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Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) has been extended through Summer 2023. Local Education Agencies (LEAs) operating the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) will be required to upload student eligibility data to the P-EBT Portal by June 30!
P-EBT Uploads
Student eligibility data must be uploaded to the P-EBT portal prior to leaving for the summer. Important details:
- Your school or district should have designated a P-EBT contact person last month.
- The P-EBT Support team sent user access emails with credentials, links, and instructions on Friday, June 2. If your contact did not receive this information, please reach out to the P-EBT Support Team.
- Student Eligibility data should be pulled prior to any end of year changes made based on transfers or graduations at the end of SY 2022–23.
- Example: Students who graduate at the end of SY 2022–23 should still be included in your upload.
Please add WA.PEBT.Support@accenture.com to your safe senders list to ensure you can receive important information about P-EBT uploads.
Please direct families to the P-EBT website or to the P-EBT call center at 1-833-518-0282.
Child Nutrition Services (CNS) recently released Bulletin 033-23: Additional Supply Chain Assistance (SCA) Funding for Child Nutrition Programs. This bulletin details the distribution of a third round of SCA funds for Local Education Agencies (LEA) operating the National School Lunch Program. Funds are scheduled to be distributed through the Washington Integrated Nutrition System (WINS) September 2023.
Let Us Know If You’d Like SCA Funds
SCA funds are intended to support LEAs who continue to experience supply chain disruption and financial difficulties related to the operations of the School Meal Programs. LEAs must let us know if they would like to receive these funds by completing a brief survey.
Please complete the SCA Funds survey by July 31, 2023
This survey includes your response to one of the following options:
- Yes, we want to receive SCA funding.
- No, we do not want to receive SCA funding.
Please note that USDA recently announced a fourth round of SCA funds for SY 2023–24. We will share details at a later date.
Questions? Please email Wendy Barkley, Director of Child Nutrition Services Operations and Administration.
Monitoring Your FSMC Contract – Required Training
Local Education Agencies contracting with a Food Service Management Company (FSMC) must have a district representative attend a mandatory training on monitoring the FSMC contract at the School Meal Programs Annual Training in Ellensburg on either August 9 or 10.
This training will identify responsibilities and roles in the USDA Child Nutrition Programs when contracting with a FSMC as outlined in regulations. We will utilize group discussions to exchange ideas and consider frequent findings from administrative and procurement reviews so you can leave with an action plan to ensure that your district remains in control of quality and nutritious meals!
Register for SY 2023–24 Annual Training by August 2
Resources
Questions? Please contact the School Meal Team inbox.
The Washington state legislature passed House Bill (HB) 1238 during the 2023 legislative session. House Bill 1238 requires LEAs to provide meals at no cost to students enrolled at elementary schools where 40% or more of enrolled children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. This requirement begins SY 2023–24 and is based off October 2022 data. Elementary schools are defined as schools consisting of any of the K-4 grade levels.
State Funding will Supplement Federal Funds for Paid Meals
Qualifying elementary schools that are not operating Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2 for both breakfast and lunch must continue to collect free and reduced-price meal applications. Impacted schools must also claim meals according to a student’s approved eligibility status. With the passage of HB 1238 Washington state supplements paid meals at qualifying schools, providing reimbursement to bring it up to the federal free rate.
All meals served at elementary schools with a free and reduced-price percentage greater than or equal to 40% will be reimbursed at a rate equal to the USDA free rate beginning in SY 2023–24.
2023–24 HB 1238 Eligible Schools Report
OSPI is currently developing resources and drafting a bulletin to assist program operators with the implementation of HB 1238. LEAs impacted by this legislation will also be notified via email and resources will be posted as soon as they become available.
Questions? Please contact your School Meal Programs Specialist.
The Western Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) extended the automatic eligibility of participants in Washington State’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) for a one-year period.
Institutions that feed and claim children enrolled in ECEAP are not required to collect income applications. Children enrolled in ECEAP are automatically eligible for free meal benefits without further application or eligibility determination.
B030-23 Waiver of Eligibility for Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program
The waiver covers children participating in child care centers that claim meals under the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and children participating in child care centers that claim meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP).
All Child Nutrition bulletins can be located on OSPI's Bulletins and Memos webpage.
The Family Income Survey obtains poverty data when meal applications are not distributed.
