Thank you to everyone who has  been participating in our school lunch program! We are pleased with the amount of success the program has built in just a few months! For the most part, the program rolled out smoothly with only a few kinks to work out. As with any new program, we continue to make adjustments for improved efficiency and organization. We appreciate your patience as we develop a program that fits the needs of our community.  

When building this program, we took into account the wishes of our parents, who stressed the importance of both cost and convenience. We are glad we can provide same-day ordering in our lunch program; the numbers reflect that many families utilize it every day. Currently, we rely on students or parents to tell teachers each day whether or not the student will be receiving hot lunch. These counts are essential to keeping kitchen waste down and our food costs low. Due to miscommunication and human error, we struggle with getting an accurate count each day.  

In order to increase accuracy, we are implementing a new ordering policy.  Beginning on Monday, December 4th, all lunch orders must be placed online using our ordering website. Same day ordering will still be available, however all orders must be placed using the online ordering system and the deadline to place a same-day order will be 9am. Due to the restrictions of our software program, payments online can be made via credit card, debit card or a PayPal account; we can no longer accept cash or check. The O'Hara front office will no longer be able to accept hot lunch orders via phone or email. This change streamlines our process, eliminates miscommunication and decreases wasted food and cost.

We never want to see a child go hungry for lunch. Due to this change, we will be unable to offer a hot lunch to a student if the order hasn't been placed by the deadline of 9am. However, if a family has missed the order deadline and their child needs a lunch for the day, the kitchen staff will prepare a sunflower butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread for them and charge the meal at the current lunch rate of $3.95 for PreS-3rd / $4.95 for 4th-8th. The meal will include sides of fruit and/or veggies.

The ordering link can be found on the O'Hara website, and has also been conveniently placed on the O'Hara app. If assistance is needed in navigating either of the ordering avenues, please reach out to Tracy Whalen, our kitchen manager, at twhalen@oharaschool.org.

Thank you again for your support in building a healthy O'Hara community!