Cafeteria Finance Officer
Lauren Palmer
cafeteriafinance@hyerpta.org

Cafeteria Volunteer Chair Stephanie Lauck
cafeteriavolunteer@hyerpta.org

Hyer Cafeteria Manager 
Lorena Escobedo

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The Hyer PTA has run and operated the Hyer Cafeteria since 1949!  The tradition of PTA-sponsored lunch programs is as old as HPISD itself, starting in 1914 when Armstrong opened as the first HPISD school without a cafeteria.  Moms volunteered to heat up and serve soup to the students during the lunch hour.  This tradition of PTA provided lunches has passed to each successive school opened in HPISD and continues strong today!

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Our PTA Cafeteria Finance Officer and PTA Cafeteria Volunteer Chair oversee general cafeteria operations, while parent volunteers help serve the lunches. However, it is our amazing Cafeteria Manager and her staff who are on the front lines ensuring the Hyer Cafeteria is a success!  When your student purchases lunch from the Hyer Cafeteria, your family is supporting the operations of the Hyer Cafeteria, including our incredible cafeteria staff as well as delicious, healthy food selections for our students!  Thank you for supporting the Hyer Cafeteria!

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General Information & Guidelines

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Food Selections

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Cafeteria Manager Lorena Escobedo and her staff do the hard work of selecting and preparing delicious, healthy and varied meals. 

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Students in grades Kindergarten and 1st will have the option to buy either a hot or cold lunch each day. Students in grades 2nd - 4th will have the option to purchase items à la carte. Meat, vegetables, salads, sandwiches, fruits, milk, and juices are available each day.

About 15 minutes after the beginning of the lunch period, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students are allowed to purchase ice cream for dessert. The ice cream schedule is as follows:

• Kinders & 1st grade on Friday

• 2nd grade on Tuesday and Thursday

• 3rd & 4th grade on Tuesday, Thursday & Friday

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Parents are encouraged to go over the MENUS and PRICE LIST with each of their students to help them plan and budget their lunches. 

Students are not required to purchase lunch from the cafeteria and may bring a lunch from home.

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Visitor Policy

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Hyer will have tables inside as well as outside, in Balto's Courtyard, if you would like to have lunch with your student during their lunch period. We ask that you wait until September 12 to join your child for lunch so our students have an opportunity to learn the procedures in our cafeteria and connect with their classmates and new friends. If your child has a birthday before September 12, we are happy to make an exception so you can join him/her for lunch on his/her birthday. 

Please remember that Kindergarten through 3rd grade students can invite ONE student friend to have lunch with them and their parent guest. Fourth graders may invite TWO student friends to join them for lunch. Please adhere to these guidelines so as not to cause hurt feelings.

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Birthday Policy

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We celebrate every child’s birthday with special recognition on the morning announcements and in the classroom. Because of food allergies and nutritional guidelines, parents are asked not to bring birthday treats to distribute to other students in the class, either in the classroom or in the cafeteria.

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HPISD Allergy & Anaphylaxis Protocol

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Please refer to the HPISD Allergy & Anaphylaxis Protocol

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Lunch Schedule

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The lunch schedule is found HERE.

Menu and Price List

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Parents are encouraged to go over the MENUS and PRICE LIST with each of their students to help them plan and budget their lunches.  Students are welcome to bring their lunches from home.

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Pre-set lunches will be priced as follows:

• Grade K-1 hot or cold boxed lunches with milk, juice or water. - $6

• Grade K-1 hot or cold boxed lunches with organic milk - $7.25

• Grade 2-4 are a la carte

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Cafeteria Payment Account

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Cash is not accepted at this time

Please ensure that you have set up and added funds to your child’s cafeteria account if your child will be purchasing lunches from the cafeteria.

