Thanks to those who participated in National School Breakfast Week!
A recap of some of the fun National School Breakfast Week celebrations around the state were provided in our March Kitchen Counter Conversations. If you missed it, as always, prior webinar recordings are posted on our website for viewing: UPDATES | North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (nd.gov).
NDDPI will host the quarterly “Across the Desk” training on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 from 2-3 p.m. CDT.
Join us for the April edition of Across the Desk. Across the Desk provides an update on the administrative side of USDA meal programs. We have a lot of topics to discuss in April. These include end of the year reminders and upcoming Summer Programs - SFSP and Summer EBT.
We have the federal income guidelines for next year but will need to wait for the end of the North Dakota legislative session to find out about the continuation of ND Extended Eligibilities. Direct Certification with Medicaid Update will also be on the agenda.
We want to make sure you know about other training and events for school nutrition staff. Come with your questions, and we can answer them for everyone.
April Edition, April 15, at 2 p.m. CDT
🍽️ Boost Your Kitchen's Potential: Webinar on Efficiency & Menu Strategies
Join us this April for an exclusive webinar look at to Kitchen Efficiencies, School Lunch Hero Day Plans, and some Menu Planning. This is your chance to elevate your culinary game and streamline your operations.
Why Attend?
✨ Maximize Efficiency: Learn how to optimize kitchen workflows, reduce waste, and improve productivity with industry-proven techniques.
🦸 Celebrate School Lunch Heroes: Get inspired with unique ideas and plans to honor your dedicated school cafeteria staff on School Lunch Hero Day in May. Discover creative ways to show appreciation and boost team morale.
💹 Menu Mastery: Dive into the latest trends and insights on menu items that drive both popularity and profitability. Find out which dishes are winning hearts and filling seats, and how to make your menu a crowd-pleaser.
Date & Time:
📅 Date: April 15, 2025
🕒 Time: 2 p.m. CDT
Don't miss out on this opportunity to enhance your kitchen operations and celebrate your team. Reserve your spot today and take the first step towards a more efficient and profitable future.
Happy April! Thanks to your efforts, the CNFD office successfully gathered student data through STARS and directly from districts to complete the streamlined SEBT certification process. As a result, over 40,000 students have been automatically certified and will receive the Summer EBT benefits automatically this summer!
For families who do need to apply, the Summer EBT portal will open soon.
Please watch for an email from our office asking you to help share Summer EBT information with your enrolled families. The CNFD office will send schools an email with targeted outreach materials, including email templates, robocall verbiage, and a one-pager to share on district websites and social media platforms or to post in areas of the school to which parents have access. We are asking schools to share this outreach information to help families understand when to apply and when not to apply for the program.
Schools are required to conduct Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) outreach before the end of the academic school year to ensure that families are informed of the availability and location of SFSP meals (either locally or nationally). Since 2025 SFSP sites are still being collected, more information on the Summer Meal Finder will be provided in our May newsletter.
In the meantime, if you are planning to operate the SFSP, USDA has some great communication tools, such as flyers, graphics, social media content and more to help promote the SFSP. These resources can be found HERE.
We are happy to provide, upon request, certificates for 10 years of service and for every 5-year interval after that. We also provide awards upon retirement at the request of the school district.
These are quality certificates of appreciation signed by our director, Lynelle Johnson and State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler.
If you would like years of service certificates for eligible school foodservice employees, please complete the Years of Service Request form and return it to our office either by e-mail vlsilva@nd.gov or fax (328-9566) no later than Friday, April 18, 2025. Please check your staff list now and submit your requests as soon as possible to ensure early delivery.
Certificates will be mailed out no later than Tuesday, April 22. Please check the certificates and immediately notify our office if there are any discrepancies. It is suggested that the certificates be presented to your foodservice personnel on School Lunch Hero Day, Friday, May 2, 2025, or during School Nutrition Employee Week, April 28-May 2, 2025.
Should you have questions about the Years of Service Awards, please call Victoria Silva at 701-328-2294 or toll-free at 1-888-338-3663.
School Lunch Hero Day is coming SOON!
