Weekly School Nutrition Newsletter

Indiana Department of Education sent this bulletin at 03/14/2019 08:48 AM EDT

03/14/2019

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.

School Food Service Program (SFSP) Outreach

  • All schools participating in USDA School Nutrition Programs must meet the regulatory requirement of providing annual notification to all households regarding the availability of summer meals.
  • Whether a local school corporation participates in USDA summer meal programs through the Summer Food Service Program, Seamless Summer, regular school meals through the National School Lunch Program, or doesn’t participate in any formal summer meal service, the obligation to inform households where to find meals is required.
  • Annual notification can be through website announcement, email, flyer, or robocall, but all documentation showing this annual requirement is met must be retained with your school nutrition program records.
  • Questions? Interested in participating in summer meals? Contact Tina Skinner at tskinner@doe.in.gov or your Field Specialist.

USDA Foods for SFSP

  • If you have been contacted regarding the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), the deadline to complete the request for SFSP USDA Foods is Friday, April 12.
  • This is not to be confused with the deadline for the SFSP applications, which are due Tuesday, April 30.
  • Questions about SFSP USDA Foods? Contact Cheryl Moore at cmoore@doe.in.gov .
  • Questions about SFSP? Contact Tina Skinner at tskinner@doe.in.gov.

Extending the School Year

  • Sponsors extending their school year due to weather, should update their months of operation and the dates of program operations on their CNPweb site sheet(s).
  • If adding 10 or less days into the next month, there are two options:
    • Roll these days into the previous month's claim.
      • For example, if operating until June 7, include the five days of operation in the May claim.
      • In this case, update the dates of program operations "end date," (#36 on the site application) but leave the months of operations checked the same. 
    • File a separate claim for this additional month of operation.
      • In this case, update the dates of program operations "end date," and the months of operations checked. Please note that this claim will not open until July and will still have the normal 60 day deadline. 
  • Questions? Contact Ashley Heller at aheller@doe.in.gov.

Finance and Free and Reduced Reminders

  • The following are common concerns and findings during the Administrative Review process:
    • For household income applications, when all income is reported in the same frequency, it must NOT be converted to annual income.
      • For instance, if a household reports only monthly income on the application, then the free/reduced application processor should review the monthly column of the income guidelines.
    • Some Point of Service (POS) systems, when receiving DC uploads, are coding DC-Medicaid Reduced as DC- Free by mistake. Please make sure to review how applications are being coded.
    • Directly certified students (when eligibility is based on DC and nothing else) should not be included in the verification sample pool or verified for cause.
    • Bad debt from unpaid meal counts cannot be “waived” or “written off,” non-Federal sources of funds must be used to pay back the school foodservice account.
      • For an example bad debt policy, click here.
    • School corporations cannot charge foodservice for indirect costs without an approved rate from IDOE School Finance.
      • The Office of School Finance is accepting FY 2020 Indirect Cost Rate applications through Sunday, March 31.
      • Questions? Contact IDOE's Office of Finance here.
    • SFAs need to work on separating revenue from reimbursable meals from revenue from a la carte and adult meals (aka non-program foods). This also needs to be taken into account when calculating food costs.
  • Questions about the free and reduced process? Contact Allie Caito-Sipe at acaito@doe.in.gov. Questions about finance? Contact the finance team at SCNFinance@doe.in.gov. 

Time to Milk It! Grant Opportunity

  • Want to win a smoothie bike for your school? Thanks to Fuel Up to Play 60, 10 schools across the country will be awarded a Fender Blender Bike.  
  • Entering your school is easy...
    • Select any Healthy Eating Play in the Playbook to make milk the star of your school.
    • Then, log in to the Six Steps and check out the Eat Healthy Step - that's where you'll add your Healthy Eating Play to be entered for a chance to win a Smoothie Bike and a Time to Milk It! Kit!
    • For all the details for the "Milk It!" contest, click here.
  • Applications are due Friday, April 12. 
  • Questions? Contact Josh Leitman at Leitman@WinnersDrinkMilk.com.

Indiana School Nutrition Association (ISNA) Award Nominations

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 Ashley Heller at aheller@doe.in.gov, call (317) 232-0544, or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20544.