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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released two policy memos.
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SP25, CACFP14, SFSP14-2020: Questions and Answers Relating to the Nationwide Waiver to Allow Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option Operations through December 2020.
- This memo reviews common questions for Child Nutrition Program operations in fall 2020.
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COVID-19: Child Nutrition Response #57 - Nationwide Waiver to Allow Reimbursement for Meals Served Prior to Notification of Approval and Provide Flexibility for Pre-Approval Visits in the Summer Food Service Program
- This waives the requirement that reimbursements shall not be paid for meals served at a site before the sponsor has received written notification that the site has been approved for participation in the program.
- This also waives the requirement that state agencies are required to conduct pre-approval visits of sponsors and sites to assess the applicant sponsor's or site's potential for successful program operations.
- This waiver is retroactive for approved SFSP sponsors for allowable meals served during the initial COVID-19 emergency response through Aug. 30, 2020, but that were served prior to their written approval to operate SFSP.
- Washington state will participate in this waiver.
Please review the full policy memos for more details.
Questions? Please contact your OSPI CNS Program Specialist.
Child nutrition sponsors with Food Service Management Companies (FSMC) and those with inter-district agreements are required to complete and submit a Financial Information Report (Form 1505) annually.
The financial information gathered in Form 1505 is used to complete the 1800 Report. The 1800 Report is a compilation of reports and statistics for public schools to evaluate the performance of their food service operations.
Form 1505 records the distribution of FSMC expenditures for school fiscal year ending August 31, 2020.
The report is due by December 31, 2020 and must be submitted to Jeff Booth.
Is Your District Planning to Operate SFSP This Fall?
With the option to operate the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) through December 2020, there are a few things you will want to make sure to do.
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Register for the SY20-21 Food Service Operations for NSLP and SFSP Sponsors Weekly Webinar - During this webinar we will discuss important updates.
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Continuing your SFSP Operation from this summer? Revise your 19-20 WINS Calendar(s) and notify your program specialist.
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Want to start operating SFSP for the fall? Contact your program specialist for next steps.
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October 1, 2020, marks a new program year. Renewal information will be released soon. In the meantime, please ensure to do the following:
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Complete required training. Please view last week's newsletter for details on which trainings to complete.
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COMING SOON! We will be releasing SY20-21 renewal information including the SFSP/ SSO Meal Distribution Plan and application checklists.
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Sign up for Weekly SFSP Newsletters. SFSP-related information is shared in this newsletter.
- If you are listed as the SFSP contact in WINS, you will automatically receive updates.
- If you are not listed in WINS - that's okay! All you’ll have to do it input your email at this link, then scroll down to the Child Nutrition dropdown and expand the list. At that point you’ll want to select the programs you’d like updates for.
Have Questions? Please contact your OSPI CNS Program Specialist.
Renewal Application Deadline Extended Until 10/31!
Last month, released a CNS Update detailing important information regarding NSLP renewal for SY20-21.
Important Reminders
- You must submit your WINS application AND Meal Distribution Plan for your renewal application to be considered complete. We recommend to utilize the MDP Sponsor Checklist to help you meet each step.
- Review the applicable bulletins and addendum released for detailed renewal information.
- Application due dates:
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Sponsors Who Contract Meals
Questions? Please contact your program specialist.
New USDA Guidance on At-Risk Meals
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released SP25, CACFP14, SFSP14-2020: Questions and Answers Relating to the Nationwide Waiver to Allow Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option Operations through December 2020.
Question #2 clarifies that Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) At- Risk programs may operate at the same time as SFSP programs.
- Children should not exceed the number of meals allowable for each program.
- At Risk programs should coordinate with Schools on what meals are served and when.
- At Risk meals can only be distributed after the school day has ended.
Eligibility for FY21
CACFP At-Risk sponsors meeting program requirements can establish eligibility at sites when it falls in the attendance area of a school that has at least 50% of their students eligible for Free and Reduced-Price meals using current October building data.
New this year, At Risk Programs may establish area eligibility by using building data from any of the past 12 months. If a month other than October is used, sponsors will need to upload documentation into the site application “documents” section. Documentation could include eligibility data provided by email correspondence or a documented conversation with the school district representative.
Reminders:
Sponsors interested in operating At Risk Afterschool Meals have important steps to take for this fall. Last week, we sent out important reminders regarding the operation of this program.
- Interested sponsors must complete the At Risk Pre-Qualification Survey. This survey will help interested organizations determine if they are eligible to participate in the CACFP At Risk program in the upcoming year.
- At Risk Meals Recorded Webinar: If you were unable to join OSPI CNS for the CACFP Operations During the COVID-19 Pandemic Weekly Call last Thursday, we discussed important information regarding At-Risk programs. View the recording here.
- Annual Training for Community At-Risk Sponsors: At Risk Afterschool Meals Program Sponsors must attend Annual Training specific to this program.
Due to some technical difficulties experienced last week by DSHS office staff, families may still apply for P-EBT benefits by phone.
Families that have not yet applied for the P-EBT benefits available for last spring’s school closure can call 877-501-2233 through Wednesday, September 16 at 3 pm to apply.
Families Incorrectly Denied - Submit to CNS by Sept. 25
Also, please remember to continue tracking the student information for any eligible families who contact your district that have applied for benefits but were incorrectly denied the benefits.
