Over the years, Mike Sompayrac, a principal in the Elk Grove Unified School District, heard about a lot of lunch money that never made it to school.
It fell out of pockets. It got shared with friends. It never lasted beyond the candy aisle.
But starting this year in Elk Grove, in a trend spreading throughout the region, parents have a new option for making sure their children get fed at noontime: They can prepay online through a service called myLunchMoney.com.
Instead of sending checks or cash to school, they can use debit or credit cards to make payments, and monitor online when accounts need replenishing. Students punch in personal identification numbers to trigger food purchases.
"This will alleviate many issues for parents and for schools," said Sompayrac, principal of Edna Batey Elementary in east Elk Grove.
The new system is a welcome addition, said Kara Joseph, whose daughter, Nora, and son, Graham, attend Batey Elementary.
"I have access to their account, and I can see if they have eaten," she said.
Similar programs are running in other districts, or soon will arrive. Earlier this year, Davis Unified School District in Yolo County launched an online payment system called MyNutriKids.com in most of its schools. Rocklin Unified in Placer County is shopping for a vendor.
The former Rio Linda district in northern Sacramento County started using an online payment system in March, three months before merging into the new Twin Rivers Unified School District. Now, Twin Rivers is spreading it across all schools.
"It's just incredibly convenient," said Jill Van Dyke, director of Twin Rivers' nutrition services.
Other districts, including Folsom Cordova and San Juan Unified, have been using such systems for several years.
"Our economy is more of a plastic economy than it used to be," said Trent Allen, spokesman for San Juan, which uses mySchoolBucks.com. "This is a customer service piece for us."
Sacramento City Unified allows families to prepay with checks or cash sent to schools, with children using PINs to access their accounts, but currently does not plan to expand to an online system.
PINs have been a way of life for many years in numerous schools.
At Batey, where several year-round tracks resumed classes last week, teachers practiced with the youngest children on paper keypads to make sure they could use their PINs.
"They practice putting in their number and pressing enter," said first-grade teacher Laura Barrett.
"They love doing it. They think it's big stuff."
Call The Bee's Deb Kollars, (916) 321-1090.
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