OFFICIAL MEMO
TO: Students, Parents, Guardians
FROM: John French, Superintendent
DATE: February 6, 2025
SUBJECT: Policy Change on Student Account Balances
The Lewis County C-1 Board of Education voted to amend the district’s current policy regarding “Excessive Student Account Balances.” While the policy revision is in process and scheduled to be approved at the regularly scheduled board meeting on February 12, 2025, the implications of the changes will become effective on March 1, 2025.
Essentially, any student who has account balances with unpaid fees exceeding $50.00 in total will not be permitted to:
Participate in extracurricular activities, including but not limited to athletics;
Attend school-sponsored social events, including but not limited to dances; or
Participate in the graduation ceremony or other school-sponsored graduation activities.
Again, this policy goes into effect starting March 1, 2025. This means any student who owes over $50.00 in total for lunch accounts, lost books or uniforms, etc. will not be able to participate in athletics, school-sponsored activities or clubs, attend field trips, dances or competitions that are not directly tied to an enrolled class grade until the account is paid down to $0 due.
This memo is being sent to provide plenty of time for families to make payment arrangements. To aid in this, the board has once again authorized the administration to offer those who have lunch balances exceeding $20.00 in unpaid charges to submit a new application for free and reduced lunches. If a family qualifies for free or reduced status, the district will zero out the current amount due. If a family applies and does not qualify, a payment arrangement can be made with the district; however, the board specifically stated that in those cases the balance must still be $0 by March 1, 2025 for students to not lose the privileges listed above moving forward from that date.