Happy School Lunch Hero Day on May 2!
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To Our Incredible School Nutrition Professionals,
As the school year winds down, we want to extend a heartfelt "THANK YOU" for everything you do. From early mornings and busy lunchlines to the thoughtful care you put into every tray, your work goes far beyond serving meals. You nourish students with kindness, encouragement, and consistency, creating a welcoming space that often becomes the best part of a child’s day.
You wear your hero capes as aprons, and your superpower is making a difference—one meal, one smile, and one connection at a time. Your impact reaches far beyond the kitchen, and we are deeply grateful.
Today—and every day—we celebrate YOU!
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All schools that operate the NSLP are required to notify families of the availability of Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sites before the end of the school year. It is a national program. Even if your school is not an SFSP site this year, you need to make sure your families know how to find the sites that are! |
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The Summer Meal Site Finder will be live on May 9, 2025. Please share the link with all your families. You can also add any of these USDA Summer Communication Resources to your newsletters, emails, social media, bulletin boards, or backpack communications home!
Want a quick newsletter article to send to parents? Check out Article 3, “SUN Meals,” here in English and here in Spanish.
Check out these USDA flyers in 5 languages in addition to English.
Arabic Chinese English Spanish Tagalog Vietnamese
Don’t forget to add the Summer Meal Site Finder link to your communications!
May Edition, May 20, at 2 p.m. CDT
🚨 Attention, Attention! 🚨
Join us in May for the final Kitchen Counter Conversation of the school year. We will dive into Common Administrative Review Findings and discuss actionable strategies to stay ahead!
✅ The most frequent administrative review findings.
✅ Proactive tips to steer clear of costly mistakes.
✅ Best practices to ensure your corrective actions hit the mark.
Whether you are always review ready or gearing up for your first review next school year, this session is your chance to learn from earlier mistakes and transform challenges into opportunities for success!
Together, let’s simplify compliance and achieve excellence! 🌟
Please coordinate with your authorized representative to complete the application and return it to the Child Nutrition office by June 2, 2025. All returning schools from SY 24-25 only need to complete pages 3 and 6 of the application. All other schools must complete the entire application.
If you have any questions, please contact Kellen Leier at knleier@nd.gov.
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Registration and payment are due by May 2 for the June 3 ServSafe class. This is the initial 8-hour training and Food Safety certification for new food service rirectors and kitchen managers (those listed in NDFoods as the Lead Food Service Worker). Deb Strand, ServSafe Instructor will present the training at the Capitol Building in Bismarck.
She provides the study materials before the class to give you time to prepare for the class and the exam. Find the registration page below:
Do you prefer to take this course at home with no cost? Take the course on the Institute of Child Nutrition. Enroll in ‘Food Safety in Schools’ here: https://theicn.docebosaas.com/learn/courses/21/FoodSafetyinSchools
Are you new or looking to sharpen your review readiness? Attend our Kitchen Manager Boot Camp in Bismarck, June 4–5.
✔ Free training
✔ Real-world examples
✔ Strong administrative reviews from past participants
🕐 Mark your calendar!
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 light breakfast & lunch)
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Minot
Date: Thursday, July 31
Location: The Grand Oasis Hotel
Cost: $55 (includes light breakfast & lunch)
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Bismarck
Date: Monday, Aug. 4
Location: The Bismarck Hotel
Cost: $55 (includes light breakfast & lunch)
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Harvest of the Month
Let's finish strong this May with beef! If you signed up for the ND Beef Commission Food Service kits before the April 18 deadline, we are excited to see how you celebrate. If you're open to having a guest, let Amanda Olson know as she would enjoy seeing how you prepare beef for Harvest of the Month.
Included below are some great recipes to try at home. A big thank you to the ND Beef Commission for supporting our schools with such engaging resources—we’re excited to see what’s in store for next year!
