School Nutrition Newsletter
March 10, 2021
USDA Announces Extension of Summer Waivers
- USDA has announced the nationwide extension of several waivers that allow all children to continue to receive nutritious meals this summer when schools are out of session through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Summer Seamless Option (SSO).
- These flexibilities for SFSP and SSO are now available through September 30, 2021 or when school year 2021-2022 starts, whichever comes first.
- The waivers extended allow for safe meal distribution sites that serve all children for free, regardless of income. The waivers:
- Allow meals served through SFSP and SSO to be made available in all areas at no cost;
- Allow meals to be served outside of the normally required group settings and meal times; and
- Allow parents and guardians to pick-up meals for their children, including bulk pick-up to cover multiple days of feeding children.
- These waivers do not apply for school year 2021-2022. IDOE will send out information once USDA provides guidance for next school year.
- IDOE and USDA is actively working on updating their website with the extended waivers. Once documents and waivers have been posted to the website, IDOE will send out information in the weekly newsletter.
- Click here for the USDA press release.
Happy National School Breakfast Week!
National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) is Here!
- Celebrate "scoring big" with school breakfast during NSBW!
- Read more about school breakfast champions in Indiana and access a list of resources for your school on this page.
- Share how your school celebrated NSBW with IDOE by clicking here.
Updates and Reminders from IDOE
Food Recovery
- It is important for sponsors to keep in mind that all child nutrition program funds are to be used for nutrition programs within your schools.
- Make sure to inform staff that overproduction to intentionally have leftovers is against federal program regulations.
- Leftovers should be minimal when daily procedures include reviewing past production records and utilizing batch cooking.
- When determining what to do with leftovers, remember that program use should be a priority, such as reheating and serving out the next day as an alternate choice.
- Any donated leftovers should always be documented and retained with program records.
- Always use food safety procedures for proper storage of foods.
- USDA Foods (Commodities) should be used to the fullest extent possible to reduce food costs.
- USDA Foods should be monitored closely and any items that will not be used should be moved to other schools prior to spoilage.
- Contact Cheryl Moore (cmoore@doe.in.gov) or Linda Smith (lrsmith@doe.in.gov) prior to transferring or destroying any commodities.
- Questions? Contact your field specialist.
New Direct Certification Matches
- On Tuesday, March 4, a new set of Direct Certification data was added in the DC/DV database.
- Sponsors should continue to run Direct Certification and process free and reduced meal applications for students.
- It remains extremely important that sponsors do so, in order to help families qualify for other benefits that reach outside of the meal programs.
All sponsors should download Current Months Matches to see if any new students have been Direct Certified for free or reduced benefits.
Confirm that the school's Real Time (RT) or Enrollment and Mobility (EM) Report are updated in the STN App Center. This will ensure the DC download includes the most current student enrollment.
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 IDOE's DC website for helpful resources.
Last Week for Pre-Order Survey
- This is the final week to complete your school’s annual pre-order survey for school year 2021-2022 for USDA Foods.
- The deadline to complete the survey is this Friday, March 12 at 4 p.m. ET.
- Once the survey closes, it cannot be reopened.
- The survey is completed in the CNPweb.
- Questions? Contact Cheryl Moore at cmoore@doe.in.gov.
IDOE Crediting Webinar Series
- Don't forget! IDOE is currently hosting a series on crediting each component of the meal pattern. Each webinar covers specific information on the component, including how to use the Food Buying Guide, creditable and noncreditable items, purchasing, menu planning, and more!
- The next webinar in the series is tomorrow, March 11, at 2:00 p.m. ET covering vegetables.
- Click here for more information and to register.
Updates and Information from Partners
P-EBT Collection Window and Webinars!
The next collection window for student data submission opened on Monday, March 8, and remain open until Friday, April 16.
New! Corporations and schools will now need to complete a submission for each month of eligibility separately.
Student data corrections for October to December 2020 will also be accepted through the portal during this period, for eligible day count and date of birth only.
- Corporations and schools must submit eligibility data for January 2021 and February 2021 during this window through the FSSA P-EBT Portal, accessible via the IDOE LINK Portal. If your school was directly invited previously to the P-EBT Portal, continue to login directly here.
- Please refer to the submission guidance information and parent flyer on the FSSA: DFR Pandemic EBT website.
- New! Specific details regarding the changes to the P-EBT submission process and the corrections process can be found in this communication.
- FSSA's Division of Family Resources (DFR) will also host two training webinars to explain the process of submitting corrections and to review the changes made to the data submission process on Thursday, March 11 from 2 to 3 p.m. ET, or on Friday, March 12 from 10 to 11 a.m. ET. RSVP to one of these sessions using this link.
- Questions about P-EBT? Contact FSSA at pebtq@fssa.in.gov. Please note that this e-mail is ONLY for school use and should not be given to parents.
New Information
Vaccination Information
- Under the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, all teachers and staff in PK-12 schools and childcare programs can now receive a COVID-19 vaccine at a Federal Retail Pharmacy, which includes Kroger and Meijer.
- Teachers and staff 50 years and older, including school food service, can be vaccinated anywhere in the state at a vaccination site near you.
- Please remember that Kroger and Meijer have their own scheduling systems and cannot be scheduled through 211.
It's National Nutrition Month!
March is National Nutrition Month and is a great time to promote healthy eating habits!
Check out MyPlate Kitchen! This site has new recipes with nutrition focused search filters, recipe videos, and other helpful resources.
Use these free tools for yourself, or to share with your staff, Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) teachers, or post to your school's website for students and parents.
Browse free, printable handouts and tip sheets that are searchable by audience and topic, including some available in Spanish.
Set simple daily food group goals, see progress and earn badges to celebrate success using the MyPlate app, available in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
New Reports Show School Nutrition Programs Essential For Healthy Children
- Newly released studies validate the contribution of school meals as important contributors to the healthy diets of our nation's children, especially those in food insecure households.
- To learn more, click here.
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.
Miss a Weekly School Nutrition Newsletter? Click here to access previous newsletters!
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Website: https://www.doe.in.gov/nutrition
Phone: (317) 232-0850
Twitter: @EducateIN