Late in the Year Textbook Assistance
- Even if a household applies for benefits near the end of the school year, if the application is approved for assistance, the students listed should receive free or reduced meals and textbooks at that time. Keep in mind, while meal benefits are not, textbook benefits are retroactive.
- When a household applies after the school year has ended, it is a local decision whether or not the application approval retroactively applies to past-due textbook fees. Schools should have a local policy in place.
- It is a local decision whether or not to allow households that declined the initial DC benefit and now wish to receive textbook benefits to receive the benefit. Schools should have a local policy in place.
Civil Rights and Ethics Training Courses: Please Print Certificates from Moodle
Sponsors are required to take the civil rights and ethics training courses annually. Because of this annual training requirement, IDOE will conduct a reset of these courses for program year 2024 in Moodle. The reset will delete the past year’s learner history in these two courses. Please ensure certificates for the training have been saved for your corporation. Print or save the civil rights and ethics course certificates no later than Thursday, June 15. Certificates can be accessed through the Moodle account of the person who took the course.
Annual Training Hours Requirements
Each school nutrition employee must meet the annual requirement for professional training hours. Review the USDA Professional Standards Summary of Updates Flyer (English|Spanish) for more information. Additionally, check out Team Nutrition’s other professional standards resources, such as recorded webinars available with Spanish captions and the Professional Standards Training Database, which includes training available in English and Spanish.
USDA Best Practices for Contracting with Food Service Management Companies (FSMC)
On Friday, April 21, USDA released SP 13-2023 - Best Practices for Contracting with Food Service Management Companies (FSMC) guidance. This policy memo outlines best practices for FSMC contracts. The memo provides procurement guidance that spans the process prior to bid through canceling a contract.
Healthy Meals Incentives Grants for Small/Rural Schools: Due Friday, May 26
As part of a cooperative agreement to develop and implement the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, Action for Healthy Kids is offering competitive grants (up to $150,000) for small and/or rural schools to support efforts to improve the nutritional quality of their school meals. The deadline to submit a grant application is 5 p.m. ET, on Friday, May 26.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Schools must participate in the National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program
- Schools must meet the following definitions of small and/or rural:
School Year Second Issuance
Pandemic EBT (PEBT) distributions for reported COVID-19 absences for school-age students covering the second half of the school year (January through May) will be issued in the coming weeks. Due to the expiration of the Federal Public Health Emergency, which ended on Thursday, May 11, school days starting on and after Friday, May 12, are not eligible for PEBT benefits. Any updates or corrections to dates covered by the earlier distribution (July through December) will be included in the second distribution if additional data has been submitted in Data Exchange.
This distribution is only for reported COVID-19 related absences. Unlike the summer 2022 issuance for all students eligible for free or reduced price meals, the school year issuance only covers specific COVID-19 related absences for eligible students, with a benefit amount of $8.18 per day absent.
Benefits will be loaded onto existing PEBT cards. If a student has not received benefits in the past, new cards will be mailed and should arrive within one to two weeks of the issuance date. If a replacement PEBT card is needed, it must be requested from the PEBT website, not from the EBT customer service number on the back of EBT cards.
Additional information is available on FSSA's PEBT webpage.
Summer Issuance
There will be a “summer PEBT” issuance of $120 per eligible student issued this summer. Estimated timeframes for issuance are available on FSSA's PEBT webpage. Summer benefits will be issued to all students eligible for free or reduced meals at eligible National School Lunch Program-participating schools. For Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) schools, all students will receive this benefit. For non-CEP schools, it is very important to begin reviewing and confirming that free and reduced price lunch programs are correctly submitted for all eligible students in Data Exchange.
Student Program Associations records can be reviewed using the Operational Data Store Review function at the top of the Submission tab in the Data Exchange Validation portal by selecting StudentProgramAssociation in the dropdown and exporting. Additional information is available on FSSA’s PEBT webpage.
USDA Foods Surplus Still Available for Dilgard Warehouse Sponsors
If your school’s state-assigned warehouse is Dilgard, there is still some surplus available. Dilgard sponsors are welcome to take advantage of this opportunity.
