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On March 15, 2024, the Oregon Department of Education Child Nutrition Program (ODE CNP) requested a waiver from the USDA to provide non-congregate meal service at outdoor meal sites, on days when the area is experiencing excessive heat, for SFSP and SSO sponsors.
USDA under the authority granted in Section 12(l) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA) (42 U.S.C) 1760(l)), Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) waived the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SSO) congregate feeding requirement at certain ODE-approved SFSP and SSO sites effective May 1, 2024 through September 30, 2024 during periods of excessive heat.
Under this waiver, FNS allows ODE to approve SFSP and SSO sponsors, in good standing, to operate approved outdoor meal sites without temperature controlled alternative sites as non-congregate sites on days when the area is experiencing excessive heat. Non-congregate meal service may be offered only on days when the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Heat Advisory, an Excessive Heat Warning or an Excessive Heat Watch for an area in which an approved outdoor meal site is located. This waiver is not the same as the new rural non-congregate meal service, and it is not limited to rural areas. This waiver may only be applied to sites approved for outdoor congregate meal service that do not have temperature-controlled alternative sites; and allows these sites to operate as non-congregate sites on days when the area is experiencing excessive heat.
Eligible Sites:
Per 7 CFR 225.6(g)(1), State agencies must ensure that sponsors have made appropriate arrangements for food service during periods of inclement weather. For sites that may experience occasional excessive heat, this could include discontinuing the meal service due to safety concerns. This targeted waiver is intended to ensure continuity of the meal service at outdoor sites on days when excessive heat makes service of congregate meals impractical or dangerous.
The site requesting non-congregate meal service due to excessive heat must be a site that does not have a temperature controlled alternative site available for meal service. If the outdoor site does have a temperature controlled alternative site available, it must use the alternative location and is not eligible for non-congregate meal service.
Non-Congregate meal service shall be permitted only on days when the National Weather Services (NWS) has issued a Heat Advisory, an Excessive Heat Warning, or an Excessive Heat Watch in which an approved outdoor meal site is located. All sponsors claiming non-congregate meals for reimbursement due to excessive heat must receive prior approval from ODE CNP, and no retroactive approval will be given.
How to opt-in to this waiver for SFSP: The following steps must be completed prior to the use of the Excessive Heat Waiver:
- Due to limitations of CNPweb, please do not revise your site application, until your annual SFSP renewal is approved.
- Check to see if your approved sites are outdoor only without alternative indoor service locations (see CNPweb Site Information Sheet Lines 59 and 60) and is not requesting use of the rural non-congregate meal service (see CNPweb Site Information Sheet Lines 61-66). If yes, your site may be eligible for an Excessive Heat Waiver.
- If eligible, go into CNPweb and update all sites that would like to opt into the Excessive Heat Waiver by revising the following Lines:
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- Line 61: Check "Yes"
- Line 62: Check "No"
- Line 63: Check "Yes"
- Line 64: Check off the box for "Excessive heat"
- Note: There may be additional new lines that need to be completed due to CNPweb updates.
- Check the box at the bottom to Submit to the State for Approval and click submit. Your Site Information Sheet will change into Error status.
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Send an e-mail to your assigned Child Nutrition Specialist notifying them that you have requested an Excessive Heat Waiver for your sites. Your specialist will be able to review the non-congregate waiver request and enter in an approval date for the waiver.
How to opt-in to this waiver for SSO: The following steps must be completed prior to the use of the Excessive Heat Wavier:
- Submit a written request to participate in the Non-Congregate Feeding due to excessive heat in advance of the excessive heat event by emailing schoolnutrition@ode.oregon.gov.
Documenting Excessive Heat:
The Excessive Heat waiver only allows non-congregate meal service at a site during times of excessive heat. Sponsors who have been approved for the waiver must document periods of excessive heat when they use the waiver by collecting the following information:
- Print or save an electronic file of one of the following: National Weather Service Excessive Heat Advisory, Excessive Heat Warning, and/or Excessive Heat Watch for your region.
- Indicate on your Meal Count Sheets that all meals were served as non-congregate meals.
- When consolidating meal counts for the month, report non-congregate meal counts separately (see the "Meal Counts and Non-Congregate Sites" article below).
Meal service during Excessive Heat:
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Mealtime Waiver:
- Sponsors may request to waive meal service time requirements during times of excessing heat. To use the mealtime waiver, sponsors must:
- Submit a request in writing to the sponsors assigned Child Nutrition Specialist, requesting to serve meals at a different time than previously approved.
- Not change meal service times less than 24 hours in advance of the previously scheduled meal service time,
- Put up printed notice or poster at the site indicating the change in meal service times to attendees,
- Alert the community through appropriate channels (such as school or neighborhood listservs, social media postings)
- Comply with any additional requirement(s) requested by the State Agency
- The summer meal service requirements are intended to ensure that summer meal sites that change the time of their meal service provide adequate notice to the community to ensure there is no loss in program access.
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Parent Pick-Up Waiver:
- Parent pick up is allowed during non-congregate meal service due to excessive heat. Sponsors allowing parent pick-up must ensure that:
- Meals are only distributed to parents or guardians (including older siblings and grandparents) of eligible children.
- No family identified proxies pick up meals for other families.
- Duplicate meals are not distributed to any child.
Food safety measures must be taken to ensure food safety will include hot and cold holding boxes and HACCP procedures will be in place. The sponsor must comply with meal counting, claiming and sponsor monitoring and oversight requirements.
Submitting claims with non-congregate meals for SFSP:
Sponsors who serve non-congregate meals must report all non-congregate meals on their claims each month. In CNPweb, Sponsors who have been approved to operate non-congregate meals will see a separate section titled "Claim Report - NON-CONGREGATE ONLY" with Lines 7 through 11 to complete for each Site that has been approved to operate non-congregate meals.
If this section shows up in your Site Claim, make sure to fill out all lines (see image below). This is information that ODE CNP must report to USDA.
To facilitate filling out this section, consolidate your non-congregate meal counts separately and list out all non-congregate service dates.
Submitting claims with non-congregate meals for SSO:
Once the sponsor is approved to serve non-congregate meals for excessive heat, more information on submitting non-congregate meal counts and claims will be provided by ODE CNP.
If you have any questions on site eligibility or the application process, please contact your assigned Child Nutrition Specialist
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