Hot Lunch Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Hot Meat Entrée
- Hot Vegetarian Entrée
- Cold Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Meal for students with documented allergies
- The District will not be moving to app-based ordering.
- There is no more ordering ahead. The lunch order form goes away.
- Look at the menu with your child and decide together whether they will get a school lunch.
- Every child who comes through the lunch line is served, at no cost.
- Some days a child's first choice will run out, but every child gets a meal.
- Children with documented allergies or dietary needs still have a meal set aside for them every day.
- Neil Cummins: approximately 180 meals per day in 2025–26 → over 300 meals per day this week
- The Cove: approximately 90 meals per day in 2025–26 → over 185 meals per day this week
- Hall Middle: approximately 50 meals per day in 2025–26 → over 170 meals per day this week
Daily Meal Choices
Each day, students will have three lunch options:
Fresh fruits and vegetables and milk will also be available with lunch.
How Meal Selection Works
Students will choose from the available meal options when they come through the lunch line. There is no advance ordering or meal selection required by students or families.
To help reduce food waste and ensure responsible use of District funds, staff will determine the quantity of each meal to order based on students' historical preferences and meal selection patterns.
A New Food Provider
District staff will closely monitor meal selections and adjust future orders as we learn students' preferences. Our goal is to provide enough of each option to meet student demand while minimizing unnecessary food waste.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we fine-tune the lunch program and learn students' meal preferences.
Beginning Monday, September 28, 2026, families will no longer place lunch orders in advance. The District will order meals for each school, and any student who wants a school lunch will receive one, every day, whether or not anything was submitted ahead of time.
School meals remain free for every student under California Universal Meals. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to pay.
TL;DR
Why are we changing the initial plan of using the Ordo app?
The numbers tell an exciting story!
With this significant increase, we have learned that managing individual pre-orders for this many students requires considerably more staff time and administrative support than our current Child Nutrition program is structured to provide. Our previous lunch provider offered as many as seven different meal choices each day, making advance ordering important for meal planning and preparation. Ordo's program is much simpler, with two primary menu choices offered each day, allowing students to easily make their selection when they come through the lunch line. We will continue to plan carefully for our growing participation and, of course, will continue to accommodate students with documented food allergies and dietary needs.
What changes for you
The lunch order form goes away. You will not need to submit selections for the coming weeks, and there is no deadline to remember. Menus will continue to be posted on the District website as well as in school weeklies so you and your child can see what is being served. Students will choose between a meat entree and a vegetarian entree at the serving line.
At Neil Cummins and The Cove, to get a school lunch, your child will pick up a laminated lunch ID card from a rack at school or, in kindergarten through second grade, from their classroom teacher, and hand it to nutrition services staff at the beginning of the lunch line. If your child has documented dietary accommodations, a meal option will be available to them every day.
At Hall Middle, students will continue to go through the cafeteria line and give their name at the point of service station. Students will also have the option to choose either a meat entree or a vegetarian entree. Students with documented dietary accommodations will have a meal option set aside and available to them each day.
What we need from you
Until now, the lunch order and the classroom ticket told your child, and the adults with them, that a school lunch was waiting for them. Without them, that cue now comes from home. This matters most for our youngest students, who often do not remember what is in their backpack by the time lunch arrives.
In kindergarten through second grade, the classroom will have a laminated lunch ID card for each student who wants a school lunch. Students take their card to the serving line and the cards come back to the classroom afterward, so a child who is unsure still has a way to get a meal.
Please talk with your child each morning about whether they have a lunch from home or will be picking up a school lunch, and give them a way to remember the answer. Here are a few ideas that may help:
A note in the backpack. A small card or note your child can check, or that a teacher can check with them.
Label snacks as snacks. If you send snacks along with a school lunch day, marking them clearly keeps a child from mistaking a snack for their lunch.
Keep a routine. If your child packs on the same days each week, they learn the pattern quickly.
Tell the teacher if plans change. A quick note on a day that is different from the usual is enough.
What will not change
No student is turned away from a school lunch. A student who brought food from home and still wants a school meal may take one. A student who is not sure whether they packed should go ahead and get a school lunch. We would far rather have a child have a meal in front of them than go without while the question is sorted out.
Allergies and dietary needs
We will share the food allergies and dietary needs already in your child's Aeries student record with our meal vendor and lunch staff. If your child's information is missing or has changed, please contact Lara Dillon, Child Nutrition Services Technician, LDillon@lcmschools.org so we can update it.
Questions
Please reach out to Lara Dillon, Child Nutrition Services Technician, LDillon@lcmschools.org with any questions about the meal program. We appreciate your partnership as we make this change, and we expect the first few weeks to take some getting used to for all of us.
Warmly,
Meg
Dr. Megan Atkins
District Business Official
Larkspur-Corte Madera School District
Beginning in School Year (SY) 2022–23, California will become the first state to implement a statewide Universal Free Meals Program for all school children. Commencing in SY 2022–23, Education Code (EC) 49501.5 requires public school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools serving students in grades TK–12 to provide two meals free of charge (breakfast and lunch) during each school day to students requesting a meal, regardless of their free or reduced-price meal eligibility.
You can find more information on the California Department of Education website using this link, California Universal Meals
No.
Meals are offered every school day which students are required to attend school.
Meals are NOT offered over Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, Presidents’ Week Break, and Spring Break.
Information about locations that serve Summer Meals will be provided at the end of each school year.
Lara Dillon, Child Nutrition Technician. Her email is ldillon@lcmschool.org