Weekly School Nutrition Newsletter

Indiana Department of Education sent this bulletin at 08/01/2019 09:16 AM EDT

08/01/2019

Dear Food Service Contact,

This email provides news for schools concerning the Child Nutrition Programs from the USDA and the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). 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.

PY 2020 Claims

Sponsors are currently unable to submit claims for July in PY2020.
The option to submit claims will remain closed until reimbursement rates are released from USDA.
An announcement will be sent via the weekly newsletter when the claims reopen.
Questions? Contact SCNFinance@doe.in.gov.

Upcoming Due Date: Annual Financial Report

The 2018-2019 Annual Financial Report (AFR) is due Sunday, September 1.
Access the report in Program Year 2019 in the CNPweb.
For AFR instructions and a worksheet, click here.
Questions? Contact SCN Finance at scnfinance@doe.in.gov.

Direct Certification Frequently Asked Questions

As a reminder, Direct Certification (DC) for SY 2020 has been accessible in the STN Application Center since Wednesday, July 9. The following are frequently asked questions pertaining to DC.
A student was found on a DC Match list on July 7, when I went to look him up in DC Look Up on July 29 he could no longer be found. What do I do?

The DC database was not up-to-date with eligibility information for SY 2020 until Wednesday, July 9. Any DC download or look up conducted before July 9 cannot be used to qualify students for free or reduced benefits. Instead households will either need to be found on any DC Match List or Look Up on or after July 9, or they must complete an application.

I conducted DC Look Up, and it states the student was determined eligible for SNAP beginning June 2019. Can I approve this student for free benefits for SY 2020?

As long as a DC Match download or DC Look Up was conducted on Wednesday, July 9, or later, any identified student is eligible for free or reduced DC benefits for SY 2020, even if the date of eligibility is listed as June.

I am seeing students on my match list with a case number that begins with 60. Are they still eligible for free or reduced benefits?

Yes, acceptable case numbers are now ten digits long starting with a 10 or 60.

If a household contains students who are SNAP (F) and Medicaid Reduced (R), what benefit should the students receive?

If the students are in the same household, all the students can receive the better benefit. All students within the example above could receive free meals. Make sure to document the information to explain why all students are receiving free meals.

I ran my Direct Certification Match, but I do not see the report with the list of names and statuses after I hit Download Standard Matches. The system took me back to the main screen/dashboard. Why?

Your pop up blocker stopped the file from appearing. If you go back to the main screen/dashboard, click on the yellow square called File Manager and click on the first file that you downloaded. If you have duplicate matches around the same time (because you clicked download multiple times in a row), find the first file that you matched. The system does indicate the time and date under Timestamp.

If a Medicaid Reduced Direct Certified student submits an income application and changes to free status, is that student still considered Direct Certified?

No, this eligibility is now approved due to an income application, so the household is no longer considered DC. This also means the application is eligible to be pulled for Verification.

We notified a household that they were eligible for free meals through Direct Certification and they adamantly indicated that no one in the household receives SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, or were considered Foster. What should I tell them?

First, double check that you identified the correct student in the database. Check birth date, address, last four digits of SSN, etc. to validate that this is the correct student. If it is, then there is a chance that fraud is taking place. Provide the household with FSSA’s Fraud Hotline to report the issue.

For additional DC help, check out the Direct Certification Fact Sheet and Direct Certification Frequently Asked Questions resources on the Free and Reduced Fact Sheets webpage.
Having a technical question about DC? Contact Ed Roeger at eroeger@doe.in.gov. Have a policy question about DC? Contact Allie Caito-Sipe at acaito@doe.in.gov.

New Offer Versus Serve (OVS) Posters from USDA

USDA has released OVS Lunch Posters for elementary, middle, and high schools.
These can be used as signage to instruct students how to select a reimbursable meal with OVS.
OVS tip sheets are intended for use by school foodservice staff to enhance their understanding of OVS requirements at breakfast and lunch.
Click here to access the updated Offer versus Serve resources.

ISNA/IDOE Certificate Program Course

The next set of courses offered as part of the ISNA/IDOE Certificate Course will occur on Friday, October 11 at The Willows on Westfield.
Courses will be on USDA Foods and Procurement: Beyond the Basics.
More information and registration will be available soon.
Questions? Contact Sheri Shipp at sheri@indianasna.org.

Save the Date! ISNA Annual Conference

ISNA's Annual Conference will be held in French Lick, IN, on Thursday, November 14 - Saturday, November 16.
New this year! Rather than several hours of education sessions, Saturday morning will include an interactive team building workshop to providing practical solutions that can be used in the workplace right away!
Registration information will be available soon.

Reminder! CNPweb Program Year (PY) 2020

PY 2020 is accessible, and sponsors should be completing their sponsor and site sheets in the CNPweb.
In order to begin claiming reimbursement for PY 2020, Sponsor and Site Information Sheets must be completed and approved.
Sponsors will have to submit offline forms to our office.
- All sponsors who process free and reduced applications will need to submit an updated Free and Reduced Price Policy Statement signed by the executive contact (i.e. superintendent, business official, treasurer). Scan and email the signed policy statement to Tyler Brewer at tbrewer2@doe.in.gov.
- All sponsors will need to submit a Permanent Agreement Addendum signed by the executive contact. Scan and email the signed addendum to Tyler Brewer at tbrewer2@doe.in.gov.
- All sponsors will need to submit an updated Procurement Plan. Check out the Procurement Resource website to find the procurement plan template and checklist. Submit your plan to Cindy Harris at charris@doe.in.gov.
- All sponsors charging for meals need to submit a PLE Tool completed with the current year’s pricing information. Submit the PLE Tool to SCNFinance@doe.in.gov.

To identify the documents that must be completed and submitted, view the Packet tab in the CNPweb after the Sponsor and Site Information Sheets have been completed. All items marked with an asterisk (*) indicate the forms that need to be submitted.

For more information on the Sponsor and Site Sheets, view the July 18 newsletter here.
Questions? Contact Ashley Heller at aheller@doe.in.gov.

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

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