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School Nutrition Bulletin 2021-33

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Announcements from the WI DPI School Nutrition Team (SNT)

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

 

USDA Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool Updates
USDA Team Nutrition recently released updates based on user feedback to the Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool (PSTTT). Users logging their own training will now see “My Training History” and “Print My Certificate” located under the “Welcome” menu for easier access to these features. School Nutrition Directors are now able to add a new district if their district is not listed in PSTTT, as well as edit information about their district by clicking on “Manage School District” under the “Employees” menu.
 
Track your required annual training hours today using the USDA’s free Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool!
 

Updates from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) School Nutrition Team (SNT)

 

Important Reminders for Meal Counting and Claiming under the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)
Counting Student Meals
  • Each breakfast, lunch, and snack provided to students must be separately counted and claimed by school site code.
  • Meal count sheets may be used to collect total meals served by each program while operating SSO or SFSP.  Student names are not required to be collected. Sample meal count sheets are available on the SSO and SFSP Materials and Resource webpages. 
  • To maintain program integrity, School Food Authorities (SFAs) are encouraged to continue using their point of service software, if able to do so safely while following COVID prevention measures, as this may help avoid duplicate meals being claimed.
  • Meal counts are taken when the reimbursable meal is provided to the student or household. This includes meals provided in the classroom, drive thru options, bus delivery, cafeteria, off-site pick-up locations, etc.
  • Unallowable meal count systems include: only marking students who did not take a meal (back out system), counting the total number of meals delivered to a classroom, counting meals not served and subtracting from the total meals prepared, using student attendance, or using meal counts from when meals are ordered.
  • When providing multiple meals to households at one time, meals may be counted on the day distributed, but must be claimed for the day the meal is intended to be consumed. The Multiple Meal Distribution Form can assist in tracking meals for correct claiming. This is especially important when a week crosses two different months.
  • When operating SSO and SFSP, meals can be provided and claimed every day, including weekends and planned school breaks/holidays.  
  • Point of Service (POS) meal count sheets must be maintained for 3 years plus the current year. This includes all meal count records for all points of service where meals are provided to students, including individual classroom meal counts.
How to Claim Meals
Seamless Summer Option
  • School/Non-school Sites: Add all the individual POS meal count sheets for in-person cafeteria, classroom, and parent/guardian pick-up for the claim month to obtain a total of the number of meals by type (i.e. breakfast and lunch) for each site.
  • When students are attending school in person, follow your school nutrition contract and claim students by the site in which they are enrolled. This would require separate counts by site for SFAs with more than one school in a building.  
  • For meals that are served to virtual students or children in the community ages 18 and under, meals are claimed at the site where meals are provided to the student. Unless the school is utilizing a software system, and meal counts are taken by student name, then meals may be claimed at the enrolled site for the student, which may not be the site where meals are provided.
  • If an SSO meal service site is at a non-school location, claim the meals at the school site associated with the attendance area where the non-school location is located.
Summer Food Service Program
  • Ensure each location (school and non-school) where meals are served is approved as a site within the SFSP contract. A site can serve both in-person and virtual student meals and/or community meals (i.e. children 18 and under).
  • Mobile routes may be entered as one site in the SFSP contract (i.e. bus route or mobile route) as long as details regarding the ‘stops’ are provided.
  • Meals served to virtual students and/or community children via parent/guardian pick-up should be reported under the site where the pick-up is occurring.
  • Both school and non-school sites should add all the individual POS meal count sheets for in person cafeteria, classroom, and parent/guardian pick-up for the claim month to obtain a total of the number of meals by type (i.e. breakfast and lunch) for each approved site.
  • Mobile route sites should add the individual POS meal count sheets for each bus (if using more than one bus or van) to obtain the total number of meals served by type (i.e. breakfast and lunch) for the ‘Mobile Route Site’.
  • Report the total number of meals served to children under the appropriate sites within the online claim.
More information and guidance on counting and claiming can be found on the SSO/SFSP Q&A.
 
New! Marketplace Meetings – Your Farm to School Connection
The DPI School Nutrition Team and the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) Farm to School Program have created a new venue where school nutrition professionals can network with suppliers offering Wisconsin grown and raised foods, and ask questions related to local food procurement. These Farm to School Marketplace Meetings are monthly calls open to school food service directors and managers who make purchasing and programming decisions for districts that participate in USDA child nutrition programs. Marketplace Meetings are intended to give School Food Authorities (SFAs) direct access to local food suppliers (farmers, producers, processors, aggregators, and distributors on the call) who are currently selling local foods to schools. SFAs are encouraged to come with their specific needs and wants. Contact information can be exchanged during calls through the “chat” function. These calls will not be used for advertising or making specific purchasing/supplying agreements.
 
The next Marketplace Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23rd at 1:30 pm. Calls will be open to participants for one hour. You can stay on the entire call or jump on at any time to make new farm to school procurement connections. Use this Marketplace Meetings Microsoft Teams link to join in.
 
Questions? Contact Susan Bostian Young at DPI School Nutrition Team, 608-267-1066 or susan.bostianyoung@dpi.wi.gov.
 
Harvest of the Month
FoodWIse is expanding the Harvest of the Month campaign for Wisconsin schools. Harvest of the Month is a statewide campaign that showcases one seasonal Wisconsin-grown fruit or vegetable each month in schools and encourages students to taste, explore, and learn about the importance of eating fruits and veggies.
 
We need your input on messages that will encourage kids to choose the fruits and veggies promoted in the campaign. These messages will be featured on posters and other Harvest of the Month materials. Vote for your favorite options in English and Spanish by February 28. Thank you for your input!
 

Other Updates and Information

 

The SNA-WI Next Gen Committee has developed a very useful tool to help new (and experienced) School Foodservice Directors. The toolkit helps point School Nutrition Professionals to helpful, accurate resources. There is information in this toolkit on:
  • Financial Management
  • National School Lunch Program/School Breakfast Program Regulations
  • USDA Foods
  • Entitlement
  • Procurement
  • Professional Development
  • Food Safety
  • Networking & Marketing
Take the time to review what the Next Gen Committee developed and all the great resources they have put together in one place. If you have any questions on the material, please contact the SNA-WI Office.
 
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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.
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