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Community of Practice Call April 1, 2021
Community of Practice Call April 1, 2021
About this Series
The Center for Ecoliteracy and LunchAssist host regular Community of Practice calls where we review the latest policy updates and highlight tools, best practices, and lessons learned from school districts and allied organizations across the state of California. This free series offers an opportunity for districts to connect with one another, share ideas, and build connections with community partners and government agencies around the state.
April 1, 2021 Call
Guest speakers: Alexis Bylander from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), and Emma Finn from Friends of the Earth
- wide
Chat: Community of Practice Call April 1, 2021
Welcome! Please introduce yourself by typing your name, position, and where you work into the chat box.What are you spring break plans? Or how did you enjoy your time off during spring break?Colleen Robinson-SDUSDGood morning! Laura Burns, Wellness Policy Specialist, Virginia department of educationTammy White, San Jacinto Unified School District.Brendan Shields, Director of Food Services, Magnolia School District....Spring Break Food Service Program planned for next week.Robert Schram Clovis Unified, Just working for spring break!Barbara Hughes, County of SD HHSA. No spring break for us!Spring Break next week - Catching our breath!Chela Cooper, MSDE OSCNPSusan Dalandan, Lehigh Valley PA, No spring break here!Cristal Cardenas, Kings Canyon Unified! Its my Friday!Hiked w/the grands to Calaveras Counties Natural Bridges … gorgeous weather and land bridges!Hi Everyone! Jen here from LunchAssist. Excited for some deviled eggs this weekend!Good morning, everyone! Mickinzie from LunchAssist here! Getting ready to go to Zion for a few days! :)Raquel MartinrzMicha James, Director, MPUSD - no rest for the weary ;)Good Morning Everyone! Abby Halperin, Policy and Grants Manager at the Center for Ecoliteracy. Looking forward to going for a hike tomorrow!Krystal Waldrop, SC Department of Education, Office of Health and Nutrition.Rebekah Sullivan - UNC CH / No Kid Hungry NCJanelle Manzano with SanDiego UnifiedMary Jennings Carmel Unifired, carmel, ca.Good morning! Jodi Yager, Nutrition Services Director form Perris Elementary. No Spring break for me!!Michael Ackley-Grady - CDFA: Office of Farm to Fork - Farm to School Marketplace Lead. No Spring break hereNora Stewart- my role has changed! I am now the Climate-Friendly School Food Manager with Friends of the Earth. I am taking daily walks outsideCindy Loleta Elementary School...working over breakGood morning! Paloma, LunchAssist...hiking!Judy Mossa, Calaveras USDKaryn Whittington - Director of Nutrition Services, Placerville Union School DistrictGood Morning. Patty GallagherNatalie Lareau, program assistant at F2I Center. I spent a weekend in the bay area!Good Morning Everyone Ana Grajeda LAAAE- went to San Diego a couple of days ago super coolHi All,Hi, Judi Shils, Conscious Kitchen. Happy yo be here.Raquel Martinez Alisal Union School DistrictHello Crystal! Great to meet you!Morning! Erin Primer, SLCUSD- can’t wait to spend time outside with my fam!Good morning. I’m Karen Brown, creative director, Center for Ecoliteracy.Morning. Amy Glodde contractor with No Kid Hungry in the Bay Area.Hi Crystal! Great to meet you.Morning, everyone! Alexa Norstad, Director of Programs for the Center for Ecoliteracy. Spring break this year will be camping with my kids for the first time.Hello CrystalCathy Moura- Food Services Director Wright Elementary School Dist. I just finished a very relaxing Spring Break.Join the LunchAssist community here: [link]Stephanie Bruce, Palm Springs USD - Director of Nutrition Services...What Spring Break? ;-)Cathy Paredes; Borrego Springs USD Food Service Director; doing as little work as possible and going for walks in the Desert during Spring Break ;-)Good morning, my name is Anne Moertel and I am the Outreach and Communications Manager at The Center for Ecoliteracy. I am looking forward to embracing Spring by spending time outdoors!Welcome everyone!Buenos dias, everyone! Emma Finn here from the Climate-Friendly School Food Team at Friends of the Earth.Buenos dias, Emma! welcome!Good morning! Suzy Sayre, Director of Nutrition Services, El Monte Union HS DistrictI am planning school reopening with everyone on campus on April 19th the Monday after our Spring Break So I am spending Spring Break working! I am looking for a truck vendor. I recall seeing at the last SNA conference (in person) a food service truck that had a refrigerated and cold section for food deliveries. Does anyone know a manufacturer of this type of truck??Amazing Community effort. Kudos to you all for managing this for all of us.Brenda Ruiz Sacramento Food Policy CouncilGorgeous!Looks so good!Check out the Conscious Kitchen x Friends of the Earth Case Study!That's wonderful!!! You go Barbara!!!Wow! I want one of those boxes…Thanks everyone!WOW That's beautiful!!!This is excellent!Is West Contra Costa providing the boxes to cover a weeks worth of meals?yesI see Steph's delicious items! I recognize those produce boxes!Google Form: [link]For those of you working on reopening school - how are things going? What plans are in place at your school or district? What is working well? What challenges are you encountering at the moment?Hybrid - some DL and others on campus. Will continue G&G for the DL students and will offer onsite service for those on campus...wish us luck!Push to re-open schools in PA. K-3 back, but school after school is having rolling closures and may move back to a 2-3 week closure again due to COVID outbreaks among students and staff, especially transportation and food service staff (appointments opening up, but no vaccine available)What is your school doing to promote program integrity during hybrid learning? What is going well? What questions do you still have on this topic? More on the blog: [link]We are now fully open. It is going well, and I think communication, especially with the principals at the sites it so key! We did close a few parking lot pick up sites that were close to others, to help save our very short staffed current situation. This was helpful.The program integrity plan template in the collective was SO helpful! I updated to my district and submitted to CDE and my TA was very impressed!