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School Meal Programs

January 2024

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Happy New Year!

Trivia: Q. Which food-related “holiday” is recognized throughout the whole month of January in the United States? A. (The answer is hidden in the content below) Hint: This food does not have to be served hot.

USDA POLICY MEMOS

Regulation requires sponsoring organizations and institutions to keep Bulletins, Instructions, and USDA Policy Memorandums for reference and to apply immediately the appropriate instruction to agency programs.

Please call Child Nutrition Programs, if further clarification is needed.

NSLP & School Breakfast Program (SBP) Updates:

All Policy Memos from USDA are located here:

• SP 04-2024 Child Nutrition Program Integrity Final Rule: State Agency Discretion for Repeat Meal Pattern Violations Fiscal Action
• SP 03-2024 CN Integrity Rule Memo - Administrative Review (AR) and Food Service Management Company (FSMC) Cycles (azureedge.us) 
• SP 02-2024, CACFP 02-2024, SFSP 02-2024 Revised: Crediting Tofu and Soy Yogurt Products in the School Meal Programs, CACFP, and SFSP | Food and Nutrition Service (usda.gov)
• TA 01-2024 Crediting Traditional Indigenous Foods in Child Nutrition Programs | Food and Nutrition Service (usda.gov)
• SP 01-2024, CACFP 01-2024, SFSP 01-2024 Clarification of Allowable Flexibilities for Child Nutrition Programs Experiencing Milk Supply Shortages
• Reimbursement Rates for 2023-2024 School Meals Program (pdf)
• NSLP Income Guidelines 2023-2024.pdf (alaska.gov) 
• SP13-2023, Best Practices for Contracting with Food Service Management Companies | Food and Nutrition Service (usda.gov)

Updates & Reminders:

Grant Opportunities

• Chef Ann Foundation’s RFA for Partnerships for Local Agriculture and Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS) will fund eight collaborative projects. Entities eligible to apply include School Food Authorities, food producers, food distributors and aggregators, nonprofits, and local government agencies. The application period ends January 22, 2024. 
• The Center for School and Community Partnerships RFA for the Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems Sub-Grants (Project SCALES) will award grants to up to 35 rural SFAs across the nation. The application period ends January 26, 2024. 

Rural School Food Systems Innovation Grants - APPLY – SCALES (projectscales.com)

Applications Open for Innovation and Partnership in Rural School Food Systems!

As part of the USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative (HMI), funding and learning support is now available for a cohort of up to 35 rural school food authorities (SFAs) across the nation.

Project SCALES (Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems) will work with SFAs over a two-year period as they build partnerships for innovative solutions to increase local procurement in their school meal programs. The Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University will provide a subgrant (up to $150,000) for each SFA, with technical assistance including a learning community provided by the experts at LunchAssist.

For more information, please visit our website at www.projectscales.com.   

The online application portal is open and the deadline for submitting applications is 11:59 ET on January 26, 2024.

Is your SFA eligible to apply? These are the eligibility criteria:

• Rural school districts/SFAs (those with a locale code of 41, 42, or 43 according to the National Center for Education Statistics; click here to check their online tool).
• Participates in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.

SFAs that provide meals for charter schools and groups of non-profit private schools are also eligible to apply. If you have questions about eligibility, please email us at info@projectscales.com.

On-Site Counting & Claiming

All on-site self-monitoring reviews must be completed within the first 4 months of operation for sponsors with more than 1 operating site.  Summary report (only) due to DEED on/before February 15, 2024, via Smartsheet.  NOTE:   All breakfast programs must be reviewed every other year with at least 50% per year.

New procedures for submitting your on-site counting and claiming summaries.

We are streamlining the process to submit your on-site counting and claiming summaries.

What changed?  The process to submit your review summaries for breakfast and lunch and the process for afterschool snacks has merged to a single easier process.

What has not changed?  Due dates and the on-site counting and claiming forms remain the same.

