GROVE CITY - The Grove City School District will soon implement a computerized point of sale system throughout its schools, making cash and lunch tickets obsolete.

The Nutrikids Point of Sale system operates on individual student account numbers through a swipe card. It allows parents to put money into their child's lunch account by writing a check or adding cash.

Linda Hunter, food services manager for both the Grove City and Slippery Rock school districts, said the new system should make the cafeteria operate more efficiently by having prices already in the computer system, making it easier for cashiers and staff. The system will also enable the district to report types of meals to the state in a more accurate manner.

"Through the course of time, we should be able to go to a cashless system," Hunter said.

Another benefit, she said, is parents can view an itemized list of what their child is ordering for lunch. This will allow parents to have some control over what their children eat, Hunter said.

Nutrikids POS, created by LunchByte Systems, is used by more than 600 school districts nationwide.

The district will pay about $14,800 for the Nutrikids POS hardware and software. This cost covers the entire district.

The target date for installing the system is the end of April or beginning of May. Hunter said it should take a week to install the system throughout the district.