School Nutrition Newsletter
November 18, 2020
New Information
Claim Payments
- Due to the new USDA waivers, there will be a slight delay in NSLP/SSO claim payments.
- Questions about claims? Contact SCNfinance@doe.in.gov.
Guidance for Developing an Emergency Food Service Plan
- With the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic, school food service should have a written emergency plan in place.
- Administrators, school food service directors, and kitchen managers should have a copy of the plan and the name and contact information of their field specialist.
- Guidance on developing an emergency plan for food service is available here.
Rules and Regulations to Remember!
Under current COVID-19 waivers allowing non-congregate feeding and no meal time restrictions, when providing multiple meals at one time, sponsors may provide bulk items as long as individual meals are easily identifiable as reimbursable meals. When implementing such a delivery mechanism sponsors:
- Must include the required food components in the proper minimum amounts for each reimbursable meal being claimed;
- Need to ensure that food items are clearly identifiable as making up reimbursable meals;
- Are strongly encouraged to provide menus with directions indicating which items are to be used for each meal and the correct portion sizes;
- Should consider whether households have access to refrigeration, stoves, microwaves, etc., when providing food that requires refrigeration or further preparation, such as reheating; and
- Should ensure that only minimal preparation is required and that food is not provided as ingredients for recipes that require chopping, mixing, baking, etc.
- Knowing that children need access to good nutrition (especially during this pandemic), and knowing that our schools (through Child Nutrition Programs) set the standard for nutrient variety, we feel it is important that milk is served with all meals.
- OVS by declining milk only is not a precedence we want to set as it seems to say milk is not as important as any other food.
- True OVS allows students to decline any component they do not intend to eat, not singling out any one component which could potentially undervalue the importance of that component.
- In situations where there are prepackaged meals, sponsors may allow students to decline one item under OVS (i.e. milk).
- Please keep in mind that this flexibility should not be used to address food safety issues (i.e. transporting milk).
- If a sponsor is choosing to implement OVS for milk only, they must still offer milk to students who want it.
- Check out the OVS Manual for more details on OVS.
Questions? Contact your Field Specialist.
COVID-19 School Updates
- As school year 2020-2021 moves forward, schools are needing to transition back to virtual learning due to increased COVID outbreaks which might require food service to transition to more grab'n go and meal pick up for families.
- Need advice or help with food service transitions? Reach out to your local health department and field specialist for help.
- Check out the Guidance for School Year 2020-2021 website for SOPs such as meal pick up, food and employee fact sheets and webinars, door to door consent forms, and more!
- Check out the Team Nutrition website for COVID-19 resources.
November Direct Certification Updates
- Direct Certification (DC) is still required for schools that are implementing the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) or Summer Food Service Program (SFSP).
- New Direct Certification matches for November are now available (based on household assistance received in October).
- At the moment, new matches will ONLY show up in the "Year to Date" match download (and not in the "Current Month Only" match report). To identify the new matches on the Year to Date match report, sort the column titled CertDate from Newest to Oldest and identify any new matches with the date of 11/10/2020 at the top of the spreadsheet.
- Don't forget to continue to conduct DC Lookup with every newly transferred student and perform DC Lookup with every categorical application.
- In addition to the Standard Match List, ensure the No County, Extended, and Unmatched Case Sibling Matches are being downloaded.
- Questions about DC? Use the DC/DV Help Form and check out DC website for helpful resources.
Resources for Families
- With more schools going back to virtual instruction, families may be in need of food assistance and other resources.
- FSSA provides a map that is designed to help families find available food resources near them. Click here to access the Food Assistance Availability Map.
- Purdue created a fact sheet series about when your income drops and/or changes. Click here to access the resource.
- Feeding Indiana has an online resource that helps families find food banks that are in their area. Click here to access this resource.
NEW! CDC Toolkit Promotes School Meals
- Schools and strategic partners can use this toolkit to let parents know that school meals are available for all children and to encourage their participation in school meal programs.
- This toolkit provides sample text that you can tailor for your school, specific audience, social media channels, and community. This toolkit contains:
- Background information about the waivers
- Sample social media posts
- Graphics
- Newsletter text for your own communication efforts
Get Ready for CNPWeb Changes!
Over the past year and a half, we have been working with our software vendor to update our Child Nutrition Software package, CNPWeb. We are finalizing testing of the updates system and will begin the implementation process over the next few weeks. The plan is to go live with the new system around the week of December 14, 2020. Here is what you can expect (dates are estimates and are subject to change):
- Training for all programs (SNP, SFSP and CACFP) will be held via webinar between December 2-4.
