Meals will not be free for all students unless you are a CEP or Provision school.
Pricing
- USDA Target lunch price is $3.31.
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We cannot make you increase prices more than 10 cents per year
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You can increase prices as much as you want.
- Food prices are up 8.5% since last year.
- You can ask for a price increase exemption for having a positive balance in the food service account.
Meal Pattern
- Breakfast and lunch must have 80% of the grain items be whole grain rich (WGR) for SY 22/23 and 23/24. WGR means 50% of the grain weight is whole grains or the first ingredient is a whole grain.
- Chocolate 1% milk is allowed. Allowable milks: 1%, skim, chocolate skim, chocolate 1% for SY 22/23 and 23/24. Two different kinds of milk must be offered.
- Target 1 sodium is in effect for SY 2022/23 and SY 2023/24. This is not difficult to achieve.
FREE SCHOOL MEALS EXPIRING JUNE 2022.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 has enabled public schools across the nation to provide all students free meals since the COVID-19 pandemic first disrupted K-12 education in March of 2020. The free school meal benefits will expire after the last school day of the 2021-2022 school year.
What does this mean for families?
In the fall of 2022, meals will return to paid-for status. Families will need to pay full price for student meals or fill out an application to qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
Carry-Over:
At this time, we do not know if there will be any carry-over of the free eligibility to give families time to submit applications, or even free and reduced eligibility from 2021/2022 or previous years.
Free & Reduced-Price Information for SY 2022-2023: Income Application, Letter to Households, Income Guidelines, Notification Letters, Release of Information Form and Application Instructions can be found on our website at:
SNP Free & Reduced-Price Information | North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (nd.gov)
Free and reduced-price meal applications for the 2022-2023 school year cannot be completed or approved until after July 1, 2022.
On-line Application
Some districts have had a good response to on-line applications. Parents find it easy to fill out and submit. The Primero Edge on-line application link is printed at the top of the Income Application. Please delete the link if you are not interested in receiving applications on-line. Also, you must contact Scott Egge in our office if you would like to take advantage of the system so he can add your district to the drop down: Apply online: https://apply4schoolmeals.dpi.nd.gov
USDA recently released guidance that expands the use of the non-congregate and parent pick-up waiver for NSLP and SBP past June 30, 2022. However, USDA stresses the use of these waivers only in the event that meals cannot be served in a congregate setting. States are encouraged to apply if there is a need for meals to be served in a non-congregate setting due to increases in COVID numbers or if there is an increase in safety concerns for congregate feeding due to COVID 19. At this time, ND will not be applying for these waivers due to the low numbers of COVID cases in ND. If COVID numbers increase and there becomes a safety concern or health risk involved in congregate feeding, we will re-evaluate applying for these waivers.
The Summer Food Service Program will be up and running at many schools and non-profit sites this summer across North Dakota. SFA’s are encouraged to help families find summer meal sites in their area by including these meal site finder options in the last newsletter to parents before summer break.
The Meals for Kids Site Finder was developed by USDA Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) to help children, parents, and others quickly and easily find summer meal sites near them. The site finder, available for use at no charge, is a web-based application that also works on tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices without the need to download. Go to www.fns.usda.gov/meals4kids to find meal sites in your area or text 914-342-7744.
No Kid Hungry has also developed a resource for children, parents and others to find summer meal sites near them. Go to www.nokidhungry.org/find-free-meals and enter in your address to find free, healthy meals being served by organizations in your community. Families can also find meal sites near them by texting the work FOOD to 877-877. Data and message rates may apply.
Summer Food Service Program Sign Up
Eligible SFA’s can now sign up to participate in the Summer Food Service Program this summer and provide meals to kids when school is out. If the SFA participated last summer, a renewal link is available in the work queue in NDFoods. If the SFA is eligible but did not participate in the program last summer, please contact our office for assistance. Deadline to apply or renew for SFSP is at least two weeks prior to the start of program operations.
The Goal of the FFVP is to create healthier school environments by:
- Providing healthier food choices
- Expand the variety of fruits and vegetables children experience
- Increase children’s fruit and vegetable consumption
- Make a difference in children’s diets to impact their present and future health
This program is seen as an important catalyst for change in efforts to combat childhood obesity by helping children learn more healthful eating habits. The FFVP introduces school children to a variety of produce they otherwise might not have had the opportunity to sample.
Selected schools receive reimbursement for the cost of making free fresh fruits and vegetables available to students during the school day. These fresh fruits and vegetables must be provided at least twice a week separately from the lunch or breakfast meal during the official school day.
To fill out an application, you may download it HERE.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Scott Egge at segge@nd.gov.
