Weekly School Nutrition Newsletter

Indiana Department of Education sent this bulletin at 11/15/2018 08:31 AM EST

11/15/2018

Dear Food Service Contact,

This email provides news for schools concerning the Child Nutrition Programs from USDA and the state. If you are the food service contact for your school or corporation, it is your responsibility to relay important information provided to you about the Child Nutrition Programs to other staff members.

**Reminder** 2018 National School Lunch Equipment Grant

The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) has been awarded a new Equipment Grant for 2018.
The maximum individual grant will be $30,000.
Equipment should promote the goals of encouraging the consumption of healthy meals, the approved meal pattern, safely storing and preparing food, and energy efficiency.
Applications will be accepted until THIS Friday, November 16. Award recipients will be announced Friday, February 1, 2019.
Schools that have submitted grants in the past, but have not been awarded funds, should consider reapplying.
To access the financial webpage, click here.
- Click here for more information.
- Click here for the equipment grant template.
- Click here for the equipment grant application.
Questions? Contact Joe Olivadoti at JOlivadoti1@doe.in.gov.

Verification Summary Report Reminders

Sponsors will be able to access the Verification Summary Report once their Annual Financial Report and October claim have been approved.
Locate the Verification Summary Report in the CNPweb, under the Claims/AFR tab in Program Year 2019.
The report is due Saturday, December 15, 2018.

Section 1

This is automatically generated based on the October claim for reimbursement.
If the enrollment number is incorrect, then you will need to revise the eligibility information in your October claim.

Section 2

Only Sponsors that implement CEP or another provision will see Section 2. Contact Allie Caito-Sipe (acaito@doe.in.gov) if you need help completing Section 2.

Section 3

Sponsors report their Direct Certification (DC) Results in this section as of October 31.
Report DC students qualifying because of Food Stamps (SNAP) in 3-2.
Report DC students qualifying because of TANF, Medicaid M (Free), Foster, Homeless, Runaway, or Migrant status in 3-3.
Report DC students qualifying because of a letter from the Food Stamp Agency in 3-4.
Report DC students qualifying for Medicaid R (Reduced) in 3-5.

Section 4

Sponsors report their approved application information in this section.
Any student or household found on Direct Certification before October 1 will not be recorded in this section.
Keep in mind the first column (column A) is where sponsors report the total number of household applications on file on October 1.
The second column (column B) is where sponsors report the total number of students on the household applications on file on October 31.

Section 5

Sponsors report their results of verification here.
Schools that pulled their applications for verification from the pile of Error Prone applications (within $100 monthly ($1,200 annually) above or below the free eligibility limit or $100 monthly ($1,200 annually) below the reduced eligibility limit), will select 1. Standard (Error Prone) in 5-3. Then they must enter the total number of error prone applications on file in 5-4.
Schools that randomly pulled their applications for verification from their entire stack of free and reduced applications will select 2. Random - Alternate one in 5-3 and enter N/A in 5-4.
Direct Verification is the process of looking up the application pulled for verification in the STN Database (the same website Direct Certification takes place). If the system could verify the application for the eligibility it was approved for (i.e. approved for free and then verified for free), then verification is considered complete and the household did not need to be contacted.

If the sponsor was able to verify applications through this method, then 5-6 should be skipped and 5-7 should be completed.
If the sponsor could not verify applications through this method, then check box 5-6 and skip 5-7.

5-8 is where sponsors report all of the applications verified the normal way - by contacting the household and requesting documentation.

Do not report any applications that were considered Direct Verified and already reported in 5-7.

Section 6

Sponsors are allowed to verify any suspicious applications at any time during the year. This is called Verification for Cause.
Any application verified for cause by November 15 will be reported in 6-1.
Additionally, sponsors must report the results of any application verified for cause in 5-7 (if these applications were Direct Verified) or 5-8 (if the applications were verified by requesting household documentation).

Final Notes

In-depth instructions, a sample worksheet, PowerPoint, and fact sheets are available on this page.
Questions about the Verification Summary Report? Contact your Field Specialist or Allie Caito-Sipe at acaito@doe.in.gov or 317-232-0849.

Field Staff Update

Congratulations to Rebecca Dooley and her sweet baby boy, Burke, born on November 8th.
Rebecca will be off on maternity leave for the next several weeks. All school nutrition programs who have Rebecca assigned as their field specialist should contact Marcia Yurczyk at myurczyk@doe.in.gov or at 317-232-0852 for any questions or issues needing technical assistance while she is out.

Department of Defense (DoD) Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program

The USDA DoD Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program commitment request form is now available.
- This is an optional program that is not managed by IDOE.
- However, the entitlement funds that are committed to the program are handled by IDOE and forwarded to the USDA.
The entitlement dollar amount that you wish to commit will be deducted from your pre-order survey money before the survey opens.
- This amount will be listed under the entitlement tab in the green puzzle piece as a “SpecXXXXXX” allocation code.
Please click here to complete the form and make your commitment request.
- This form is due December 31.
For more information on USDA DoD Fresh, please visit the Food Distribution website at https://www.doe.in.gov/nutrition/food-distribution-program.
Questions? Contact Cheryl Moore at cmoore@doe.in.gov.

Missed a Weekly School Nutrition Newsletter? Click here to access previous newsletters!

Please do not reply directly to this email. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this email, please contact Allie Caito-Sipe at acaito@doe.in.gov, call (317) 232-0849, or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20849. You can also contact Sarah Kenworthy at skenworthy@doe.in.gov, call (317) 232-0857, or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20857.

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