By KERI CHAMPION

Staff Reporter

RESERVE- Parents in low-income households can look forward to some relief from school lunch costs for next year as the St. John the Baptist Parish Schools voted unanimously to advertise for bids for a new school lunch software program and new hardware.

The current software being used in the schools does not meet state requirements and the state required the school system to update the software in its state review earlier this year.

The new system would solve two problems that needed to be addressed in a review of the school lunch program

Assistant Superintendent Herbert Smith said the cost of the new MCS hardware and software is $96,000 for installation and implementation and an annual cost of $5,000 to $6,000. The system the school board uses now has an annual cost of about $20,000 and the Board could see an immediate savings of $15,000 per year.

&#8220The software and hardware from MCS is used statewide and is the recommended package for school lunch programs,” Smith said.

Vivian Landry, supervisor of the St. John School Lunch Program said not only would the new system be more cost effective, but it would be more cost-efficient as well.

Landry said that the system currently in place processes free and reduced school lunch programs on a single application basis, rather than by household. The new system would capture the parents’ Social Security numbers in a database that would include all children in one household based on the parents’ Social Security number and address.

&#8220By using the Social Security number to determine free and reduced lunch eligibility, student applications will be processed more accurately and quickly. The more accurate we are the better chance there is that the kids who need the free and reduced lunch program will receive the benefits,” said Landry.

More accurate free and reduced lunch data would also be beneficial to the school system since Title I funding is issued to schools based on the amount of free and reduced lunch students in the schools. Title I funds are used to provide schools with supplies and other needs of each school.

The new hardware and software is capable of tracking inventory of food stocks and would be beneficial to the parish school system. St. John Parish was informed that the parish did not keep accurate records or purchases of bulk food in its recent state school lunch review.

The request to authorize for bids for bulk food services such as meats, bread, milk, processed food and other cafeteria need passed unanimously by the board,

In other business, the board voted to table the request to advertise for bids for building a new elementary school on the Elvina property. The board did approve an increase of 7% to Guidry’s Industrial services for lawn maintenance and introduced a proposal for a new accounting system.

Authorization to advertise for bids to install new windows at John L. Ory Magnet School was approved unanimously for up to $46,000 of construction funding.