Rochester Memorial School's lunch payment system seems to be making the grade, according to Food Service Director Caitlin Meagher.

Nutrikids, which acts as a management tool to track the payments and the serving of school lunches, was launched this week in Rochester. The software stores identification numbers assigned to students, which are then given to the cashier when checking out during lunch time. Meagher said at Thursday night's school committee meeting. The software had already been implemented in Marion and Mattapoisett and also proved successful.

The benefits of the system, Meagher said, are found in the reports that can break down how much money was spent each day, which meals are the most popular and which students are eating the school’s lunches instead of bringing from home.  Having this data, she added, will factor in future budgets because the reports clearly separate the appropriate expenses from the more useless ones.

Parents, she said, can create an online account where they can pre-pay for their child’s lunches either online directly or by cash or checks made out to the school.

Committee member Tina Rood said from her own experience using the system as a parent, the online accounts are easily managed and overall, the program seems to be a great thing for the school.

For now the students have all been issued cards which have their identification numbers on them, however according to Meagher the school is already working on eliminating the cards.

“It was decided that they needed to remember their numbers in case they forget their card,” Meagher said.  “The first few days the lines were moving really slow but it has been getting better all week. The kids are really smart. They are remembering their numbers.”

In other business:

The committee approved a contract for the installation of a new playground at Rochester Memorial School. The funds for the project were raised by the Parent Teacher Organization.  The playground is set to be installed during Nov. 10 through Nov. 11.

On Nov. 10 the district will have its Professional Development Day for teachers to work with one another in determining their strengths and weaknesses. The training sessions had been scheduled for the start of the school year but had to be pushed back due to Hurricane Irene.