- The SNP CNPweb training will be presented on Thursday, December 3 at 1:00 pm EST. Click here to register. This training will be recorded.
- Old CNPweb will be shut down by close of business on Thursday, December 10
- Anything submitted in CNPweb by Thursday, December 10 will be saved and included in the upgraded system
- The new site will be live by Tuesday, December 15, 2020
- Same functions but a different look (see sample screenshots below)
NEW! SNA’s STEPS STRIVE to THRIVE Mobile App
- Take your personal wellness to a whole new level and you’ll have a chance to win prizes!
- Join the inaugural SNA Community Holiday Challenge November 16 through January 3.
- Get started by downloading the SNA Strive to Thrive app!
- Click here for more information about the app and how to download it to your device.
CNPweb SNP Training
- Over the past year and a half, IDOE has been working with our software vendor to update our Child Nutrition Software package, CNPWeb.
- IDOE is finalizing testing of the updates system and will begin the implementation process over the next few weeks.
- The plan is to go live with the new system around the week of December 14, 2020.
- Training for all programs (SNP, SFSP and CACFP) will be held via webinar between December 2-4.
- The SNP CNPweb training will be presented on Thursday, December 3 at 1:00 p.m. (EST).
- Click here to register.
- This training will be recorded.
- Questions? Utilize the CNPweb Help Form.
Updated USDA Waiver Options for SFAs Part 3
- IDOE will be hosting our third webinar on the Updated USDA Waiver Options for School Food Authorities.
- This webinar will cover the rules, regulations, and changes from USDA from their waivers and extensions.
- The webinar will take place on Tuesday, December 8 at 2:00 p.m. (EST).
- Click here to register.
- Questions? Contact IDOE's Training Team at SCNTrainings@doe.in.gov.
Verification Webinar Postponed
- Recently we announced that USDA extended the verification process to February 28, 2021 and the Verification Summary Report (VSR) due date is postponed until further notice.
- Because of this, the Verification Process: Reporting webinar scheduled for Thursday, November 19 has also been postponed.
- Once we receive USDA’s guidance we will host a webinar providing all important information about the VSR and answer any questions you might have.
- For recently posted Q&As on verification, check out last week's newsletter.
Food Distribution Program Updates
USDA Foods Deliveries and Menu Planning
- As a reminder, schools should make it a practice not to menu items in the same week your school is expecting your USDA Foods brown box delivery from your state assigned warehouse, Dilgard Foods, Stanz Foodservice or Wabash Foods.
- Deliveries may not always come on the same day for every delivery period as they have in the past.
- State assigned warehouses typically contact schools each delivery week to advise the school of which day they will be getting their deliveries.
- While the state assigned warehouses try to deliver on the same day each time, delivery days depend on how many orders are scheduled and the size of those orders in any given week.
- Questions? Contact Cheryl Moore at cmoore@doe.in.gov.
USDA Department of Defense Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (DoD Fresh)
- The time has come for schools to make their DoD Fresh commitments.
- The DoD Fresh Program is optional and participation is not required.
- If your school decides to participate, you will set aside a portion of your USDA Foods entitlement dollars. The school corporation chooses how much of the entitlement it wants to commit to the program. This is not the same as the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable (FFVP) which is based on eligibility.
- This school year, IDOE is conducting this process a little differently and a bit earlier.
- This year, there are two different commitment forms. One form is for schools currently participating in the DoD Program. The second form is for schools not participating in DoD this school year. Schools should complete the appropriate form based on their current DoD status.
- An instruction form is also available to provide step-by-step directions on how to complete the commitment form. The link to the forms are available below to complete now and the deadline to complete it is December 18, 2020. No Exceptions.
- Click here for the Instruction Form.
- Click here if your school currently IS NOT on the DoD Program.
- Click here if you school currently IS currently on the DoD Program.
Grant Opprtunities
Don't forget! 2020 NSLP Equipment Grant
Don't forget to submit an application for your school for IDOE's Equipment Grant for 2020.
- More information, including the application, can be found here.
- Questions? Contact SCNFinance@doe.in.gov. Please enter: “Your sponsor number/Equipment Grant” in subject line.
Due to the holiday, IDOE will not be sending out a weekly newsletter for the week of November 23. IDOE will be closed November 26 - 27. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Contact Us
Indiana Department of Education - School and Community Nutrition
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this newsletter, please contact Allie Caito-Sipe at acaito@doe.in.gov, call (317) 232-0849, or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20849, or contact Ashley Heller at aheller@doe.in.gov, call (317) 232-0544, or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20544.
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Website: https://www.doe.in.gov/nutrition
Phone: (317) 232-0850
Twitter: @EducateIN