Mineola Board of Ed Notebook: June 2

The Mineola Board of Education held a workshop session on Thursday, June 2. Here are some of the things you may have missed.

Cafeteria Renovation

• The district is planning on using $250,000 in the cafeteria fund for renovations to the Jackson Avenue cafeteria. The money would primarily be used for the replacement of equipment such as stoves and refrigeration, which is reportedly aging rapidly. The last equipment purchased for the cafeteria was the point-of-sale system. The funds represent about 5 years of savings according to Asst. Superintendent of Finance Jack Waters.
• “The whole flow about how kids get lunch and its pretty cramped and... the equipment is old so we have the architect looking at it, giving us possible cost estimates as well as a design for how we can better utilize the cafeteria,” Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler said. “I think by and large Jackson is long overdue for an overhaul.”
• The overhaul would mean a better lunch line in how children enter and exit the kitchen through an additional door.
• “Right now its fairly convoluted,” Dr. Nagler said.

Delinquent Student Lunch Accounts

• A discussion of delinquent lunch accounts was held at the outset of the meeting, specifically the at what threshold to stop allowing students to get the lunch of their choice, reducing it to “whatever the minimum purchase is,” Nagler said, while still maintaining the nutritional guidelines.
• Trustee William Hornberger recommended an overdraft of about $10 be applied before the student was to be cut off on their meal plan.
• “To say it another way, if they don’t pay for lunch for a week,” Dr. Nagler said referring to the $10 amount. “That’s roughly a week.” The addition to the meal plan policy would be discussed at the next board meeting.

The next meeting of the Mineola board of education will be on  at 8 p.m. at the .