Updated Form Available
OSPI has been working on the Family Income Survey to make the form more consistent with other documents. The updated form is now available in English for school year 2023–24! We are working to translate the documents into additional languages including Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
Translated materials will be posted on the CEP and Title 1, Part A webpage once they are finalized.
Who’s required to distribute the Family Income Survey?
Local Education Agencies (LEAs) participating in Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2 for both NSLP and SBP must distribute the Family Income Survey to students who attend a CEP or Provision 2 School. REMINDER: You do not need to collect Family Income Surveys from students that are Directly Certified, as you already have their information!
Why is it important to distribute?
When free and reduced-price meal applications are not collected, the Family Income Survey is used to collect important income data. This data helps determine and maintain funding levels for significant state funding programs, mainly the Learning Assistance Program (LAP).
Are there any resources that can help me with the Family Income Survey?
Yes! Below are some resources that you can use to help get surveys returned and processed.
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Sample Letter to Households templates are available to modify and use with the Family Income Survey. These letters explain to families why returning the survey is important.
- A Best Practices and Instructions document for collecting and promoting the survey is available. It contains information about the importance of the Survey and ways to increase return rates.
- We also have a helpful Timeline Resource, which identifies the important tasks and milestones around distributing, collecting, and processing the Family Income Survey.
- It's More Than the Family Income Survey toolkit: Resources emails and robocall text, an editable flyer and social media graphic, as well as social media posts! These resources are located on the CEP and Provision 2 webpage, under the Family Income Survey - Tools, Letter Templates, and Promotion Best Practices dropdown.
Important Reminder
The school food service account cannot be used to cover expenses related to printing, distributing, processing, or coding Family Income Surveys. Food service staff may be helpful in establishing a process in the district as they have experience processing meal applications. Should food service staff take on this task, staff time and expenses must be coded to an account other than food service.
Questions? Please contact your School Meal Programs Specialist.
School Meal Programs Annual Training will be held August 9–10 at Central Washington University in
Ellensburg, WA.
New Format!
Thanks to your feedback requesting an in-depth look into school meal program requirements, we revamped our annual training format! The set up for this year is intended to dive into key topic areas and will provide hands-on activity time, break-out activities, and sharing of best practices!
Who Should Attend Annual Training?
This training is meant to enhance your knowledge about the School Meal Programs and allow time for you to connect to other School Meal Program operators around the state. Training is free to attend; however, participants must pay for meals, parking, and any overnight stays.
Registration Information
Use the Registering for Events with Multiple Sessions Information Sheet for an overview of how to register for trainings with multiple breakout sessions.
- Each participant must register for the event using their own pdEnroller account.
- While there is an option to register more than one attendee with one account, you will not be able to register each person for different sessions. Due to this issue, we recommend each participant to register with their own account.
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Create your free pdEnroller account if you do not have one already.
- Please limit attendance to 3 people per organization to ensure all who are interested in attending may have the opportunity.
- Registrants will receive a confirmation email with their selected sessions. Keep this email for your records!
Register for the SY 2023–24 School Meal Programs Annual Training by August 2!
Best Practice: Review the Annual Training Schedule to review session descriptions and class times before registering! Participants may receive up to 8 Professional Standards Credits per day.
Available Workshops
OSPI Child Nutrition Services is hosting annual training as multiple workshops to provide an opportunity to explore School Meal Program operations and hot topics in depth. Our schedule is designed to allow participants that register for both dates to maximize Professional Standard Credits.
- Basics of Operating the School Meal Programs | 8hr
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IMPORTANT: Participants must register for Part 1 and Part 2 on the same day to attend this session.
- Culturally Inclusive Menu Planning | 4hr
- Marketing & Promoting Your School Meal Programs | 4hr
- Monitoring Your FSMC Contract | 4hr
- Procurement & Farm to School | 4hr
- Scratch Cooking | 4hr
- USDA Foods* | 4hr
- Child & Adult Care Food Program Oversight* | 4hr
*These sessions will only be offered once. If the session does not reach 25 registrants by July 1, 2023, it will be cancelled. Registrants will be notified by email if the session will not take place and will be able to sign up for a different session.
Questions? Please email the School Meals Team inbox.
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The Washington School Nutrition Association (WSNA) is statewide nonprofit association of child nutrition food service professionals with the goal of providing nutritious meals for children while placing a strong emphasis on continuing education for professionals.
Join OSPI Child Nutrition Services at WSNA's Annual Summer Conference!