May 2 is the designated date for School Lunch Hero Day, and it is time to start thinking about how you can make your nutrition staff feel appreciated after a long year of hard work planning, preparing and presenting meals for hungry students and staff. SNA has artwork, merchandise and marketing resources to get you started.
April Harvest of the Month
Soybeans are such an interesting food, with so many varieties. Whether it’s edamame, soybean oil, or even tofu, there are lots of ways to celebrate soybeans this month.
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April is here, and soon green grass will grow, and the sounds of spring will emerge. What a beautiful spring it will be.
Farm to School is often thought of as ending when the school year does, but there are so many opportunities to do Farm to School activities through the summer, too. If your district has a summer school program and participates in Summer Food Service, gardens, and more, there are ways to add even the smallest touch of the Farm to School program. If you are looking for ways to boost your Farm to School program throughout this summer, please reach out to me (amolson@nd.gov) I would be happy to assist you.
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Local Food for Schools and Child Care (LFSCC)
As many of you are already aware, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has officially terminated the second round of the Local Food for Schools and Child Care (LFSCC) program and its sibling Local Food Purchasing Assistance Program. Our office applied in late January but wasn’t officially awarded before the cancellation of the program funding was announced.
However, the Farm to School program will continue to build infrastructure and capacity. Our program will continue to connect your school districts with producers and work together to offer technical assistance in all areas of Farm to School: local food purchasing, educational activities, and gardening. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants for Fiscal Year 2025
USDA notified grant applicants that the Fiscal Year 2025 round of The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program is canceled, and the department will not review applications or award grants for 2025. Perhaps you applied for the Turnkey or Implementation Tracks? If your school district applied for this federal grant, please let Amanda Olson know. amolson@nd.gov
This grant does not affect the North Dakota Department of Agriculture Farm to School Equipment grant applications that were due March 31. Those are still valid and will be reviewed in April.
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Initial 8-hour Food Safety and Sanitation certification (ServSafe)
Date: Tuesday, June 3
Location: Pioneer Room of the State Capitol building in Bismarck
Cost: $225 (includes book, training & certification test)
*Note, for the free option, school nutrition professionals are always welcome to take the ‘Food Safety in Schools’ course online at the Institute of Child Nutrition.
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New Kitchen Manager 'Boot Camp'
Date: Wednesday, June 4, through Thursday June 5
Location: Pioneer Room of the State Capitol building in Bismarck
*Note, registration may become limited due to spacing. Priority admittance will be given to those with less than 5 years of experience in a lead role.
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2025 NDDPI Child Nutrition and Food Distribution Back to School Workshop:
This will be a full day of information about updates to the School Nutrition Program for the coming year. Changes for all menus regarding added sugar limits, updating the State 200 program to whatever the North Dakota legislative session mandates and the rollout of Infinite Campus for student data and how it will affect your POS are just a few of the many changes in the works for the program.
Fargo
Date: Tuesday, July 29
Location: Hilton Garden Inn, Fargo
Cost: $55 (includes breakfast snacks & lunch)
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Minot
Date: Thursday, July 31
Location: The Grand Oasis Hotel
Cost: $55 (includes breakfast snacks & lunch)
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Bismarck
Date: Monday August, 4
Location: The Bismarck Hotel
Cost: $55 (includes breakfast snacks & lunch)
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Other noteworthy trainings:
Team Up Procurement Training is coming Wednesday, Oct. 15, at the State Capitol building in Bismarck. This will be a day long training on best practices for school procurement with staff from the Urban School Food Alliance. This day will be valuable for every size school, so make plans to send at least one person! Registration will be out soon.
North Dakota School Nutrition Association annual conference: Thursday, Oct. 16, and Friday, Oct. 17, at the Bismarck Hotel and Conference Center (formerly the Ramkota) in Bismarck. Your association is trying a different date and style for the coming year. Check out the NDSNA website for more information with registration coming soon.
Team Nutrition Meal Pattern Modernization Culinary Trainings: Dates/locations TBD, however, the training sessions will occur during the 25-26 School Year. Stay tuned for more information.
