Parents and Families of Pike County Schools:

The School Nutrition Program appreciates your continued support of our food service program. Again, this year a student breakfast will cost $2.50, and a student lunch will cost $3.75.

For the 2024-2025 school year, Pike County Schools is requesting all families to complete and submit all Free and Reduced-Price Meal Applications online as soon as possible. The application can be completed online using this link: https://mealapp.lunchtimesoftware.net/ Online applications will be the expected mode of completion for all Free and Reduced-Price Meal applications. Paper applications are available upon request by contacting Tammy G. Bell, at bellt@pike.k12.ga.us or at (770)-567-8489.

The School Nutrition Program is proud to introduce our new point of sales company, LunchTime. We have a new payment portal available for electronic payments on student meal accounts. If you would like to deposit money into your student’s account, have money available for your student to purchase extra food items, or have a previous balance, you should create an account at this link: https://www.schoolpaymentportal.com Please follow the directions as prompted to create an account. You may also scan the QR code at the bottom of this page to sign in to the mobile app to manage your cafeteria accounts.

For information about Pike County Schools Nutrition Program, please contact Tammy G. Bell at bellt@pike.k12.ga.us or at 770-567-8489.

Sincerely,

Tammy G. Bell
Pike County Schools Nutrition Director
(770) 567-8489
bellt@pike.k12.ga.us

In order to provide the most secure method available for identification of students through the cafeteria serving line, our school has recently implemented a biometric finger scanning solution.  This solution will allow students to quickly identify themselves using their finger.  A biometric solution is more secure than having students remember a PIN or carry an identification card.

The finger scanning enrollment process works as follows for each finger that is scanned:

• The student scans their index finger three times.
• The computer software develops a grid of intersection points from the ridges and valleys of the scanned image.
• Only specific characteristics, which are unique to every fingerprint, are filtered and saved.
• These specific characteristics are converted to a binary number, which is a series of zeros and ones.
• The binary number is stored in the database as the encrypted biometric key.

No fingerprint image is stored.  The only item stored in the database is the series of points which is determined from the ridges and valleys of the scanned image.  This data can’t be reverse engineered to create a fingerprint.

Once the student completes the enrollment process, they will be able to use their finger as the method of identification when receiving meals and a la carte items from our cafeteria.  When the student goes through the line, they will scan their finger (either left or right index) a single time.  The software will again build the specific characteristics from the ridges and valleys of the scanned image.  These specific characteristics are then converted to a binary number, encrypted, and used to search against the encrypted biometric keys in the database to determine a match.

The finger scanning program software was developed by Focal Tech, Inc. of State College, PA.  Focal Tech is also the developer of the LunchTime School Lunch Software System which is the cafeteria point of sale system we have implemented in conjunction with the finger scanning program. You can visit the Focal Tech corporate site at http://www.focaltechinc.com and the LunchTime product website at http://www.lunchtimesoftware.com.

The identification and matching process is extremely fast, secure, and accurate.  If you have any questions regarding the new biometric process we have implemented, please do not hesitate to ask.

The Pike County Department of School Nutrition is dedicated to providing opportunities for students to grow and explore nutrition and its role in general wellness. We seek to enable those students who have already developed specific nutritional goals and provide that opportunity to those who have not.

It is our mission to provide uncompromising service to our customers by removing obstacles in the path of hungry students and promoting participation. We also seek to provide opportunities for explorers to expand their nutritional boundaries, overcome food insecurity and resist childhood obesity.

Pike County School Nutrition has over 100 years of combined service and leadership experience represented by our cafeteria managers. We serve over 1,750 students daily between our 4 schools and we are continuously finding ways to improve and provide better service to our students.