As part of the Federal Hunger Free Kids Act that went into effect July 1, local food service directors or the individual completing director’s duties must now meet the minimum hiring requirements for the director position. The standards have several options available to local districts. The new federal law also requires local food service staff to meet training standards.
The final rule “Professional Standards for State and Local School Nutrition Programs Personnel as Required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010” (80 FR 1107) passed on March 2, 2015, “seeks to ensure that State and local school nutrition program personnel in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs have the knowledge and skills to manage and operate the programs correctly and successfully.”
For more information contact the Department’s Walter Beesley at walter.beesley@maine.gov or visit the Maine DOE Child Nutrition webpage at www.maine.gov/doe/nutrition/.