If a student was eligible for free or reduced-price meals sometime between last March and June and they were enrolled in a K-12 school where they had access to meals through the National School Lunch Program, they are eligible for P-EBT.
Continue to upload these lists of students with their name, birthdate, month they became eligible for free or reduced-price meals, and the date you added them to this list, to your WINS documents or using some other secure method and let us know at child.nutrition@k12.wa.us when you have done so.
By completing this, you will be ensuring students receive these important benefits.
Please email child.nutrition@k12.wa.us when you have updated student logs in WINS.
With the new USDA waiver release, we are transitioning our webinars to focus on schools and community organizations that will start the year with the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP).
Districts offering the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) are encouraged to join as well.
Register Here
Date: Wednesdays through November 4, 2020
Time: 2 - 3 pm PT
Please hold a space on your calendar on Wednesdays from 2 - 3 pm PT. Reminder emails with your link to log into the session are sent 1 hour before the session starts.
Weekly follow up emails with a copy of the slides are sent to everyone registered for the session, even if they did not attend. We will not be posting recordings to the CNS webpages due to rapidly changing information .
Please keep an eye out in your inbox for these emails, if you do not see them in your inbox please check your SPAM box.
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There are many different options when serving 3-5 year olds in the school district. But which program should you operate? What considerations are there?
New Resources Available!
We hope these help you when making decisions to serve children in your district settings.
Have Questions? Please contact your program specialist.
 This year is going to look different, but we can still celebrate National School Lunch Week (NSLW)! This year’s theme is Now Playing: School Lunch.
Why participate?
- Increase participation.
- Spread the message to parents that you’re serving healthy, delicious lunch at school.
- Earn media coverage from local papers, TV stations, and bloggers.
- Connect with teachers and administrators at your school or in your district to spread the word that school meals are healthy and delicious.
How to participate?
Share With Us!
We look forward to seeing your celebrations! Use #OSPIChildNutrition and #NSLW20 on all your social media posts and join the conversation!
Want to be featured in a CNS Highlight? Send pictures and stories of your NSLW celebrations to Samantha Brueske!
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) recently created a new marketing resource to help members promote school meals to families as students head back to school.
“Safe, Nutritious School Meals—Something You Can Count on for SY 2020-21” is a new sharable flyer that includes details and links to help reassure parents and the community that school meals continue to be a safe, nutritious choice to fuel student success during the 2020-2021 school year.
Share this flyer with stakeholders along with details on your program. Additional Tools from SNA:
Sharing your farm to school story is an important strategy for growing awareness and building support for the farm to school movement. Include farm to school messages in a variety of communications - social media, newsletter, website, blog, school meal menus, school mobile apps, etc. - so everyone in your community can learn about farm to school.
Resources
The Farm to School Month Webpage has tools to help you celebrate all month long! Check out the webpage for:
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#F2SMonth Celebration Toolkit
- Celebration ideas
- Social Media post examples
- Customizable newsletter article
- Media Pitches best practices
- Farm to School Month Fact Sheet
- Posters
- Logos to share on social media
- Postcards, stickers, coloring pages, and more!
Share With Us!
We look forward to seeing your celebrations! Use #OSPIChildNutrition and #F2SMonth or #farmtoschool on all your social media posts and join the conversation!
Want to be featured in a CNS Highlight? Send pictures and stories of your celebrations to Samantha Brueske!
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What’s in the Bag or Box from Washington?
Taste Washington Day is going to look a bit different this year! But it will still be a fun day to serve and highlight fresh, locally grown foods in your school meals, and promote your meal program to the community and encourage participation. On October 7, schools will celebrate farm to school and agriculture by distributing school meals with fresh, local ingredients, and help students learn about growing food and farming. Taste Washington Day 2020 will also recognize school nutrition heroes, school gardeners, teachers, and farmers for their important, frontline work keeping students fed during the pandemic.
The event theme this year is “What’s in the Bag or Box from Washington?” So feature that one Washington grown vegetable, fruit, milk, dairy, grain, protein or other ingredient going into your bagged and boxed meals! You can also do a “Washington Apple Crunch” at noon on Oct. 7 with teachers and students.
Sign up, read more, and find resources below:
Taste Washington Day is an annual event coordinated by WSDA Farm to School, OSPI Child Nutrition, and WSNA.
The ICN’s September STAR webinar will be done in conjunction with the USDA Office of Food Safety in celebration of National Food Safety month. The webinar will highlight a bird’s eye view of your food safety plan from beginning to end, as we aim to mitigate risks throughout the flow of food from purchasing to serving to transporting and traceability.
Register Here
Date: Thursday, September 17, 2020
Time: 12 - 1 pm PT
Learning Objectives
- Identify foodborne pathogens commonly associated with retail foodservice operations
- Describe three critical food safety practices used throughout the flow of food to mitigate foodborne disease
- Identify safe transporting methods and documentation procedures
- Apply recommended traceability systems necessary to conduct a product recall
- And explain answers to frequently asked questions from previous USDA Office of Food Safety webinars.
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September 15
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August Claims Due in WINS
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September 16
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SY20-21 Food Service Operations for NSLP and SFSP Sponsors Weekly Webinar - Register Here
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September 17
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Food Safety from Beginning to End Webinar | Register Here! 12 - 1pm PT
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September 29
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Last day to submit your July claims! 60-Day Claim Deadline
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October 31
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Public/ Private Schools Renewal Applications Due! Make sure to complete all the required steps!
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