New lunch payment system for Geneva schools

Forgetting to put money in your kids' school lunch accounts could become a thing of the past for Geneva parents with the use of a new payment system.

School District 304 is going to use PushCoin starting in the fall with the high school and middle school students.

Unlike the current system, PushCoin will let people put money in the accounts practically right up until lunchtime. The previous system had an 8 a.m. cutoff.

Also, PushCoin offers a smartphone app. Parents can use it to check balances, to see what their children are eating and to see nutritional content. They can also ask PushCoin to send an alert when accounts are close to owing $10, the limit the district has established for unpaid lunches.

On the current system, parents have to go to several different pages to fund the account, see what their children have purchased and check upcoming menus. RevTrek can only be funded with a credit card.

PushCoin will take credit cards or electronic checks.

Children will still be identified at the cashier stations by fingerprint, unless the parent chooses otherwise.

RevTrek is used for other payments at the schools, including registration, course and athletics fees. It will still be used for those.

The payment system switch was presented to the Geneva school board last week during a discussion about school lunches.

PushCoin will start Oct. 14 at the high school, Dec. 1 at the middle schools and Jan. 5 at the elementary schools.

The district is paying $50,000 to $60,000 in transaction fees with RevTrek and expects the PushCoin fees to be lower, said Donna Oberg, the district's assistant superintendent for business services.

The district tested the system at the high school in May.