AXIS Orientation Video Series: School Meals AXIS Orientation Series: School Meals A brief video overview of the AXIS School Meals program. Show Transcript welcome to the axis orientation video series this video is going to be about the school meal program for the 2025 2026 school year School meals overview access serves both School breakfast and school lunch to our students daily lunches served hot from our school kitchen window to student trays students are offered a choice of fruit and milk with their lunch daily kindergarten through fifth grade students eat the cafeteria Pre-K students eat in their classrooms breakfast is also offered daily and is served cold usually comes in the form of breakfast breads or bars granola with yogurt cereal or other continental breakfast style options students are also offered a choice of fruit and milk with their breakfast daily at this time all School meals for students in Colorado are free Colorado voters previously passed legislation that makes breakfast and lunch free for all Colorado students due to high budget deficits at the state level this program is only guaranteed to continue through the end of 2025 the Colorado preschool meals program will go back to Colorado voter ballots this November continued funding for free lunch depends on the outcome families who qualify for federal free or reduced lunch will still be eligible for free and reduced price on School meals regardless of the outcome of that vote all access families are required to complete the free and reduced lunch application this crucial for our school's federal and state funding that all families regardless of size or income level complete the federal free and reduced lunch application it is a part of our official enrollment paperwork use the status from these applications to help determine if families are able to be Exempted from their annual access student fees with Colorado free School meals only guaranteed through the end of the year this is a crucial step for All Families this year's free and reduced lunch shop application is scheduled to be released to schools and families by July 28th it will be sent to All Access families directly via text and email as soon as it is available below is a general guideline for free and reduced lunch criteria this is not completely comprehensive but is just designed to give an idea again even families who don't believe they will qualify for free or reduced lunch are strongly encouraged to fill out this application as it does impact our school's level of funding our meal partner Michaels have done access works with Michaels of Denver to provide School meals to our students in order to offer free meals to students we are required to work with a vendor who meets federal school lunch and USDA guidelines Michaels of Denver is that vendor for us requests for any medical or dietary modifications through Michaels of Denver requires a physician's signature on a form and must go through our school health office access families are required to order breakfast and lunch ahead of time through my kids lunch the Michaels of Denver online ordering platform this allows us to receive an adequate amount of food for students who need lunch without creating unnecessary food waste below you will see the link to my kids hot lunch portal you can access that link and create your own portal online so you create your own account on the portal and just make sure to specify that your student is a student at access International Academy it will ask you to make a profile for each of your students please note that families need to order lunch at least 5 days ahead of time due to a lag in the ordering system we strongly encourage families to order lunches for the entire month ahead as as soon as the menu comes out usually mid-month for the following month so for example mid-mon in August the menu will come out for September and families can sit down and decide which days they're ordering lunch access families do receive a text notification on the last day that they are able to order of lunches for the full month menus are also posted in our Weekly schoolwide Newsletter as they become available please remember that access can not guarantee school lunch for students who do not have a lunch order placed on any given day we would also like to balance that with the caution that food waste adds up quickly we try to keep food out of the dumpster to reduce waste please make sure you are only ordering meals for the day as your student does plan to eat the school meal absences or sicknesses happen we can't avoid that but where we can we like to decrease the food waste how much in Stacks families still have the option to send students with lunch from home many families alternate between school lunch and home lunch depending on the menu offering for the day due to health code regulations and student safety access does not provide access to microwaves or other heating methods to students at lunchtime we do not currently have any net restrictions at access so families are able to pack snacks and lunch items that contain if that change you can expect proactive communication from the school health office quick tip please label any snacks you send as snacks sometimes students get confused and eat their lunch for snack or show up to the lunchroom with a bag full of snacks as their lunch labeling helps teachers keep track of food specially for younger students structured snacks times depend on grade level classroom schedules please check directly with your student teacher about snack policies Pre-K and Kinder students have dedicated snack times other classrooms do vary so again please check with classroom teachers School breakfasts specifics School breakfast is served before the school day begins students must arrive between 7:40 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. if they wish to participate in school breakfast School breakfast is served in the cafeteria for both pre okay and Elementary School students and is supervised by access School staff students have until 7:55 a.m. to finish up breakfast and move to their classrooms breakfast may not be eaten in classrooms if students arrive late or do not finish their school breakfast they are able to pack it up in their backpacks for a snack later in the day please remember like lunch School breakfast must be ordered at least 5 days beforehand and we ask that you only order days you plan to come eat the breakfast at school next steps for families number 1 complete your family's free and reduced school lunch application as soon as it's available number 2 create your school meal ordering account online at https colon slash Michaels h1.hot online.net there will be a link to this ordering platform on the quick start web page step 3 if you have any questions please contact Miss Ashley buyers you can contact her via email a buyers access colorado.org thank you