USDA Foods Allocations Ended Sunday, April 30
USDA Foods allocations into schools’ inventories ended as of Sunday, April 30, with the exception of outstanding 100256 strawberry cups for Stanz Foodservice sponsors still owed this product. Unprecedented rain and cold weather on the west coast have greatly impacted the strawberry harvest and caused this delay.
Direct Delivered USDA Foods and Department of Defense (DoD) Funds Will Be Lost After Friday, June 30
Now is the time to remove USDA Foods from the state-assigned warehouses and processors, as well as spend USDA DoD Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program funds before Friday, June 30. USDA Foods are intended to be utilized during the school year allocated. IDOE will sweep all Direct Delivered (Brown Box) USDA Foods from school inventories as of Friday, June 30.
Final Notice: Supply Chain Assistance (SCA) Funds Rounds Two and Three
For those who applied, SCA funds for rounds two and three have been disbursed and should appear under the payments tab in CNPweb. The comments listed in the ACH deposit notification will be SC_R2 for the round two disbursement and SC_R3 for round three. The deposits should be within a few days of each other. Please remember all SCA Funds must be deposited into the School Foodservice Account (0800) and used specifically for the purchase of food as described in the Supply Chain Assistance Funds Q&A.
If you believe that you applied for SCA funds but have not received them, please email scnfinance@doe.in.gov by Friday, May 26, so we can research the issue. If we do not hear from you by then, we will start disbursing the remaining funds.
Receive an unexpected payment? View the Payments tab (next to the Claims tab), find the amount that was paid, and then click the arrow (>) to the far left under Batch Number. The description of the payment will identify what items are included in the payment amount. Additionally, if the payment is less than expected, the description will show deductions, such as USDA Foods storage fees.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact scnfinance@doe.in.gov and include SCA and your sponsor number in the subject line.
Summer Food Service Plans Must be Entered into CNPweb
Sponsors must enter their summer food service plans into CNPweb prior to the start of program operations. Please take time now to ensure applications are complete. If you are unsure about summer food service, contact your field specialist to discuss options.
School Food Service Employee of the Year
During a school assembly on Wednesday, May 10, Nadena Pardue, cafeteria manager at Waldron Elementary School of Shelby Eastern Schools received the 2023 School Food Service Employee of the Year award presented by IDOE. Pardue received a check for $200 from the American Dairy Association Indiana, Inc., as well as a plaque.
Lisa Speidel, Principal of Waldron Elementary School, nominated Pardue for the award. Speidel shared that Pardue knows all the students by name, has the best costumes for staff theme days, and organizes a school-wide cookout at the end of the year. Each year during Kindergarten Round-Up, Pardue prepares samples of a variety of school food items for new kindergarten students. Pardue also planned and successfully implemented a share table, leading to a reduction in food waste.
Nadena Pardue is pictured with Lisa Speidel, Principal of Waldron Elementary School, who nominated Pardue for the award.
This is the 26th year IDOE has provided formal recognition for school food service employees who contribute significantly to the health and learning capabilities of students. The award recognizes the outstanding achievements of school food service employees who excel in the areas of customer service, attitude, professionalism, and teamwork.
USDA Conducts Fourth Access, Participation, Eligibility, and Certification (APEC-IV) Study
USDA is in the process of contacting schools regarding the APEC-IV study. Those selected for the study will be asked to share information regarding households that apply for free and reduced price meals. Assistance with the request for information is appreciated. The study will help determine future rules and regulations and help shape current guidelines. The data collected by the study lets the federal government know how the Child Nutrition Programs are operating.
Upcoming Dates |
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Friday, May 26
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Final day to inquire about missing SCA funds
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Friday, May 26
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Healthy Meals Incentives Grant proposals due
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Tuesday, May 30
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March claim date
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Monday, June 5 through Friday, June 9
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Culinary Skills for A+ School Meals Workshop in Noblesville
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Monday, June 12 through Friday, June 16
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Culinary Skills for A+ School Meals Workshop in Franklin Township
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Thursday, June 15 through Friday, June 16
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Indiana School Nutrition Association’s School Nutrition and Industry Summit
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Thursday, June 15
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Deadline to download ethics and civil rights course certificates in Moodle
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This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
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