Short Week Meal Pattern
Planned shortened school weeks must meet the short week meal pattern calculations. Be aware of these requirements for planned three and four day weeks. Please note that unexpected school closures such as snow days are not included in the short week calculation requirements. On days with a two hour delay, schools are encouraged, but not required, to serve breakfast.
US Foods Driver Strike
IDOE is aware of on-going issues with food deliveries due to the US Foods driver strike. Affected schools should use any inventory available to meet meal pattern requirements, even if that means pairing items that may not normally go together. During this period, alternate distributors and/or retailers may be used under emergency procurement allowances. In situations where the meal pattern cannot be met, please contact your field specialist so that missing components can be documented.
Coming in June: Farm to School Symposium
IDOE is hosting a Farm to School Symposium to discuss gardening, local procurement, and agriculture education. Teachers, food service staff, administrators, and other staff members are welcome to come plan your school’s Farm to School projects. Further details to come.
Direct Certification (DC) Possible Duplicates
The DC system in CNPweb has pushed through match lists that may display duplicate students. Review that the student’s eligibility status has not changed before disregarding the duplicate. Upcoming DC trainings are listed below.
Annual Pre-Order Survey
A special edition of the School Nutrition Programs newsletter was emailed to your Food Distribution Program contacts containing information about the 2024 Annual Forecast (Pre-Order) Survey. Contact Cheryl Moore with questions.
Single Bank Survey
A Single Bank survey was emailed to schools last week requesting feedback regarding this topic. IDOE would like as many schools to participate as possible. The deadline to complete the survey is Friday, January 12. Contact Cheryl Moore with any questions.
Holidays and E-Learning Day USDA Foods Orders
Please remember that it is mandatory to have school staff available to inspect, verify and accept all USDA Foods orders that are placed. This is especially important for orders placed during e-learning days, school breaks and holidays. State-assigned warehouses Dilgard Frozen Foods, McFarling Foods, Stanz Foodservice and Wabash Foods are contracted to deliver Direct Delivered (Brown Box) USDA Foods to schools between the hours of 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. local school time.
Direct Certification (DC) Refresher Trainings
Join IDOE for refresher trainings on the DC system. Those new to the process and those who didn’t join the presentations at the start of the year are encouraged to attend.
Over vs. Serve (OVS) Training
IDOE's OVS training will be a two-part series with a focus on each meal pattern and OVS for grades K-8 and 9-12. Join one or both depending on your needs.
Culinary Skills for A+ School Meals Virtual Training
Throughout 2024, join Cathy Powers and Chef Samantha Gasbarro as they provide free, interactive culinary education for all K-12 school nutrition professionals. Virtual training features live chef demonstrations of practical recipes, efficient techniques, and important nutritional insights. Each class earns one professional standard hour and includes great giveaways!
Register for the entire year of Culinary Skills for A+ School Meals virtual training opportunities here.
Chicken Recall
Wayne Farms, LLC, of Decatur, Alabama, recalled approximately 1,377 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken breast products that may be undercooked. This recall does not involve USDA Foods. USDA was recently informed that schools and childcare centers located across 23 states received recalled product. Recalled products bear establishment number “P-20214” on the case label and include:
- Nine-pound cardboard boxes containing 12 packs of 3 “CHEF’S LINE FIRE GRILLED CHICKEN BREAST” with lot codes of 3723289239002 and 3723289239003 with USE BY: 01/14/24 on the label.
Please check purchase records and inventory to determine whether you have recalled product, which may be in your facilities’ refrigerators or freezers. Per the recall notice, recalled product should not be served. They should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
Team Nutrition (TN) Grant Trainings Update
If you are a frontline staff member who has completed eight hours of TN grant training in Moodle, submit your information to the Training Completion Form. Once that has been received, an email will be sent from teamnutritionin@doe.in.gov with information about a form that needs to be completed in order to receive your monetary incentive. The Central Indiana Education Services Center (CIESC) will be distributing payments to individuals. Please note that it may take a month to receive the payment.
As a reminder, managers, directors, and assistant directors, should be taking the courses in the Director and Manager tile on Moodle. This will include 40 hours of training resulting in a $500 monetary incentive to the first 250 managers and 250 directors. Please keep in mind that all 40 hours of courses have not been released for managers and directors. This means that only frontline staff should be submitting the training completion form to IDOE at this time. We will continue to update you as new sections of courses are released.
Questions? Read through the FAQs and contact the TN Training Grant team with additional questions.
Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems (SCALES) Grant Opportunity
As part of the USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative (HMI), funding and learning support is now available for a cohort of up to 35 rural school food authorities (SFAs) across the nation. Project SCALES will work with SFAs over a two-year period to build partnerships for innovative solutions to increase local procurement in their school meal programs. The Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University will provide a subgrant of up to $150,000 for each SFA, with technical assistance including a learning community provided by the experts at LunchAssist. Eligible SFAs are those with a locale code of 41, 42, or 43, and that participate in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. SFAs that provide meals for charter schools and groups of non-profit private schools are also eligible to apply. Online applications are due at 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, January 26. For more information, please visit the Project SCALES website or contact Project SCALES with any questions.
Farm to School Office Hours
Brianna Goode, Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) Farm to School Coordinator, and Sophie Lindley, IDOE Farm to School Coordinator, will answer any questions you have about getting started, share specific details for existing programs, and support for initiatives that want to expand. Office hours are on the third Wednesday of the month from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. ET. Click here to join.
Upcoming Dates |
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Friday, January 12
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Single Bank Survey Due
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Wednesday, January 17, 1 to 2 p.m. ET
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DC Basics Refresher
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Thursday, January 18, 1 to 2 p.m. ET
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DC Processing Possible Matches Webinar
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Friday, January 19, 2 to 3 p.m. ET
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Super Sandwiches
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Wednesday, January 24, 10 to 11 a.m. ET
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OVS Grades K-8
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Thursday, January 25, 10 to 11 a.m. ET
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OVS Grades 9-12
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Thursday, January 25, 2 to 3 p.m. ET
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Breakfast Handhelds for Nutrition on the Go
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Friday, January 26, at 11:59 p.m. ET
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Project SCALES Grant Application Due
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Thursday, February 8, 2 to 3 p.m. ET
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Low Sugar, Low Fuss Breakfast
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This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
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