LA PLATA, Md. (June 30, 2011)—Charles County Public Schools Food Services Department is changing the online Café Prepay payment system, which students use to pay for meals at school, to MealpayPlus. MealpayPlus is a secure, Internet-based system parents can use to deposit money electronically on their child’s cafeteria account. The change will occur on Friday, July 1, and any remaining account balances on the Café Prepay system will be transferred to the new system.
Student accounts on the new system will not be available for view or registration until Monday, Aug. 1. The new Internet-based system is available at
www.mealpayplus.com and provides a tutorial for parents to follow to set up their child’s account. The system is also accessible from the home page of the Charles County Public Schools Web site,
www.ccboe.com. Parents will also receive a packet of information by mail later this summer to include details of the new system.
Parents who would like to use the new service will have to register a new account, using their child’s six-digit student identification number. Users can contact their child’s school for this information. Use of the service is optional and account funds can be deposited online by electronic check, credit or debit card, or by telephone. Funds are generally available for use within minutes of each deposit. Parents can also send checks to their child’s school or provide their children with cash to purchase meals.
After July 1, the school system will transfer all student account information from Café Prepay to MealpayPlus once parents register their new account. The transition should be complete by Aug. 1, and neither system will be accessible during the month of July. Users can access their information 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can use the service to monitor their child’s account usage. Families with more than one child enrolled in a Charles County public school will only need one account and users can designate which child payments cover. Users can also sign up for e-mail notification when an account reaches a low balance.
There are no user costs associated with registering and monitoring accounts; however, MealpayPlus charges a fee for all deposits. The fee is 4.5 percent per deposit and is set by MealpayPlus. Charles County Public Schools does not receive any funding from these fees. Under the old system, Café Prepay, deposit fees were up to 6.25 percent per deposit.
For more information, call the Charles County Public Schools Food Services Department at 301-392-5570 or contact your child’s school.
Source: Charles County Public Schools