Articles in this issue:
A Note from Sandra
The winds of October whipping the falling leaves remind me of the whirlwind of activity in the various agencies on the child nutrition and food distribution programs as well as here at work. I like to think of the leaves going by as tasks already accomplished. Some days it feels like I should be putting some leaves back on the tree!
Hope you have a great National School Lunch week, Happy Halloween, and Fall Festivals. There are many opportunities to do some fun activities and/or decorating this month, as your timer permits. What new item did you introduce children to this month?
Reauthorization of the child nutrition programs is on hold at the time of this writing. They have been extended through a continuing resolution for now, to be reauthorized at a later date.
As noted previously, changes to the menu planning regulations will be handled separately. We are anticipating proposed regulations this winter. These will have a comment period. We expect that they will closely mirror the recommendations from the Institute of Medicine. I hope that you will work to implement them and then provide comment on your findings.
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New Website for the Department of Education
The South Dakota Department of Education has a
new website, that includes Child & Adult Nutrition Services.
To get to Child & Adult Nutrition Services, you have a few of options.
One - go to the doe.sd.gov site and choose "index" from the left-hand side. Choose Child & Adult Nutrition Services in general or you can choose the specific program you would like to look up.
Two - look on the red bar that runs horizontally just under the DOE logo. (Point at Health, Nutrition, and After School further to your right. A drop down box will appear and one of the options is Child & Adult Nutrition Services. A slideout menu will apear that lists the CANS webpages.
The website is best viewed when the screen resolution is set to 1080x768. Let us know if you encounter any problems as we all work with this new site. We are also looking for suggestions that will make it more useful to you.
You will find reimbursement forms on the program’s page in the documents section on the right-hand side. Policy memos will be under each respective program’s page, just like before. Remember that Child & Adult Nutrition Services has changed the manner in which policy memos are transmitted to local agencies. The USDA memos, Legislation, and Regulations are now readily available to everyone on their website at
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/regulations.htm. No new memos have been released since the last Bulletin.
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In the past the Verification Summary report has been due to CANS by February 1st. This year CANS is requesting the report to be due by December 15th. The process of selecting applications to verify meal benefit applications submitted by households commences on October 1st. Please refer to the dates that were submitted to CANS in the annual Child Nutrition Program Agreement, Attachment E, to be sure your verification process is completed by the deadline of November 15th.
For further guidance and prototype documents to use when communicating with the selected household(s) you can go to the following CANS website links:
Verification Guidance Memo
Verification Summary Report
Usually after completing the annual October Data Survey the school has enough information to complete the Verification Summary report. We listened to several schools that let us know that they thought it would be much easier to submit their verification information soon after they complete the process rather than waiting until February.
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There is good news for those involved with compiling all the data required for the annual October Data Survey. The reporting form has been simplified because meal count data will no longer be required.
Click Here to download the October Data Survey instruction and report forms.
Child and Adult Nutrition Services (CANS) will not be mailing this information as has been done in the past years unless a school or agency notifies CANS that they are not able to download the information.
The survey must be returned to CANS by November 10th to assure your October claim for reimbursement will be processed without any delays. Remember information MUST be broken out by elementary grades, middle school grades, and high school grades and should match the attendance centers you listed in Part 1, (F), Site Summary of your annual agreement. Be sure to read the instruction pages if you have serving sites which serve a combination of grades. No one is exempt from completing the October Data Survey.
South Dakota Child and Adult Nutrition Services (CANS) collects data each October which is a compilation of numbers for the month of October only. The information from this survey is used for many purposes and is required by federal regulation. The information is used for selecting sites to be visited during the school food authority’s review, determines site eligibility for the School Breakfast Program severe need option, Summer Food Service Program, and Daycare Home tier level. It is also used for reporting prices paid by children in our state for breakfast and lunch in the annual report to the American School Food Service Association, for data in response to questions by Congress and USDA, and reporting site eligibility to the National Center for Education Statistics for the core summary data. Several programs use the data including determination of e-rate and need for various title programs and grants.
