School Nutrition Bulletin 2021-19

 

Just released! Additional questions and answers from USDA regarding the operation of the Child Nutrition Programs through school year 2020-21. The DPI SNT is seeking further clarification regarding verification (Q&A #7) and will be providing additional information as soon as possible.

 

This announcement is to inform state agencies that USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) Office of Policy Support (OPS) is repurposing its School Meals Operations (SMO) Study to facilitate the timely collection of data to meet the reporting requirements for the 21 COVID-19-related nationwide waivers. The modified SMO Study will work as a streamlined data collection aimed to satisfy these congressionally mandated reporting requirements from state agencies.

 

The SMO Study will focus on the implementation of 21 COVID-19-related nationwide waivers during the period from March 2020 through September 2020 and will consist of two parts: a newly developed survey for state agencies and an administrative data collection. The survey portion of the study will include questions and response options relevant to the implementation of the nationwide waivers, while the administrative data collection portion of the modified SMO Study will use the FNS-10, FNS-44, and the FNS-418 to collect disaggregated administrative data from state agencies. FNS is planning to field the data collection during Spring 2021.

 

 

This webinar from the Wisconsin USDA Foods team is for Food Service Directors interested in learning about the value of USDA Foods Direct Diversion. Please join us for this training!

 

Wednesday, November 4

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

 

New! The SNT created a Google Currents page where school nutrition professionals of Wisconsin can network, discuss important school nutrition information, and ask questions related to serving school meals. This page is open to Wisconsin school districts, vendors, distributors, and food service management companies servicing Wisconsin schools. This page cannot be used for advertisements. To join, click this link  and a member of the SNT will sign you up. As a member, you can post to the site. Remember to turn on notifications to receive an email anytime someone posts. This way, you are always in on the conversation.

 

The following reports are required when operating the USDA Child Nutrition Programs. The following chart provides the current guidance dependent on the program operating for the majority of the 2020-21 school year. More information on the reports below can be found on our Reporting webpage.

Report	National School Lunch (NSLP) School Breakfast (SBP)	Seamless Summer Option (SSO)	Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)	October Claim for NSLP/SBP and SSO
Annual Financial Report (AFR) for 2019-20 school year	Due August 31, 2020	Due August 31, 2020	Due August 31, 2020	October claim cannot be submitted until report completed
FNS-10	Due November 1	Do not submit until guidance received from USDA	Do not submit until guidance received from USDA	Report tied to October claim, SFAs operating SSO will need to delay submitting this claim until guidance received
Paid Lunch Price Report (PLP)	Submit November 1 - 15	Do not submit until guidance received from USDA	Do not submit until guidance received from USDA	Report tied to October claim, SFAs operating SSO will need to delay submitting this claim until guidance received
Verification Collection Report (VCR)* Portal opens November 5	Complete the process and submit the VCR. Deadline has been extended until February 28.	Complete the process and submit the VCR. Deadline has been extended until February 28.	Complete the process and submit the VCR. Deadline has been extended until February 28.	Not tied to October claim

 

We’re sharing easy-to-access Educational and Enrichment Activities you can provide directly to students with their afterschool snack. Most of these activities work for in-person learners or for virtual students. There are a variety of activities for different ages. You can share the links with families, print out the activity sheets and slide them into a snack sack, or play the videos during snack time, as you wish. We hope this is helpful to those of you providing afterschool snacks!

 

Here is this week’s curated list. Or for each activity, click on the links below:

The No Kid Hungry School Nutrition Grant Opportunity will provide funding to school districts to enable districts and schools to maximize the USDA Child Nutrition Programs and other emergency food programs and resources to ensure children and families have access to healthy meals at school and at home. Grant funding is available for a wide variety of uses from school meal service and personal protective equipment (PPE) and staffing, to non-reimbursable food costs for school food pantries, backpack programs or adult meals, and much more!

 

Application due date is Friday, November 13, 2020. The minimum grant amount is $15,000.

 

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This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

 

This is a communication from the WI Department of Public Instruction, School Nutrition Team.

You can contact the School Nutrition Team at dpifns@dpi.wi.gov. To subscribe to schoolmealsnews, please send an email to dpifns@dpi.wi.gov.

dpi.wi.gov/school-nutrition #WISchoolMealsRock