You can find the instructions to submit your on-site counting and claiming summaries in the Document Checklist in CNPweb.  Scroll to the “Additional Forms” section and look for the On-Site Counting and Claiming forms, including the instructions and bulk upload template.  You will also find the review forms for NSLP/SBP and ASP at the top of this page.

Afterschool Snack Review

The first of 2 self-monitoring program reviews to be conducted within the first month of operation, and the 2nd review to be conducted before the end of the program year (or June 1st - whichever comes first) for the initial year.

However, after that, it’s just two times during the school year (July to June).

Review forms and summary report can be located on the CNP Web Checklist tab.  

Verification

Verification was completed by November 15, 2023.  Verification Collection Summary Report is due to DEED before February 1, 2024.  If you need assistance, please feel free to contact Alaska Child Nutrition Programs. 

If you need assistance performing verification in PrimeroEdge, contact customercare@primeroedge.com. 

If you need assistance performing verification using another platform, contact your vendor’s customer service team.

P-EBT Update

All benefits have been issued. 

If cards have been “lost” and in need of being replaced, please contact 1-800-478-7778.

Health and Social Services is also available at hss.dpa.offices@alaska.gov to assist with any other P-EBT related questions.

The Trivia Answer is: National Soup Month

AKSNA Conference

This is a courtesy posting on behalf of the Alaska School Nutrition Association, for any questions, please email conference@aksna.org

Registration for the Alaska School Nutrition Association’s 56^th Annual Conference happening the 23^rd – 25^th of January 2024 in Anchorage, Alaska is now open.  This year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Katie Wilson, SNS, Urban School Food Alliance Executive Director and former USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services.  More information and registration are available at https://aksna.org.

In addition to the conference, AKSNA is hosting a preconference, “Designing and Delivering Training Programs”

Monday, January 22, 2024, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Registration required: https://aksna.org or email conference@AKSNA.org
Develop or enhance your knowledge and skills to design and deliver effective trainings.

Alaska Food Protection Task Force 2024 Educational Workshop - January 22-23 8:30 - 12:30 Virtual

AFPTF 2024 Educational Workshop Registration (alaska.gov)

SFA Survey

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is conducting a web survey of all school food authorities (SFAs) that operate Child Nutrition Programs and needs your input. The survey seeks to collect information on current key challenges SFAs are facing, including those related to school food procurement, program administration, and program finances.

FNS has contracted with Decision Information Resources, Inc. (DIR) to conduct the 2023-24 SFA Survey on Supply Chain Disruption and Student Participation with all public, charter, and private SFAs nationwide. Your participation is vital to providing FNS with information they need to support school districts during this time. Please take advantage of this opportunity to share your experiences from this school year and communicate the specific issues you are facing in your community directly to FNS.

On January 29, 2024, DIR will e-mail you a link to the survey. It will come from noreply@qemailserver.com. Please add this email address to your approved senders list so that you don’t miss the email. When completing the survey, you will provide information about your SFA for school year 2023-24. The survey has a maximum of 30 questions and is estimated to take up to 20 minutes to complete. Please complete it as soon as you are able, but no later than March 11, 2024.

If you have any questions about this survey, please contact the survey team at DIR toll-free at 844-632-9019 or e-mail SFASupplyChainSurvey@dir-online.com. For additional information, please review the “Frequently Asked Questions” document. You can also learn more about other ongoing FNS surveys and data collection on our “Current Data Collections” webpage.

Thank you in advance for your support of the 2023-24 Survey and your participation in this important effort.

Claim Override Request

If any of these situations occur when preparing your claim, you must submit a Claim Override Request:

• Claim in excess of allowed meals in one eligibility: The number of meals in a single eligibility exceed the number of students multiplied by the number of operating days adjusted to the attendance factor and the site does not qualify for an Alternative Attendance Factor.
• Claim for zero meals: The school served no reimbursable meals but needs to submit a claim to provide enrollment data.  This should only be used if the school INTENDS to operate meals but did not due to a temporary situation such as staff shortage, strike, or other temporary issue.  

