District food‑service report: fewer meals, larger negative lunch balances this October

Sodexo presented October 2025 food‑service data to the North Platte Public Schools Board on Nov. 10, reporting declines in meals served and an increase in negative student lunch balances.

Stephanie McConnell, Sodexo’s presenter, said breakfast service fell from 36,746 meals in October 2024 to 34,063 in October 2025 (a difference of 2,683 meals), and lunch service fell from 51,029 to 49,535. She attributed part of the variance to October 2024 having one more serving day and to travel for sports and activities.

McConnell reported federal reimbursements were essentially stable year over year (figures given as roughly $82,078 vs. $81,861 for a particular program reference, and $168,525.59 vs. $168,005 on another comparison). The district’s food‑service produced a smaller excess this October ($19,310) compared with $28,262.64 the previous October.

Board members pressed for causes of the rise in negative lunch balances. McConnell said the district is showing a higher negative balance this October (reported as $7,344) compared with last October’s $461 and suggested a likely driver is families failing to reapply or complete free/reduced applications after the automatic grace period. She described outreach and community donations around the holidays as one mitigation strategy and said the district prioritizes paying off high school negative balances first because those students risk exclusion from activities (for example, ticket purchases) if balances remain unpaid.

McConnell also described the district’s summer grab‑and‑go meal program (May–July) and gave totals for those months: June served 11,119 meals and July served 17,360 meals across breakfast and lunch during the summer program.

Next steps: The board asked administration to continue monitoring negative balances, encourage application completion, and report back on any community-donation or district-policy responses.