New Kitchen Manager Training
Running a school nutrition program requires much more than cooking food. This class is designed to teach new kitchen managers the details for meeting meal pattern requirements with menus, collecting the documentation for claiming meals as reimbursable and the knowing the other general requirements of the federal school meal programs. Coursework will be covered in the morning. Individual help such as reviewing next year’s menus and making sure production records are filled out correctly will be available in the afternoon if anyone is interested. |
Date
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Location
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Time
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Cost
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Link to Eventbrite Registration
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Monday,
July 18
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Bismarck State Capitol
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Class: 1 PM to 5 PM
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Pioneer Room
(A map will be sent)
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Free
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https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-school-kitchen-manager-training-registration-329068501747
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Food Safety in Schools Sanitation Certification, In-person class from ICN
This is the INITIAL class. Those needing a 3 hour update can participate in Pre-conference at NDSNA, do the online A.B.C’s of Sanitation: NDDPI Kitchen Counter Conversations August - YouTube or wait for another opportunity in the fall.
All school kitchen managers are required to complete a Food safety and sanitation certification. Documentation of the certification is maintained in ND Foods. An update of at least 3 hours every 5 years is required to maintain the certification. At this time, the ND Dept of Health recognizes the ICN certification “Food Safety in Schools” as compliance for this requirement. |
Date
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Location
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Time
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Cost
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Link to Eventbrite Registration
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Tuesday, July 19
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Bismarck State Capitol
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Class: 8 AM to 5 PM
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Pioneer Room
(A map will be sent)
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Free; Lunch on your own
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https://www.eventbrite.com/e/food-safety-in-schools-8-hour-initial-sanitation-course-from-icn-registration-325826875957
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Link to Online Class: Food Safety in Schools, Free, Go at your own pace, in your own office, home or at the lake, maybe in your pajamas! - https://theicn.docebosaas.com/learn/course/external/view/elearning/21/FoodSafetyinSchools
Click “Enroll” in the blue banner on the top right, then “Register” on the bottom of the Sign in pop-up box. Create a username and password for your account. This account will save your certificate.
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NDDPI Child Nutrition and Food Distribution
Back to School Workshops 2022: REGISTRATION NOW AVAILABLE!
Register now for one of the NDDPI-Child Nutrition and Food Distribution workshops coming this summer. We will have Janelle Peterson as a speaker again. Each day will have the same content.
Fargo July 26; Hilton Garden Inn
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-fargo-july-26-btsw-0144-tickets-322657265567
Fargo July 27; Hilton Garden Inn
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-fargo-july-27-btsw-0144-tickets-322714336267
Bismarck August 2; Ramada Inn
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-bismarck-august-2-btsw-0145-tickets-322719591987
Bismarck August 3; Ramada Inn
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-bismarck-august-3-btsw-0145-tickets-322727355207
Minot August 4; The Grand International Inn
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-minot-august-4-btsw-0146-tickets-322730865707
A block of rooms is reserved at each hotel.
Please plan to attend one of the workshop dates.
Due to increasing food prices, the registration fee will be $70.
SAVE THE DATE & REGISTER NOW!
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June 7-9, 2022
Hilton Garden Inn Fargo 701-499-6000.
Room block until May 7 at $114
4351 17th Ave S., Fargo, ND 58103
To register and find more information, please visit the NDSNA Website: Conference (northdakotasna.com)
To view the schedule of events, click HERE!
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School Lunch Hero Day is THIS FRIDAY, May 6th, 2022 – a day to recognize YOU, the School Lunch Professionals. We are thankful and proud to have over 1,300 School Nutrition Professionals in the State of North Dakota. We would like to share our appreciation for you all.
You all are superheroes to the students that you serve each day. You have overcome countless challenges with supply chain disruptions, short staffing, meal pattern adherence, and changes, just to name a few. In our eyes, your cape is your APRON!
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Please share with us what you are doing to celebrate School Lunch Hero Day this year! You can email us at dpicnfd@nd.gov or post on the Facebook page “North Dakota Kitchen Nutritional Staff”.
Kitchen Counter Conversations: Tuesday May 17th @ 2 PM CST
Topic: Top Ways to Get Ready for Next Year
Your Child Nutrition team has sat down to make a checklist of things that you could do NOW to get your school nutrition program(s) ready to go for the next school year. We had initially thought of the “Top 10 items” but there are a few more that can be added to a list to make more time for ramping up kitchen production in August. We hope that you may be able to add a few for the benefit of other North Dakota Food service directors, managers, and staff as well. You should have a nice little checklist by the end of the discussion.
Please join the Teams channel below – Tuesday, May 17th, 2 p.m. CST
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For any school district that is purchasing food with the school food service account and selling it outside of the lunch and breakfast meal, a nonprogram revenue comparison tool must be filled out annually. This often gets missed as we check for its completion during the Administrative Review.
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