School Nutrition Programs

This weekly newsletter from the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) is dedicated to providing education, training, and technical assistance opportunities to school nutrition professionals, helping to ensure seamless operations for those participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA's) Child Nutrition Programs. If you are the food service contact for your school or facility, please be certain that everyone on your team has access to this important information.

Tip of the Week

Civil Rights and Ethics Training Courses: Please Print Certificates from Moodle

Sponsors are required to take civil rights and ethics training courses annually. Because of this annual training requirement, IDOE will conduct a reset of these courses for program year (PY) 2025 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 Friday, June 28. Certificates can be accessed through the Moodle account of the person who took the course.

Important Updates

New Policies 

IDOE’s Office of School and Community Nutrition is releasing three new policies for Child Nutrition Program sponsors in the state of Indiana.

• Policy 2024-01 Reporting Fraud Requirements for CNP Participants and Policy 2024-02 Fiscal Actions and Fines provide additional information on requirements based on the Child Nutrition Program Integrity Final Rule.
• Policy 2024-03 Schools Claiming Meals and Snacks Under the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). This policy states that schools participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) must ensure that meals or snacks for the same participants are not claimed under multiple programs during the school day. Schools operating childcare centers or preschool programs can choose to serve meals and snacks during the school day under SBP/NSLP or CACFP.

Free and Reduced Application and Letter Templates

Template application and letters for meal benefits are not yet available for school year (SY) 2024-2025. IDOE is reviewing the template and will seek approval from the State Board of Accounts if changes are made. Monday, July 1, is the earliest that the application can be made available to households, and applications can be made available after Monday, July 1. It is recommended that schools wait until the first direct certification list is available in July to avoid the administrative burden of processing applications for those already approved.

Indirect Costs Seminar

IDOE’s Office of School Finance will be hosting an indirect cost training seminar on Thursday, June 13, at 10:30 a.m. ET. The seminar will go over the fiscal year (FY) 2025 indirect cost rate application process and refresh finance staff on usage of the Modified Total Direct Calculation (MTDC). Additionally, Andrea Hollin from the Office of School and Community Nutrition will present guidance regarding charging indirect costs to the nonprofit school food service account. Register here. Contact icr@doe.in.gov with any questions.

Indiana SUN Bucks

Card PIN Errors

IDOE is receiving reports from schools regarding the PIN issues SUN Bucks card users are experiencing. The help line is currently experiencing a high volume of calls. Please share the following tips with households to resolve basic issues before calling the help line:

• The selected PIN cannot be a common sequence of numbers (1234 or 9876), repeated numbers (1111 or 8888), contain two or more repeating numbers (i.e. 1288), or more than two sequential numbers (i.e. 1238). 
• The zip code must match the zip code where the card was sent.
• The date of birth must match the child on the card and must be in the format of mmddyyyy.
• The system times out quickly. If there is a delay putting in any of the required information, it may be a timing issue. Suggest they write out all the numbers in the order they will be requested. This includes the card number, zip code, date of birth (for the child on the card), and the PIN they would like to use.

If households continue to have issues, they can call the SUN Bucks helpline at 317-234-4528 to escalate the issue.

Farm to School

Think Ahead: Indiana Food Day 2024

IDOE has selected pumpkins as the Indiana Food Day 2024 item! Food Day is celebrated each year in October during Farm to School Month. More information is to come including recipes, activity ideas, and classroom lessons. If you are already working with a local farmer, start the conversations now to ask if they want to work with you on this fun initiative.

USDA Foods

Department of Defense (DoD) Fresh Orders and Receipting

The last DoD Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program produce orders for SY 2023-2024 must be placed and receipted in the Department of Defense Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Order Receipt System (FFAVORS) by Sunday, June 30, or before leaving for summer break. Schools must spend their FFAVORS funds by Sunday, June 30. Unused they will be lost and they do not carry over to the next school year. 

PY 2025 for USDA Foods

PY 2025 has been hidden until the school year opens in July 2024. IDOE will notify schools via this newsletter when it is available.

USDA Foods Warehouse Clear Out

We have reached the end of SY 2023-2024. It is imperative that school staff is available when your school places a USDA Foods order to ensure that school staff is available to inspect verify, and accept all orders to avoid a missed delivery charge. Schools have until their last available delivery period under the Orders tab in CNPweb to order any direct delivered USDA Foods remaining at the state assigned warehouse, Dilgard Frozen Foods, Stanz-Troyers Foods or Wabash Foods. All USDA Foods for Processing at the processors must be ordered via the distributors. Any USDA Foods for Processing remaining at the processors as of Sunday, June 30, will carry over to the 2024-2025 school year.

USDA Foods Recipes  Use your USDA frozen diced chicken and add some veggies for a variation of Chicken Alfredo with a Twist. This recipe can be made with USDA Foods and must be adjusted to meet serving sizes and meal patterns.

Training and Webinar Opportunities

Free and Reduced Training

The Introduction to the Free and Reduced Process webinar is on Thursday, June 20, at 2 p.m. ET. This training will discuss the basics and the “why” for free and reduced benefit certification and participants will gain a general understanding of how certification works. This is one part of the PY 2025 free and reduced webinar series. Register here.

Last Call: Introduction to School Nutrition (ISNL) Training

There are five spots available for the in-person ISNL training in Greenfield on Monday, June 24, through Friday, June 28. The training is free of charge to attend and the cost of travel and accommodations is an allowable expense from the non-profit food service account. Contact SCNtrainings@doe.in.gov if you are interested in attending this training session. The training is intended for those with three or fewer years of experience as a school food service director or assistant director. These openings are available on a first come, first serve basis. 

Back to School Training - Registration Closed

The back to school training is at capacity and the registration form has been disabled. Contact SCNTrainings@doe.in.gov to be added to the waitlist.

Upcoming Dates

Additional Resources

• School Nutrition Programs Calendar
• IDOE's Nutrition webpage
• CNPweb

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Department News

• 06/11/24 Updates to Indiana GPS Provide Educators and Families with Additional Tools to Improve Outcomes for Students
• 06/05/24 Indiana Leaders Continue Listening to Stakeholder Feedback to Improve the High School Experience