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Spring has SPRUNG! With the end of the school year approaching, excitement is in the air. A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone for their dedication and hard work throughout the year. Many wonderful visits took place, complete with some of the best lunches enjoyed. Some favorites and highlights from Amanda Olson's travels around the state are shared in the link below. There is so much to be excited about, and it's going to be fun to see what next year brings for North Dakota Farm to School!
If you are looking for ways to revamp, start, or continue Farm to School in your district this summer, please get in touch with Amanda Olson. She can help you connect with local growers if you would like to feature locally grown produce in your summer meals. Or if your district has a garden, please connect with her if you have any questions.
There are many ways to keep the Farm to School program going strong through the summer, especially if your district is participating in the Summer Food Service Program. If you want to chat more about Farm to Summer options, join Melissa Anderson and Amanda Olson at the SFSP Office Hour on May 1 from 3 to 4 p.m. (CDT).
Also, on Thursday, April 24, the first Session of the Farm to School and Child Care Garden webinar series was held. The slide deck and recording are available for anyone interested. You can catch us at the next sessions:
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Thursday, May 15: “Planting, Soil, and the Fruits of Your Labor”
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Thursday, June 12: “Food Safety from the Garden to the Plate”
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A special “Garden Wrap-Up” session will happen sometime in late August. Link coming soon.
*All sessions will be recorded, so if you’re unable to catch them live, they will be posted on our website under “Updates” tab. In addition, always reach out to Amanda Olson if you have questions on any of these topics.
Farm to School Events
The Regional Buffalo to School Conference is in Rapid City, SD, from June 22-24. This event will bring together school foodservice professionals, school administrators, buffalo producers, and anyone else with an interest in serving more buffalo in school meals for hands-on training and panel discussions with experts in the field. For more information on the agenda and registration, please visit the event webpage.
Summer is almost here! Are you emptying your freezers and storerooms before the long break? Or are you ordering more to prepare for summer school or for hosting a Summer Food Site? The end of the school year is also a perfect time to reflect on your meal service throughout the year and either create a cycle menu or adjust an existing cycle menu.
How can students’ food preferences impact your menu? If you know students’ favorite meals, you can keep them on the menu or add them to your cycle menu for next school year!
How do you know what foods your students like?
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Daily Meal Count tracking: Identify favorite meals based on student participation, the last column in your meal production records. If more students eat on campus or eat the school meal instead of a packed meal from home, this meal could be a favorite!
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Point-of-Sale (POS) Data Analysis: If you use a POS system, you can run meal count reports or other data to determine favorite meals. This is especially helpful if you have multiple schools or want to separate elementary and secondary students’ favorites.
Make plans for next year:
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Student Surveys and Polls: T-chart posters, tally votes, 3-2-1 or Yum/Yuck/Didn’t Try scales, Google forms, QR codes. There are so many ways to ask your students about the meals you are serving. If you ask, students are happy to tell you their preferences 😊
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Taste Tests and Sampling Events: Try a new item or recipe in small portions before preparing for your whole school. Are you tired of serving plain old green beans? Have a sampling event with different recipes or cooking preparations. Parmesan green beans, Asian marinade green beans, ‘pizza’ green beans with tomatoes, steamed, roasted, raw - the favorites go on the menu!
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Food Waste: Unfortunately, the trash can will tell us a lot about students’ food preferences. Have a staff member monitor the garbage for menu items to revamp or switch out. Students could even complete a tally vote when they clean their trays.
If you need more convincing on using a cycle menu, check out the Spring Edition of the CN Executive Magazine which provides great articles about cycle menus, cost savings, efficiencies, and more! CN Executive Update® Spring 2025 Digital Edition Digital
Happy menu planning!
As kitchens buzz with end-of-year activities: field trips, celebrations, and deep cleaning, now’s the time to get a head start on next school year. Save these key planning dates:
- First Orders and Deliveries: Determine order dates for commercial food, milk, bread, and supplies. Assign someone to receive and inventory items and submit invoices to the business office.