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The week of October 11th to the 15th is National School Lunch Week. The theme selected by the School Nutrition Association to celebrate National School Lunch Week is titled, “School Lunch: What’s On Your Tray?” For more information and useful tools
Click Here.
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Building for the Future with the CACFP
The National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC) Library
The NCCIC Library collection contains over 20,000 summaries and availability information for published documents of interest to policymakers, administrators, practitioners, researchers and other members of the child care community. Links to full-text publications about child care and school-age issues are provided when available. If you go to their library search page you can search their library resources whenever you would like.
Click here to go to the NCCIC Library.
Mealtime Memo for Child Care
The 2010-09 issue of Mealtime Memo for Child Care, the monthly newsletter that includes menus, recipes, and activities related to child care, is now online. In this issue of Mealtime Memo you will you will learn ways to ensure quality of food served, tips to prevent nutrient loss, and proper storage of food to ensure quality. Recipe for Pasta Toss (D-14) is featured along with a week's worth of breakfast, lunch, and snack menus.
Serving Quality Meals
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Registration is open for two upcoming training sessions at the National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI).
Make the most of your travel dollars and attend the sessions that combine two workshops into one. Each training session includes the Train-the-Trainer component enabling participants to take what they learn and train others in their own facilities or region. Registration and participant materials are free for each session.
Registration is simple. Sign up online, fax or mail your registration form to NFSMI.
Space is limited so reserve your seat early.
DECEMBER 2010 - HealthierUS School Challenge - December 7, 2010
Financial Management - December 8 and 9, 2010
Register now. Registration ends November 7, 2010.
MARCH 2011 - Healthy Cuisine for Kids - March 1 - 4, 2011
Register now. Registration ends February 1, 2011
NFSMI delivers training on a wide range of topics for child nutrition program professionals working in school nutrition and child care settings. To learn more about what NFSMI can do for you, or to ask questions about these training sessions, call 800-321-3054 to speak to a member of the training team or go to
www.nfsmi.org.
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Department of Defense (DOD) Fresh Produce
DoD has finished the contracting issues that were holding up the conversion to FFAVORS web. A new password has been sent to each of the food service directors.
Click here to go to the FFAVORS website:
If you have not received your new password please contact
Karen Kenton, Account Specialist at 303-961-1235. Contact either Mark Moen or Karen Kenton if you have a question with your entitlement. This past year we had requested food service directors to reply to a survey as to how much of your entitlement you would like for produce. There have been a few schools who did not reply to the survey and now would like to be able to purchase produce through DoD. With the use of TAP-IT schools were allowed to purchase even if they did not have entitlement. We have been able to accommodate some of these requests but not all. School spending will be monitored by the state office to make sure all entitlement is being used. Our allotment for produce has been exceeded.
USDA Foods in Great Quantity
On the order blank this month we will have A693 Ham, A908 Black turtle beans, B545 Brown rice, and A608 Beef that are in large supply. If you are able to use any of these items please place your orders.
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We often get questions regarding how many reviews school food service can expect to have in a given year. When you are having a Coordinated Review Effort (CRE) or, in otherwords, a National School Lunch Program review these are the additional reviews you can expect to have if you are participating in other child nutrition programs.
- CRE Program Reviews are scheduled once every five years
- Unannounced follow-up reviews can be expected if the CRE review found serious Performance Standard 1 (application errors) or Performance Standard 2 (not meeting meal pattern) violations or other serious problems.
- Health inspections including review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are also conducted twice a year at each agency. Marlyce Micklos is the contact person.
- When there is a CRE Program review there is automatically a School Meals Initiative (SMI) review which is the nutrient analysis review of one week’s menus. This review happens separately from the CRE review. Jean Schuurmans is the contact person.