Set Up a Cafeteria Account

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• Login to Skyward via a computer (and not a mobile device)

• Click 'Food Service' on the left menu bar

• Click the 'Make a Payment' option found to the right of your student's name

• You will be re-directed to eFunds for Schools, where you can login with your Skyward login credentials (use lowercase characters only)

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eFunds for Schools

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How to Set Up and Add Money to Cafeteria Account​

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• Once you are logged into eFunds, click “Fund Lunch”

• Click “Login”

• Enter your Skyward username and password (case sensitive)

• Select the child that you wish to make a payment for

• Edit the desired amount to add to student’s account

• Click “Add to Cart”

• Click “Begin Checkout” (Auto reload payments can be set up at this point.)

• Enter payment information

• Click “Pay Now”

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How to Set Low Meal Balance Notifications

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• Once you are logged into eFunds, click 'Manage Account' tab, then 'Notification Settings'

• Turn on the 'Low Meal Balance for All Students' notification

• Then select 'Confirm Settings'

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How to Set Amounts for Low Meal Balance Notifications & Auto-Reload Payments

This option allows the account holder to set the student’s account to reload a set dollar amount to the student’s account when it hits a low balance amount set by account holder

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• Once you are logged into eFunds, click 'Payment Settings' on the menu bar on the left

• Select 'Low Meal Balance Settings'

• Turn on the 'Configure Notifications' for each student account that you want to enable the notification

• Adjust the 'Minimum Balance' ($10 is recommended), and the 'Replenishment Amount' ($100 is recommended)

• Then select 'Confirm Settings'

NOTE: If payment information is changed (e.g., a new credit card or different bank account), you will need to reset the low balance settings for the auto-reload function to work.  

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Transaction Fees

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Each time you deposit money into the cafeteria account, a transaction fee will be assessed.  If your payment method is a direct deposit from your bank, the total fee will $1.  For credit card payments, a sliding scale will be assessed in $5 increments for every $150 added to the account.

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Negative Balance Policy

As a reminder, the cafeteria offers the cafeteria account payment option as a convenience to the students and parents and, in turn, asks that parents help support the cafeteria’s efforts to keep a balanced budget by keeping their student’s cafeteria account balance positive at all times. The first time a student’s cafeteria account reaches an actual balance of negative $25, the account will be closed until payment is made. The second time a student’s cafeteria account reaches an actual balance of negative $25, the account will be permanently closed for the remainder of the school year. Failed payments (i.e., bounced or returned payments) will not be counted towards determining actual account balances under this policy. 

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HPISD Meal Assistance Program Policy & Application

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The cafeterias of Highland Park ISD are owned and operated by their respective PTA/PTO.  No federal funds are accepted for the student meal service operation. Any breakfast or lunch assistance given to a Highland Park ISD student is a gift to the student from the Cafeteria PTA/PTO campus in which the student is attending. Funding of the Meal Assistance Program is done independently at each campus through parent donation or outside funding.   For more information, please refer to the Meal Assistance Program Policy.

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Volunteer in the Cafeteria

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Volunteer as a server or cashier in the cafeteria.  Students are so excited to see their parents in the cafeteria, and for many cafeteria volunteers it is a true highlight of their Hyer experience!  Volunteers are invited to have lunch after their shift.  ​

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By volunteering to serve students, parent volunteers (on all campuses) save HPISD over $400,000 each school year.  At Hyer, we typically utilize 9 volunteers each day (approximately 370 volunteers per month).  And with only 360 families this year, we need every family to volunteer to keep our Hyer Cafeteria running efficiently!

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Sign Up to Volunteer

To volunteer, please contact our Cafeteria Volunteer Chair at cafeteriavolunteer@hyerpta.org.  A shift is 2.5 hours per month from 10:30 am to 1 pm.  

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Volunteer Procedures & Guidelines

All volunteers must review the Hyer Cafeteria Volunteer Procedures and Hand Washing Guidelines and complete the Hyer Cafeteria Volunteer Guidelines & Hand Washing Acknowledgement Form before their first shift.

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Finding a Sub

All volunteers are responsible for finding their own subs.  Please click HERE for helpful hints when trying to find a sub.

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