into an account at a time, Kukenberger explained. She said a parent can make transactions for as many children as needed in one checkout.

There are the options of adding $25, $50, $75, or $100. There is also a link labeled as other, which allows a person to add any amount up to $100.

“There is also a nice feature that gives parents email reminders when a balance gets low,” Kukenberger said.

According to Curry, the program has been tested with staff and fake transactions. An announcement about the offering went live on the district’s website on Feb. 2. A letter informing parents was mailed Tuesday.

“I’m very excited about the program,” Curry said. “It will also ease the pressure on my staff members on having to approach the students. That is always difficult because you don’t want to say much in front of their peers or embarrass them in any way.”

“We are hoping it will be something we can expand,” said Kukenberger. She said the service could be used for other school sales such as clothing, tickets, yearbooks and athletic equipment.

Superintendent C.J. Hebert said they had something like it when he was at Hudson Falls. “I think it worked well there and when the topic came up I thought it would be a good idea,” he said.

A student ID is needed to access an account. The web store can be accessed at http://cooperstown.revtrak.net/tek9.asp. Separate transactions must be made for each student, but checkout does not have to be made until all shopping is done.

For example, once done with one child’s account, a parent can select the option to continue shopping to add additional students. Payments made on school days by 7 a.m. will be credited to the student’s account by 11 a.m. Payments made after 7 a.m. will be in the student’s account by 11 a.m. the following school day.

When students make a purchase at the cash register in the cafeteria the amount of the purchase is deducted from his or her account. Funds are not withdrawn for a meal if the student  qualifies for free meals. Students may nottake out money deposited in their accounts and parents may place restrictions such as for meals only on accounts.

During checkout, one is required to provide an email address. When the charge is authorized, a conformation email is sent immediately to that address.

Credit and debit card information is not stored in the payment system for security reasons. One’s email address serves multiple purposes. It is also used for login.

The district, like in the past, will still allow parents to add funds to their child’s account by sending check, cash or money order with their child for payment directly to “Cooperstown Lunch Fund” or by sending a check or money order by mail.

To learn more about online payments, visit the school website http://www.cooperstowncs.org/

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