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School Nutrition Bulletin 2021-21

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Announcements from the WI DPI School Nutrition Team (SNT)

Updates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

 

Child Nutrition Program Off-site Monitoring Fact Sheets
USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) released eight Child Nutrition Programs Off-site Monitoring fact sheets to assist states and sponsors in conducting off-site monitoring of Child Nutrition Programs during the pandemic. These documents include a fact sheet that has background information on all programs, as well as separate facts sheets for state and local operators for each program.
 
The fact sheets reiterate that unless a flexibility has been provided through an individual waiver (the state oversight waiver and plan), state agencies and local operators must continue to monitor program operations in line with regulations but may review off-site (e.g., through a desk audit) this year. FNS is issuing these attached fact sheets in order to provide best practices for monitoring activities as monitoring processes may need to be adapted. The contents of these documents do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. These documents are intended only to provide clarity regarding existing monitoring requirements.
  1. Monitoring of the Child Nutrition Programs During the Novel Coronavirus Public Health Emergency Issued November 2020
  2. Sponsor Monitoring of the Summer Food Service Program Federal Fiscal Year 2021
  3. State Agency Monitoring of the Summer Food Service Program Federal Fiscal Year 2021
  4. State Agency Monitoring of the School Meal Programs School Year 2020-2021
  5. State Agency Monitoring of the School Meal Programs School Year 2020-2021—Addendum
  6. School Food Authority Monitoring of the School Meal Programs School Year 2020-2021
  7. State Agency Monitoring of the Child and Adult Care Food Program Federal Fiscal Year 2021
  8. Sponsoring Organization Monitoring of the Child and Adult Care Food Program Federal Fiscal Year 2021
These fact sheets should be available on the USDA website soon. On November 13, 2020, the DPI School and Community Nutrition Teams submitted a waiver to USDA related to statewide state agency and sponsoring organization monitoring requirements for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), Seamless Summer Option (SSO), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) through September 30, 2021
 
Updates from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) School Nutrition Team
 
Questions and Answers About Serving Meals on Holidays and Snow Days
Holidays and snow days are right around the corner and we have been getting lots of questions regarding the requirements of serving meals. Please see the questions and answers about these topics below.
 
Q. Can meals be served over planned holidays such as Labor day, Thanksgiving or winter break under SSO or SFSP? If we choose to continue meal service during this planned break or holiday, can we claim those meals?
A. Meals may be provided for planned holidays and vacation breaks. These meals can be claimed for reimbursement under SSO, SFSP, and approved sites under the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) At-risk afterschool meal program, if the SFA chooses to do so.
 
Q. Are SFAs required to provide meals on snow days? What if there is virtual learning occurring on a snow day?
A. It is not required to provide meals on snow days, even if virtual learning is occurring on the snow day. When the weather is poor enough to warrant a snow day, it may be unsafe for school food service staff to commute to work and for parents/students to pick up meals. However, if weather forecasts suggest a snow day may occur, SFAs that are serving non-congregate meals could provide meals ahead of time with the intention of students eating them on the potential snow day—this would be a best practice.
 
Please note, schools that have not elected to provide non-congregate meals could not provide meals on a snow day when students are not attending school in-person. Additionally, schools participating in NSLP/SBP may not claim meals that are served on non-instructional days, such as snow days without virtual learning.
 
Educational and Enrichment Activities for the Afterschool Snack Program
We’re sharing more easy-to-access Educational and Enrichment Activities you can share directly with students to go along with their Afterschool snack. Most of these activities work for in-person students or for virtual, at-home learners. There are a variety of activities for different ages. You can share the links with families, print out the activity sheets and slide 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!
 

Other Updates and Information

 

The Center for Disease Control has a website for school meals. Feel free to share the link with households.
Message to Parents: Parents, let your child’s school help with meal prep! You can save time and stretch the household budget by participating in school meal programs. How, you ask? The USDA is extending free meals to kids for the entire 2020-2021 school year. According to USDA, “This unprecedented move is part of USDA’s unwavering commitment to ensuring all children across America have access to nutritious food as the nation recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
 
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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