We will be presenting sessions on the Community Eligibility Provision, Breakfast After the Bell, Special Dietary Needs, and more! But that's not the only reason to attend—You can kick of the year by having fun with your fellow School Meal Program officials, all while receiving Professional Standards Credits!
Location: Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center
Dates: Monday, July 24–Wednesday, July 26
Cost: Early Bird Rates available until June 30!
Manager/ Employee—$165 | Directors/ Supervisors/ Chef—$200 | Non-Members—$400
Pre-Conference Activities on Sunday, July 23
Registration deadline: June 30
View the WSNA Summer Conference webpage for an overview of the event and registration information.
Cherries are available in Washington from early June through August.
Did You Know? Washington is the top sweet cherry producer in the country and second in the world. The majority of Washington’s cherries are grown east of the Cascades.
There are two main types of cherries grown in Washington, sweet and tart. Rainiers are yellow cherries with a red blush. Bing cherries are dark red sweet cherries that ripen mid-season. Tart cherries have a ruby red color and a distinctive sweet-sour taste.
Nutrition Information
- Cherries contain vitamin C, beta-carotene, polyphenols, potassium, manganese, and copper.
- Cherries have anthocyanins which are high in antioxidants.
- Cherries are a source of melatonin.
Selection and Storage
- Select firm, plump, bright, and glossy cherries; avoiding cherries that are soft, dull, seeping, or shriveled.
- Cherries are highly perishable, so refrigerate them as soon as possible for up to 10 days.
- Place cherries loosely in a shallow container so that air can circulate.
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The Farm Culinary 101 workshop is an intensive farm to table immersion for food service professionals. During the week-long program participants will observe goats being milked, make cheese, help care for farm animals, transplant vegetables, harvest produce from the gardens, visit neighboring organic farms, and hear presentations about market gardening. Students will work with a chef to prepare lunch and dinner using only ingredients from the garden and products from local farms.
Workshop dates are August 23–28 and September 10–13.
Quillisacut has limited scholarships available. Visit the Quillisascut Farm Culinary 101 webpage for more information.
Make plans to be in office!
September orders open Wednesday, July 26, and will close Wednesday, August 2, at 4 pm PT.
Surplus orders will open Thursday, August 3, at 1 pm for groups 1 and 2; 1:30 pm for group 3; and 2 pm for group 4.
Surplus closes Friday, August 4, at 4 pm.
For more information on your group number, please review the Order and Delivery Schedule 2023–24
Ordering
- To place an order - log-in to CNP Web.
- Your Food Distribution Application must be completed (including certified and submitted) before you can place an order.
- Ordering Instructions
- Reminder: Minimum of 20 cases per warehouse (dry vs frozen).
The Ordering and Receiving webpage has multiple resources to assist you in placing your order including; instructions and the order and distribution schedule.
Important Reminders
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Confirmation of USDA Foods If you’re scheduled to receive a USDA Foods Delivery, you should receive an appointment confirmation from the carrier. Please remember to reply to the carrier confirming receipt of appointment.
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Deliveries
- To update or change your delivery contact person, please complete the Delivery Updates Form.
- Standard USDA food deliveries are wrapped and stacked on pallets no higher than approximately five feet and left at your loading dock for you to remove.
- Carriers will drop pallets at the dock or just inside the threshold of your facility if the entrance can accommodate. Any request for removal of product from the pallet or asking the driver to enter the facility will require additional cost and must be arranged in advance.
- If there are delivery discrepancies or damages, you may return those cases with the driver.
Questions? Please email the Food Distribution Office or call 360-725-6204.
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Fill out the SY 2022–23 Carryover form between June 1–16!
Sponsors who use diversions can request carryover of this year's processor pounds by submitting the Carryover Request Form. Sponsors will have the entire 2023–24 school year to utilize awarded carryover pounds.
Carryover is not automatic; requests must be submitted if you would like to use pounds next year.
Note: The link to the form will be posted to the CNPweb Message Board on June 1, 2023.
Questions? Please email Sarah Davis, FDP Administrative Program Specialist.
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OSPI Child Nutrition Services is in the process of finalizing a new warehouse and shipping contract for school year 2023–24. In this updated contract, we will continue working with the same warehouses and transportation companies, though we are noticing several external factors that may increase rates for the year.
We are in the process of finalizing prices and seeking required USDA approval and will provide additional details as soon as possible.
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