- When there is a CRE Program review, and if the School Food Authority (SFA) also conducts the seamless summer program there will automatically be a summer month program review in the same year. Julie McCord is the contact person.
- When there is a CRE Program review there is automatically a Fresh Fruit-Vegetable Program review. Janelle Peterson is the contact person.
- When there is a CRE Program review and the SFA offers the Special Milk Program, School Breakfast Program, and/or the Snack After School Program these programs all get reviewed at the same time as the National School Lunch Program review. Marlyce Micklos is the contact person.
- Sometimes the SFA also participates in the Child & Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). This review may or may not always happen in the same year as the CRE. Melissa Halling is the contact person.
Don’t feel that you are being picked on. As you can see, if you participate in many of the above programs, it may seem like you are getting many reviews. As regulations require, the State must conduct reviews of these programs to ensure compliance. The above outline for the program reviews is the same for all schools that operate those programs with CANS. It doesn’t matter whether the SFA is a public school, private school, BIA or BIE school, government school, Residential Child Care Institution or Adjustment Training Center school.
Program reviews are conducted onsite by the Department of Public Safety Inspectors with the exception of the SMI. Inspectors will contact the agency a couple weeks in advance to schedule a time for the review.
CANS has contracted with Susie Keenaghan, Brookings, SD to complete SMI reviews. This review does not happen onsite. Ms. Keenaghan will contact the agency to let them know what is needed to conduct the menu analysis. The results of this review are then forwarded from CANS to the SFA.
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Are you needing some ideas for putting beans into your menus? Click on the link below to print a flier “The Power of a Bean” and get some ideas to help plan menus that include beans. Beans are low in fat and sodium. They are an inexpensive way to include more fiber, protein, and vitamins in your menus. Adding beans to your menus will help you to meet the requirement for the HealthierUS School Challenge. Consider ordering Black turtle beans on your USDA Foods order blank this month A908.
Power of Beans
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Chefs are being included in the First Lady’s Let’s Move! Campaign to solve the childhood obesity epidemic. Mrs. Obama is asking chefs to partner with a school and its teachers, parents, and school nutrition professionals to help educate kids about food and nutrition. It is hoped that children will respond to healthy dishes that taste good. Chefs have the ability to deliver the message in a fun and appealing way. South Dakota has two schools involved so far.
The “Chefs Move to Schools” program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), pairs chefs with interested schools to create meals that meet dietary guidelines and budgets. Chefs and schools can join the move
here.
Some activities for chefs and kids include hands-on cooking classes and tasting events, piloting new menu items for school lunch, helping with a harvest party if your school has a garden, organizing a cooking club, or encouraging healthy snacks concession stand.
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Let’s Move!, in association with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) , is challenging school nutrition professionals, chefs, students, parents, and interested community members to create tasty, healthy exciting new recipes for inclusion on school lunch menus across the country and to help schools meet some of the HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) criteria.
Participants will form teams, develop, document and prepare at least one healthy recipe in one of three categories (Whole Grains, Dark Green, and Orange vegetables, or Dry Beans and Peas). Their creations will be served in the school’s cafeteria, and rated by students. Fifteen semi-finalists teams will have their recipes evaluated by our judging panel during events held at their school, and the top three teams will compete in a national cook-off to determine the grand prize winner! Semi-finalists recipes will also be posted for online voting by the public to determine a Popular Choice Winner. Winning teams will be invited to prepare their nutrition-packed recipes alongside White House Chefs. This is a great opportunity for schools in your state to compete for $12,000 in prizes.
Click here to find complete information on the Challenge and register a school team.
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Child and Adult Nutrition would like to let you know about an opportunity for your students to enter a Mission Nutrition Bag Design Contest.
The design contest theme is “Farm-to-School” The Contest winner will be featured in the 2011-2012 Sack-A-Month program and their art will be printed on one of the bags. The winning school will receive a Free Sack-A-Month program for the 2011-2012 school years. Farm to School means local farmers provide products to schools for their meals.