- Opening the Kitchen: Some schools ask custodial staff to deep clean walls, ceilings, and floors sometime during the summer so posters can be removed, equipment covered up, and ‘stuff’ moved around. Most schools want to get staff into the kitchens to organize, clean, and sanitize before the kids show up for the coming school year.
- Schedule a ‘Back to School’ training at your school: Host a pre-service training day to cover:
- Civil Rights training (required for all meal program staff)
- Food safety refreshers (handwashing, glove use, illness reporting)
- Annual cashier training (meal pattern & reimbursable meals)
- Need training resources? Visit our website or email us: dpicnfd@nd.gov
You can view the new Federal Income Guidelines for SY 2025-2026 [2025-00479.pdf]. We're still waiting on North Dakota's final decision regarding the State Free Program income limits. Full guidelines will be posted by May 12, 2025.
🔔 Reminder: Schools may not publish the Free Income Eligibility Guidelines directly—only the table with reduced eligibility levels.
There are no changes to the Application for School Meal Eligibility (other than the date at the top) for the coming school year. The updated application will be on our website.
If you are using an online application process, remember to insert your application website on the paper form.
Next Year’s Reimbursement Rates
Congress typically sets reimbursement rates and per-meal commodity values by mid-July (often around July 10). These rates are key for setting adult meal pricing:
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Non-Pricing Schools: Adult prices must equal at least the student free reimbursement + value of commodities.
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Pricing Schools: Adult prices must equal at least the highest student price + paid reimbursement + value of commodities.
We cannot help you set meal pricing until the reimbursement rates have been released, BUT your best information for setting meal pricing should be the school foodservice budget.
The following is a list of school districts and residential child care institutions that will be up for the Administrative Review in School Year 25-26.
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Belcourt Schools
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Lewis & Clark
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Shiloh
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Dakota Boys Ranch
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Mandaree
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South Prairie
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Divide County
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Mohall (MLS)
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St. Ann's School in Belcourt
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Drayton
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Munich
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St John's in Wahpeton
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Dunseith
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NE Human Services - Ruth Meiers
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St Josephs in Devils Lake
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Elgin/New Leipzig
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New Salem
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St Michael's in Grand Forks
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Fort Yates Public
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Pride Manchester House
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Standing Rock
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Glenburn
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Richland County #44
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Surrey
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Grand Forks Juvenile Det
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Roosevelt at Carson
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Warwick
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Holy Family
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Sawyer
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Westhope
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Home the Range
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Scranton
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Whiteshield
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Kulm
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Selfridge
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Wing
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Some may wonder what the fuss is about procurement. You may be thinking, “It takes a lot of time and effort to muster all the paperwork, contact vendors, and make a decision about purchasing food. And really, I am completely satisfied with the way my distributor works with the school.”
Stop the train of thought! Procurement procedures are mandatory if the school wants to continue receiving federal funding to support the school meal program. If the school doesn’t need federal help to continue feeding kids breakfast and lunch and does not want to do procurement, then it may think about the options for the school meal program.
In most cases, the school meal program would be a burden on the school's finances if federal funding is not received. This is why procurement must be done. The National School Lunch Program regulations at 7 CFR 210.21 and the rules of the federal Office of Management and Budget at 2 CFR 200.300 must be implemented for all purchases of goods and services using school food service funds.
The State Cooperative bid through the NDESC/Cooperative Purchasing Connection is available for a school district to fulfill the obligations of the food distributor procurement but remember all other goods and services need documented procurement as well.
Healthy School Recipes is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, May 6 from 1 to 2 p.m. CDT focused on adding more protein to school breakfasts. Chef Sam promises to include delicious, practical recipes for school menus. As we gear up for reducing added sugar in our menus, this should provide helpful ideas. Register here: Registration
SP 10-2025: Rescission of Guidance on Promoting Access to Voting through the Child Nutrition Program.
USDA Memo SP 10-2025 rescinds previous guidance (SP 07-2022) requiring programs to share voting-related resources. This requirement is no longer in effect.
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