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Any expenditure on such refreshments and/or meals must be approved in advance by the Superintendent and fall within budgetary appropriations. Meal and/or refreshment requests may be approved when:

• Officers and/or employees of the District will be prevented from taking time off for food consumption due to a pressing need to complete the business at hand;

• The District is faced with business of an immediate nature and meetings of District employees and/or officers are essential at meal time;

• The District wishes to recognize the services provided by volunteers. In such cases, however, only the meals of those being recognized may be paid for, and the cost of the meals must be reasonable.

• Staff members are participating in day long professional development or orientation sessions overlapping meal periods.

In addition to the above, the reasonable cost of refreshments may be approved when the District recognizes (1) the service of retirees, employee service recognition and tenure conferral; (2) recognition of community partners and senior citizens; (3) or other major school or District honors and accomplishments.

All requests for food, refreshments and/or meal expenditures submitted for approval must include: the purpose of the meeting, the meeting date and time, the group in attendance, the number of people in attendance, and why attendees required food and refreshments to conduct school business.

The actual expenditures for food, refreshments and/or meals must be appropriately documented with itemized receipts and submitted to the Business Office for purposes of pre-payment audit. Costs shall be reasonable and prudent.

Ref: NY Constitution, Art. VIII, §1 (constitutional prohibition against gifts)

Education Law §2118

Ops. St. Compt. 77-667; 79-522; 82-66; 82-213 82-298; 83-57; 98-2

Adoption date: March 20, 2006

Amended date: December 15, 2008

Amended date: October 21, 2019

Amended date: November 7, 2022