Tamaqua Area School District has agreed to switch to a different company for online payments to its students' food service accounts.

On a 6-0 vote Tuesday, the board approved the school cafeteria agreement with Cybersoft Technologies Inc. of Houston, Texas. Directors Thomas Rottet, Daniel Schoener and Mark Rother were absent.In a related matter, the board also adopted a policy for the district's point-of-sale system.After the meeting, Superintendent Raymond Kinder said, "The point-of-sale policy change was mainly to address a change in the return check fee."The agreement with the software company was relative to the synchronization of our new numeric input system and our online parent accounts," Kinder said. "This should all take place soon."Kinder previously said the district is merely changing to a different company, and that as was the case before, parents will be able to replenish their child's accounts using an online system.He said when the district changed its cafeteria system from a scan system to a numeric system, the two pieces of software were not compatible, and said this will now allow parents to see an accurate reflection of their child's account balance.Kinder said that the district planned to change the system to a numeric code for students, in which they will get a four- to six-digit number, and after their food is rung up, they will enter in their code.He said the change will result in a more effective way for the district to get through its current cafeteria issues.Kinder said there were consistency and reliability issues with the scanning, and that a numeric code is more reliable.The Primero system will cost the district about $8,400, he said.Kinder said breakfast and lunch costs will remain the same for the 2016-17 school year.