The ability for parents to pre-pay for their child’s school meals and also be able to monitor their eating habits is just a few keystrokes away through the new MyNutrikids.com service in Pasadena ISD. 

With more statewide and national attention being focused on children’s health and wellness issues, Pasadena ISD Child Nutrition Department is now providing the secure online pre-payment service where parents may deposit money into their child’s meal account at any time. In addition, parents will have the ability to view and print their child’s eating history report over a 30-day period. 

“We are very excited about being able to offer this service,” said Mary Harryman, Pasadena ISD Director of Child Nutrition. “It allows parents a quick, convenient and secure option of funding their child’s lunch account. But even more importantly, it allows them to track what their child is eating – which is helpful to parents in promoting how important it is to eat healthy foods.” 

Parents may access these services by going to the district’s website at www.pasadenaisd.org, navigating to the Parents drop-down menu on the left side of the page and clicking on “Nutrikids Website.” Once parents reach MyNutrikids.com, they may set up their child’s account. Parents will need their child’s student identification number and school zip code. Payments may be made through an existing PayPal account or with a major debit or credit card. In order to use the service, a fee of $1.75 will be assessed for each deposit. In addition, if parents have more than one child in the district, they may handle all online prepayments from the same account. 

Harryman noted that using the new system is optional for parents and that their child may still pay for their meals in cash in the cafeteria line. 

Students registered in the Nutrikids system will still use their ID/PIN numbers for identification at the cash register when purchasing their meals. However, Laura Bush Elementary and San Jacinto Intermediate are piloting a biometric system (using points of the thumb) where students and staff place their thumb on a pad and their Nutrikids information will be recorded into the system.  

Assistant Director of Child Nutrition Susan Casey stresses to parents that the images of the fingerprints are not stored in any database at any time. “The biometric software stores the fingerprint as a calculated number, which makes the software extremely secure because it prevents anyone from having access to an image of your child’s fingerprint.” 

All of the schools will convert to the biometric system at the start of the 2008-2009 school year.  

“In our tests of the biometric system, we’ve seen that the transactions in the meal line are going more quickly and smoothly,” Harryman said. “We’ve found the lunch lines move along much faster, so the students have more time to eat and spend with their friends.”

If parents have questions about the new system, they may call Child Nutrition Services at 713-740-0146 or e-mail Harryman at mharryman@pasadenaisd.org.