Art work submissions must be postmarked by January 15, 2011. Judging will be done by the end of January. For more information
visit their website or call 763-504-5918
Child and Adult Nutrition Services does not endorse this company’s products.
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At the annual State SDSNA conference held in Huron the last week of July, a six hour workshop was offered at pre-conference to inform participants about the HealthierUS School Challenge promotion. The six hour workshop was presented by Clare Miller, a consultant with the National Food Service Management Institute. The training was video graphed and developed into a set of six DVDs.
The DVDs have just been delivered to CANS and are available for checkout. If you were not able to attend the conference workshop but would like more training and information on what the HealthierUS School Challenge is all about and how to begin the process of applying for the distinctive awards you are encouraged to call CANS and make arrangements to check out one of the sets of DVDs.
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Beginning with the 2010-11 school year the local school food service departments will no longer be required to submit NSLP memo 26.1 off-site meal requests for CANS approval.
We have heard from many school and child care agencies that using the offsite meal request form was also helpful to the food service staff as it required teachers/coaches to plan these events in advance. This allowed the food service staff enough notice to plan for and prepare the alternate meals. If this is the case with your school or child care agency, we would encourage you to continue to use this form as a method of planning within your agency. Please note, however, that if your agency participates in the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) you will still be required to submit an off-site meal request as this is part of the federal guidance for the SFSP.
Meals prepared for school supervised field trips may be reimbursed if they meet the meal pattern requirements and are served and consumed as part of a school related function. These functions must be part of the curriculum, as defined by the SD Department of Education, and not extracurricular events. Also keep in mind that meals served off-site should be subject to especially stringent sanitary and precautionary measures to avoid contamination and spoilage. Meals cannot be reimbursed for children to take home, such as on days the student may leave early for sickness or a doctor appointment. Production records must also be maintained for these meals in order to receive reimbursement.
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The Healthier Us School challenge (HUSSC) was established to recognize schools that are creating healthier school environments through their promotion of good nutrition and physical activity. Four levels of superior performance are awarded: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Gold of Distinction.
To qualify for the awards, a school must be a team nutrition school participating in the National School Lunch Program and submit a formal application and meet the basic criteria required by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The HUSSC criteria reflect the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published recommendations of April 2007 for foods that should be served in schools, and outside of the school lunch time. HealthierUS Schools must also have a local school wellness policy as mandated by congress. Local school wellness policies support the HUSSC initiative and affirm that schools play a critical role in promoting student health, preventing childhood obesity, and combating problems associated with poor nutrition and physical inactivity.
FNS encourages Schools to make these changes and has established monetary incentives to recognize schools that improve their school environment with nutritious food, physical activity, and nutrition education. Bronze level schools will receive $500. Silver level $1000. Gold $1500. And Gold with Distinction $2000.
The complete application may be reviewed on the
Team Nutrition website. Complete the attached letter of intent to indicate when we can expect to receive your application. Applications must be sent to the CANS office for review and approval and then will be forwarded to the MPRO.
Contact Mary Kirk at (605) 773-4718 or Jean Schuurmans (605) 773-6026 regarding any questions or assistance in the application process.
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• Amazing Body Tour - 10 Interactive Learning Stations Teaching about Good Nutrition and Physical Activity. The exhibit is available to all schools who sign up. Check it out on the Team Nutrition web site. Available 2010-2011 school year.
• Family Fun Nutrition Adventure Mini Grants in November. Watch the Team Nutrition web site for more information.
• Move and Crunch Principals Challenge in November. Information will be posted on the Team Nutrition web site.
• WE CAN! Training in July 2011. The training will look at Wellness Policies, provide curriculum to train parents, share innovative ideas to launch, and strengthen programs to prevent childhood obesity.
For more information contact Mary Kirk, 605-773-4718, or Karlys Wells, 605-688-4039
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