@Diana, thanks for the feedback! so glad to hear it was helpful.The meal provision mandate is a national mandate if you are part of the NSLPThanks Tammy...Our farmer was able to lease an additional 40 acres to plant crops solely for our program!!!Warms my heart....:)Have you received your first vaccine? How is vaccine roll out working in your area?Fully vaccinated for over a month now!!!Check out the Summary of current waivers from No Kid Hungry - Share our Strength: [link]2 of 5 FS Staff have received both vaccinations; the other 3 have received 1st vaccine.I go the one shot J&J and my family have all had their first. My team is mostly fully done now.Manage all of the paperwork that needs to be kept on file with this helpful checklist: [link]With regards to the meal provision mandate, I was told by my CNC that since our students will be coming back for 2 hrs twice a week in the afternoons, we will not need to feed the students on those days. The students were told to eat lunch at home. We will be able to do Grab and Go for 5 days, distributed one day a week.BSUSD has had students on campus District-wide to some degree since October 2020; currently have those students opting for on campus instruction attending Tues - Fri & approximately two thirds of the student population opting for Distance Learning. Meals are delivered to those households requesting meals Tues - Fri; students on campus receive Breakfast and Lunch and take home supper; Friday's meal bags include meals for Monday.… and Palmona! (Meals Count)*PalomaJoin us in advocating for SB 364: School Meals for All by sending in your support letter for before 5pm today: [link]Hi Krysta, Has there been work done to find out how SB364 would address the federal reimbursement?Great question @Kat! Maximizing the federal reimbursements in SB 364 is top of mind, such as through CEP and other provisions.Learn more: [link]Now that the CEP has been extended, has anyone heard anything about also extending Provision 2 deadlines?It works. As enrollment declines, our participation has increased. The stigma is gone. We see students who qualified but wouldn't eat for fear of being branded a "poor" kid, are now participating at both breakfast and lunch along with all of thier friends!!Can some one share the link to the memo pertaining to CEP Deadline ext. for CEP data?@Krystal, here’s the link about the CEP extension: [link]@abby --We are not all CEP as school districts. Hoping there are conversations around this if SB 364 passes if/before at the federal level.Thankyou! do states have to apply for this waiver like last SY ?The state would still have to fund those at 300% since that is not the federal rule, correct?Correct.FRAC action network: [link]@Kat, yes, we’re in discussions with CDE about how to maximize the federal reimbursement for districts that don’t qualify for provisions as well, with the state then making up the difference to provide free meals.Great work as always FRAC. Thank you Alexis!Same here! Hope you and the SDUSD team are doing well :)Thank you Abby. Our district does not charge for reduced meals. Just hoping that districts that do not qualify for CEP are considered especially as we procure locally, scratch cook and more but often are not eligible for grants to support these efforts.Subscribe to Newsletter: [link]AR Boot Camp: www.lunchassist.org/ARBootCamp@Kat, the current language in SB 364 is very ambitious — it applies to EVERY school and district, allowing schools to not only serve free meals, but also providing incentives for California-grown food and freshly-prepared food. We recognize that making this available to everyone will reduce stigma and hunger while benefiting California students and farmers. So glad to hear about your good work.A piece of history: The Center for Ecoliteracy participated in the development of the first district wellness policy in the US, in Berkeley, CA. It became the model for the federal mandate. The first item was “No student in the Berkeley Unified School District shall go hungry during the school day.”Yay, Erin!!Hello everyone! Excited to be apart of the Friends of the Earth team! If anyone is interested in TA Support for menu development, procurement assistance, education, etc. - feel welcome to reach out to me!@Crystal wow! thanks for sharing!Congratulations on the new role, Nora!@ Abby absolutely! I hope ALL children receive free meals with the same reimbursement as those district with higher or all CEP eligible.Same @Kat. Been fighting for this for so long. Hoping this is the time to make it happen@Stephanie so true!Thank you all. Have to run to another meeting. Healthy Free mealls for ALL!!!Thanks Stephanie!Thank you so much, Emma and team!It has been great seeing all of you and learning new things. I'm off to a PEBT webinar. Stay safe friends!Blog Post + Template: [link]School Nutrition Checklist - CDC [link]Safely Distributing School Meals during COVID-19 - CDC [link]Commodity Resources: [link]Registration information and link: [link]For Californians: CDSS PEBT webinar recording from March 24: [link]Registration link: [link]and the March 24 pebt ppt slides:@Brenda - thank you for sharing the P-EBT Resources!Link to login and register: [link]Link to grant: [link]Beautiful baby Jen awww :) Great mom as wellI emailed her some information...Thanks for the awesome job as always for sharing the great information!Aw thanks Ana - baby Lola wanted to say hola!PA has already had their PEBT plan approved, but the process is so tedious that info will probably not be finalized until May.Brenda,Brenda Thanks so much for this info. I have had a lot of families calling.PA's child care setting is still in the approval process. USDA required a process to delineate the child-care from Pre-K, K, Headstart and Pre-K counts so that children are not counted twice.I was wondering if Lunch Assist will be sending out an outline of the recent CA Tuesday@2 TownHall meetings<3 weee!Beautiful baby Lola!Hi baby Lola! ??Made my day to see such a cute little girl!Thanks for having me, CEL x LunchAssist team!!So nice to meet all of you! Thank you!Thank you!0
