During the school day, the children at Juniper Ridge will take a mid-morning break for snack and another break mid-day for lunch. Students eat in their classrooms with their teachers. Each stu- dent is required to bring a snack and lunch to school each day. We do not have the facilities to prepare or refrigerate school lunches. Parents are asked to pack lunches with thought given to the health and growing needs of children. Healthy, well balanced meals provide essential nutrition for their brains and bodies to perform optimally. We encourage that every morning you give your children a nourishing protein-rich breakfast as a foundation for the work of the day. A hungry child makes a poor learner. Please send with your children a healthy snack and a nourishing lunch. Leave candy and sugar-filled snacks at home as an after-school treat.  Hot water will be available in the classrooms for children bringing instant soups.

Make sure that your teacher is aware of any food allergies, intolerances and restrictions. Students are fascinated by what comes in the lunch baskets of their classmates and there is often an active and lively trading (even when it is discouraged by the teacher). Children with adverse reactions to some foods have been known to experiment, not always to their advantage. Inform your teachers.

As a rule, please send snacks and lunches that do not require heating up. Although many classrooms have a microwave there is not enough time for students to heat lunches up. Imagine a class of 25 children, 15 of them requiring use of the microwave for one minute each. Lunch is already a scant 20 minutes long. Teachers have recess duty and cannot remain behind with children who have not finished (or begun) their lunch. We may not leave children unattended in the classroom. Help us to avoid this no-win scenario by sending lunches that do not require heating.

Be mindful that as your child grows older, appetites can suddenly increase. It is not uncommon for children who could barely finish their lunch, suddenly to eat both snack and lunch at snack time. A rule of thumb is to pack enough food so that something will come home. If you are seeing an empty lunch bag after school, ask your child if you should be packing more food.

Some families have their children pack their own lunches. If this is your practice, it is essential to monitor what you child is packing. Too often, children who pack their own food come with too little or inappropriate choices of foods.

Lunch Lizard Program:

Juniper Ridge had been able to team up with the SD51 Lunch Lizard program to provide nutritional lunches for students.

Lunch prices are as follows:

Grades K-5: $3.25

Grades 6-8: $3.40

Adult/Staff: $4.60

One (1) milk is included with the meal price. Additional milk or juice are considered ala carte. All students are charged for ala carte items.

To participate in the Lunch Lizard program, please set up online payments for your student’s meals through the My Payments Plus online system (www.mypaymentsplus.com).

• To set up an account and online payments, parents will need their child’s student ID number. To obtain this number, please call the JRCS office at 970-986-8219.
  ** Please do not call the School District office for this information **
• If you are new to com, you will need to create a login by clicking “Register Now”. If you have used My Payments Plus previously (at a different school) your login should still work.
• Once you have either logged in or created an account, click:
  “Manage Account” then “Manage Students”. Then choose CO for the state and “Mesa County Valley School District” for the Institution. Then enter your child’s student ID and last name.

Free & Reduced Lunches:

Juniper Ridge is able to offer free or reduced lunches to children that qualify.  The prices for free/reduced lunches are as follows:

Grades K-5: $0.00

Grades 6-8: $.0.00

To apply for the free and reduced lunch program, please apply online at MySchoolApps.com. If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Contact Connie Barteck at Nutrition Services (970)254-5181 or Connie.Barteck@d51schools.org.

The eligibility process may take up to 2 business days. For quicker processing and notification, please include your email on the application. Please know we provide strict confidentiality through all aspects of the application to meal service with eligible students.