Amanda Olson will feature a School and Child Care Garden webinar to focus on various topics including educational activities, planting and harvesting, food safety, and more.
Our first session will be Thursday, April 24, at 2:30 p.m. CDT. This session will be recorded if you cannot attend. Register HERE.
We look forward to the discussion about school and childcare gardens, and the start of Spring.
A Note about Professional Development provided by NDDPI-CNFD
Please be aware that we have received guidance from the Superintendent that AI transcription tools (‘AI bots’) are NOT permitted for use by external participants any longer. You will be reminded in the invitation to the meetings and again at the beginning of the meeting/training/presentation with the following:
“Please be advised that due to privacy concerns and potential legal implications, the use of external AI transcription tools is strictly prohibited in NDDPI business meetings. If you wish to record a meeting for transcription purposes, please submit your request to the meeting organizer.”
Please let us know if you have any questions!
Midwest Dairy has funding for schools to purchase nutrition equipment to improve the school meals access and participation.
Now open! Apply for a Fuel Up equipment grant
You’ve come to the right place to make healthy changes in your school! K-12 schools can now apply for a school nutrition equipment grant to help increase student participation in and access to nutritious school meals. To qualify, schools must participate in the National School Lunch Program. View the sample application for detailed information
North Dakota Soybean Council has funding for schools to help North Dakota schools incorporate more soy-based food items into menus.
Schools may apply for up to $500 in reimbursement for serving a soy food on their menu. Simply serve or taste test a soy food (such as edamame, tofu, soy nuts), then fill out this reimbursement form and email it to Shireen Alemadi by May 31, 2025!
Forecasting is one of the most critical responsibilities of a school food service director. Proper planning ensures that meals meet student demand, align with budget constraints, and maintain efficiency in ordering and preparation.
Each year, schools receiving USDA Foods are required to forecast their needs in the annual survey (which closed in early March). However, forecasting should extend beyond USDA Foods. It’s essential to work with your food distributor to plan for all the ingredients and supplies needed to run a successful operation. Just like schools, distributors must plan their ordering and receiving schedules, so sharing your forecast with them helps ensure product availability and smoother operations.
Why a Cycle Menu Makes Forecasting Easier
One of the most effective tools for forecasting is a cycle menu: a structured meal plan that repeats over a set period, typically four to six weeks.
Benefits of a Cycle Menu:
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Improves Accuracy: Helps predict food quantities needed across the school year, reducing waste and shortages.
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Simplifies Ordering: Establishes a consistent ordering pattern, making procurement more efficient.
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Eases Preparation: Allows kitchen staff to become familiar with recipes and streamline preparation processes.
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Enhances Consistency: Helps students, parents, and staff know what to expect, increasing meal participation.
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Supports Menu Flexibility: High-demand items (like hamburgers, chicken nuggets, tacos, and pizza) stay on the menu, while lower-demand or seasonal items can be adjusted as needed.
By building a predictable, well-balanced menu, schools can fine-tune offerings based on inventory, seasonal availability, and student feedback, ensuring a successful food service operation year after year.
Start forecasting now to set your program up for success next school year!
Analyzing meal participation can be an effective way to assess the strength of your meal program. Increasing meal participation at your school will also help support students' health and academic success. An easy calculation is to take the total number of meals claimed for a month and divide it by the total number of possible meals (number of enrolled students x days of meal service that month).
For example: If your school served 4,456 lunches over 20 days, and there are 302 total students at your school, the calculation would look like this:
4,456 / (302 x 20) = 0.738 73.8% of your students eat lunch at the school!
Meal participation ebbs and flows throughout the school year. Below is North Dakota's average participation in February for different school types and meals. How does your school compare?
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K-12
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K-5
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K-8
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6-8
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7-12
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9-12
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Breakfast
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32.8%
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34.6%
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51.5%
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20.8%
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29.1%
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22.5%
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Lunch
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78.3%
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80.6%
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83.2%
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75.5%
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67.4%
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51.8%
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Want to increase your school's participation?
Find some ideas HERE!
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