October 10, 2013 at 2:00 PM - Food Service Meeting

Discussion:  Attendees: Dr. Hoesing, Mr. Grammer, Mr. Comley, Mrs. Egr, Jeff Ander, Marlene Hartmann, Shelley Friesz, Joy Jenkins, Jamie Ramirez, Vicki Mefford, Nellie and John Muehlich, and Linda Cech 1. Budget and Finance: Review the 2013-14 budget and compare to September of 2012. See Attachment 2. Workplace Safety: We had several workman's comp. claims in September. The number 1 workplace hazard during September was slipping. We need to make sure that we clean up spills immediately so that an employee or student does not get hurt. We also need to be reminded to split heavy boxes, wear belts, or ask for help to lift something that cannot be broken into smaller parts. You must complete an accident report within 48 hours. If not reported within 10 days it may be refused by workman's comp and the cost of your medical care can become your own liability. 3. Food Service Participation: Our participation numbers remain high. Thanks for your efforts to make our food service an attractive option for our students. 4. Menu Changes: Thank you to the staff for working with our nurses on carb. counts. This is extremely important for our students who are medically fragile and need an accurate carbohydrate count to determine the insulin dose needed. If you have to make menu changes, please make sure you let the appropriate personnel know of the substitute. 5. Negative Lunch Balances: There was some confusion following our September meeting. We agreed at the meeting that students with a negative balance would NOT participate in our reimbursed meal program. We would, however, make accommodations to feed the student a non-reimbursed meal (left-overs, peanut butter sandwich, etc...) so that the student would not create an unmanageable negative lunch balance. Building principals will work with food service personnel to determine when to cut-off to make sure students keep a maneagable balance or eat from the non-reimbursed meal options. 6. Notice from NDE: This message is being sent to all school lunch programs (NSLP), school breakfast programs (SBP), and milk programs (SMP) to inform all programs on the continuing impact of the Government shutdown. Nutrition Services believes communication is essential for our programs and will continue to provide updates on the impact of the shutdown. The purpose of this message is to inform you of the status of funding for reimbursement of claims should the Government shutdown continue beyond the month of October. The Nebraska Department of Education – Nutrition Services currently does not have sufficient resources to fund reimbursement for claims for any meals served in October; and, future months should the Government shutdown continue beyond the end of October. USDA has indicated retroactive funding will be made available once the shutdown is resolved; however, at this time NDE-Nutrition Services does not know when that will occur. This email update on the impact of the Government shutdown is intended to provide information to help you plan so that you can continue to feed your students. We all hope the shutdown will be resolved soon. I will continue to communicate with you as more updates are received from USDA. Beverly A Benes, PhD, RD Director, Nutrition Services NE Department of Education 7. Items from Staff: Topics from food service/administrative staff. None!