David Card helps himself to a slice of pizza in the lunch line as Peter Loffredo waits his turn. Chariho Regional High School is one of several schools in the state using a new automated lunch payment system.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

RICHMOND — The Chariho Regional School District’s system for speeding up lunch lines hasn’t caught on as well as, say, Bosco cheese sticks, the warm bread with cheese oozing from the middle, but apparently the system has more fans than cucumber coins or tossed salad.

“It’s kind of slowing things down,” Eric Butler said yesterday from a table full of 10th graders who were asked what they thought of the new system.

The automated lunch payment system, in which students swipe their ID card or enter their student number using a keypad, has been operating in the high school for less than a week. “I think when we get used to it, it’ll go faster,” Butler said.

Colin Gilman said he thought the lines were already moving faster. “I like it.” Pressed for a reason, he said: “because it’s like, they always say that Chariho has nothing new.”

“It works when they do it right,” said Megan Noyes, 17.

With Aramark, the district’s food services contractor, picking up the $32,660 expense, Chariho is installing automated point-of-sale systems at the end of every lunch line, starting at the high school. The middle school gets the system next week, and elementary schools in the three member towns, Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton, will follow in January.

Each ID number causes the student’s photo to pop up on the cash register’s computer screen, along with the student’s prepaid balance. Parents can send cash or checks the old-fashioned way, through their children, who can deliver them to a locked box in the office. Deposits made by 9:30 a.m. will be credited to the student’s account by lunchtime, which can come as early as 10:45. Eventually, parents will be able to deposit funds online.

“It’s interesting because they’re applying technology to the school experience,” said senior Michael Niemeyer, 17. “Ultimately, the goal is like, health.”

The computer knows each student’s allergies and any food restrictions imposed by parents. Once the cashier touches the screen to tally the student’s choices, the total is deducted from the student’s balance. If a student qualifies for free or reduced-cost meals, the computer keeps that to itself.

Privacy for students who can’t pay full price is a high priority, said Thomas Hoagland, Aramark’s general manager for food and nutrition services in Rhode Island.

Other districts that use the system are East Greenwich, Central Falls and Smithfield. North Providence has started with elementary schools, Hoagland said, and Lincoln with secondary schools. Next up will be Scituate, he said.

Another goal is to cut down on waste, Hoagland said. By monitoring food choices, cafeteria managers such as Lynne Rooney at Chariho can order more of what’s popular and less of what isn’t.

Improving nutrition is another goal. Aramark is working to reduce salt and fat in student diets, eliminate artificial sweeteners, add whole grains, use 100 percent fruit juice with no added sugar, and keep the fat content of milk (which comes in chocolate, strawberry and coffee flavors) at 1 percent or less.

Some food choices had to be removed, Rooney said. Others, such as pizza crust, pasta and the loaf-like Bosco, were offered with whole grains.

David Haley, a senior, sided with those who see the lines going faster, but he wanted to register a complaint. “All the food’s wheat,” he said.

And sophomore David Card had a suggestion. “They need to update the photos,” he said. “They’re from seventh grade.” Classmates got a big kick out of seeing pictures from before anybody had hit puberty.

“They all laughed,” David said.

dnaylor@projo.com