We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the 2011–12 school year! We hope you had a wonderful summer and are geared up for the new school year. As you may already know, ARAMARK Education provides food service to your child's school.

We want you to know that we take this responsibility seriously and put your child"s nutrition and well-being above everything. ARAMARK is happy to provide your child with nutritious and exciting recipes and menus, vibrant dining environments, and nutritional information and messaging to encourage healthy eating and exercise to maintain a well-balanced lifestyle.

We'd like to take this opportunity to share with you our programs and services for the new school year.

Secondary students will have menus posted on the school district website, in the cafeteria and will have menus posted on the school district website, in the cafeteria and classroom. The lunch price for James Caldwell High School is $3.25 . The price for Grover Cleveland Middle School students is $3.00 .

All secondary students who prepay or qualify for free or reduced-priced meals may go directly to the school cashier. There is no charging of meals available. If your child does not have money on account or cash they need to speak with the school office for assistance.

For those of you new to the school district, we'd like to outline our Point-of-Sale (POS) system.

The POS system benefits you, your child, and the school in a number of practical ways. We hope that you and your student will consider taking advantage of some of these convenient options.

Please read the following information carefully.

We will be using a computerized cash register system to ease the payment process for your child. Here's how it will work:

You can add money to your child's account by filling out an envelope and sealing the payment inside. Your child can drop turn in the envelope at school.

The envelope should be clearly marked with your child's FULL name, grade, and homeroom, and/or Lunch ID. If the payment is for more than one child, indicate how the money should be split (for example, Johnny = $10.00 and Sally=$15.00).

We encourage payment be made in the form of a check made out to Caldwell-West Caldwell cafeteria Account Payment can be made in any amount your budget will allow. Students who have money on account will not have to worry about lunch money every morning and will go through the lunch line more quickly at school.

All students have been assigned an ID number to access their lunch account. This ID number will be like a PIN for an ATM machine. Students will be issued these numbers the week before we start to serve lunch.

Students will enter their ID number into a PIN pad prior to the cashier.

**** Know what your child buys for lunch!!!

You have the ability to view and print out a copy of your child"s meal purchase history report. This history report will show all the dates and times that your child has purchased lunch within the past 30 days.

Please be advised that when you first create your account, you will only be able to see your child's history for that day. To view the 30-day history, log out and then sign back in again.

The HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) is a voluntary initiative established in 2004 to recognize schools participating in the National School Lunch Program that have created healthier school environments through promotion of nutrition and physical activity.

In alignment with HUSSC, we are committed to serving nutritious meals to your children. This commitment is at the heart of how we deliver on our promise to help students flourish. We encourage students to embrace good eating and healthy lifestyle habits at an early age, and a school's food and nutrition program plays a big role in this effort. We"re excited about the opportunity to launch these new menus at your school.

• A fruit or vegetable offered every day of the week

• Fresh fruit and fresh vegetables offered whenever possible

• Many entrées now offered whole grain

• Only low-fat white and chocolate milk offered.

Our wellness promotions include tasty, exciting recipes developed by our chefs and dietitians with the objective to introduce new, healthy menu items to the students, who eat in the same location every day, in most cases. These promotions offer fun themes and enticing recipes to ensure that the students' taste buds don"t get bored. Examples of this year's themes and special recipes include Asian cuisine, Italian regional favorites, minis (small bites), and world flavors.

Applications for free meals are available at your school. Please fill out the form and return it to your child's school office. As a courtesy, all students who qualified for free lunches last June will remain eligible until September 30, 2011. After that date, students must have a new application completed and returned to the school office to continue to receive free meals. If the income in your household changes during the school year, please feel free to fill out another application.

There is a growing amount of food allergies and intolerances occurring in children. Please let us know if your child has any special dietary restrictions, and we will try to accommodate them as much as possible.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any aspect of the Food Service Program at your child's school, please feel free to contact John D'Angelo, Food Service Director at  dangelo-john@aramark.com or 973-228-9115 ext 2018 , and I will be more than happy to assist you.

Also, from time to time, we will reach out to you to obtain your feedback regarding the Food Service Program through our Food service advisory committee meetings. We hope you will take the time to share your thoughts and ideas with us throughout the year. Feel free to email me with your feedback, comments or questions at anytime.