Instructions:

1. You must prepare your claim as much as is possible in CNP Web.  This includes each site claim sheet (even those with errors) and your FFVP claim.
2. Once the claim is complete in CNP Web as much as is possible, complete the Claim Override Request (available in the CNP Web Checklist Tab under “Additional Forms").
3. On this form, enter the SFA or Sponsor’s name as it appears in CNP Web and the month and year of the claim
4. List each school that is in error status on your claim and check the reason(s) that an override is requested
5. Enter the total number of meals and FFVP claim total reported on your Sponsor Claim
6. Sign and date the form (you may use an e-Signature, signature stamp, or print, sign, and scan)
7. Submit the form using the link: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/dddcd981c96c4ea8b8f9d9c069f18430

   Your claim must be in pending approval status 60 days after the last day of the claim month.  This claim override request must be received no later than 50 days after the last day of the claim month, to allow for processing time so that your claim is in pending approval status within 60 days.

Resources The Guide to Professional Standards for School Nutrition Programs is a central resource that comprehensively outlines the required USDA Professional Standards for State and local school nutrition program professionals who manage and operate the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP).*  It also provides useful information regarding available trainings in the Professional Standards Training Database and tracking training using the Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool (PSTTT).

Navigating the Food Buying Guide Calculator This webinar provides an interactive demonstration of the Food Buying Guide (FBG) Calculator, a feature included with the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs Interactive Web-based Tool. Participants learn how to create a shopping list using the FBG Calculator when ordering food for their programs. The webinar can be viewed in English and with Spanish captions at https://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/food-buying-guide-training-resources. Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs

Contact Us

The Nutrient Analysis Protocols: How to Analyze Menus for USDA’s School Meals Programs (NAP Manual) is a technical assistance resource for school nutrition or state agency professionals. This manual provides guidance for the calculation of nutrient analyses of school menus, which allow the school and state agency to provide documentation that the school is meeting the dietary specifications for National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. Link to Manual: Nutrient-Analysis-Protocols-Manual   Master the Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool (PSTTT)! This webinar provides a demonstration of the PSTTT, as well as an overview of the Professional Standards requirements and resources. The webinar can be viewed in English and with Spanish captions at https://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/professional-standards-resources.   Updated Team Nutrition Resources for the Child Nutrition Programs View in Spanish I Vea en español USDA’s Team Nutrition initiative is pleased to announce the release of five sightly revised Team Nutrition publications to assist Child Nutrition Program operators with serving meals in their programs. The resources have been updated to remove guidance related to the COVID 19 Pandemic, update images, and reflect the current USDA isobar and Team Nutrition URL. The titles of the publications for school meals are: Offering Meats and Meat Alternates at School Breakfast   Offering Smoothies as Part of Reimbursable School Meals   Serving School Meals to Preschoolers  The titles of the publications for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) are: Methods for Healthy Cooking  Serving Adult Participants in the CACFP

Culinary Institute of Child Nutrition: https://theicn.org/cicn/ This new section of trainings from ICN is great for districts that want to do more scratch cooking or have cooks who need additional culinary skills. iLearn – ICN E-learning (docebosaas.com).  Child Nutrition Sharing Site (CNSS) - recruiting new resources

Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
Division of Finance and Support Services
Child Nutrition Programs
P.O. Box 110500
Juneau, AK 99811

Confidential Information

Confidential information should never be shared via email outside of the SFA’s email system.  Since email can easily be transmitted to the wrong recipient or intercepted by a third party, it could lead to a breach of confidential information.  When emailing Alaska Child Nutrition Programs, sponsors are encouraged to make arrangements with the recipient(s) to email documents with ZendTo (https://drop.state.ak.us/drop/).  Please contact DEED CNP for further information.

USDA Nondiscrimination Statement (English)

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

1. mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture
   Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
   1400 Independence Avenue, SW
   Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or

2. fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or

3. email: program.intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.