Maine Department of Education’s Child Nutrition Consultant Gail Lombardi, RD was presented the 2016 Katherine O. Musgrave Public Service Award earlier this month at the Maine Nutrition Council’s annual conference.
Continue reading “Maine DOE’s child nutrition consultant recognized”
AUGUSTA – The Maine Department of Education is promoting locally grown products in school meals by holding the first annual 2016 Maine Farm to School Cook-off.
The regional cook-offs will be held Wednesday, April 13 at the Westbrook Regional Vocational Center and Thursday, April 14 at the Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta. The final cook-off on May 17 will be held at the Kennebec Valley Community College, Harold Alfond Campus in Hinckley.
Each volunteer team will prepare two meals within a specific time frame using at least three ingredients that are grown, raised, caught, or manufactured in the State of Maine and meet National School Breakfast and Lunch Program requirements. All recipes will later be shared in a Maine farm to school cook-off recipe book.
Food service staff representing RSU 61, Portland, Lewiston, RSU 38, Five-Town CSD and RSU 13 will participate in this year’s event. Westbrook and Augusta CTE centers along with KVCC were chosen as cook-off sites for their culinary arts facilities which include well-equipped kitchens and individual cooking and presentation areas.
A panel of judges for the regional cook-offs consists of a CTE culinary arts student, school nutrition director, and professional chef. They will score the dishes based on presentation, taste, creativity, and feasibility to be used in a school breakfast or lunch program.
For final judging, a Kennebec Valley Community College culinary arts student will join a school nutrition director and professional chef. The winning team will be awarded a plaque and have the opportunity to be spokespeople for the second annual cook off in 2017.
The cook-off is part of the State’s child nutrition projects and follows legislation to support healthy meals in schools. For more information on Maine’s Local Foods to Local Schools program, visit www.maine.gov/doe/nutrition/programs/localfoods/.
Members of the media are welcome to attend but need to confirm prior to the event. This event is NOT open to the public.
For more information and to confirm coverage, contact: Anne Gabbianelli at anne.gabbianelli@maine.gov or call 624-6747.
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The Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council is offering Fuel Up to Play 60 School Nutrition Equipment Grants of up to $5,000 per school for the 2016-17 school year. This is the first time such support has been offered to Maine schools.
Continue reading “Fuel Up to Play 60 school nutrition equipment grants available”
The 2016 USDA Equipment Assistance Grant process has begun. This year Maine has $89,380 in assistance funds to distribute. This is the fifth year the grants have been made available and as in past years, the funds will be distributed through a competitive grant process. The application form and related documents can be found here.
The school year 2017 Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) tool has been released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and can be downloaded from the Child Nutrition website here.
Continue reading “School Nutrition Programs Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) tool now available”
The Maine Department of Education’s Child Nutrition program announces School Year (SY) 2017 Net Off Invoice (NOI) products available for processing. Schools will log onto NEO to submit their requests beginning March 14 – 25, 2016. This is not a change from previous years, only an announcement this will be available on March 14, 2016.
Continue reading “Net Off Invoice (NOI) products available to schools”
The benefits of eating school breakfast include improved academic performance, attention span, and overall health. During the current school year 2015-16, 47.7 percent of Maine children qualify for free and reduced price school meals. Of these approximately 86,000 children, only 40 percent participate in school breakfast.
Continue reading “A challenge to participate in National School Breakfast Week next month”
Two Maine School Food Service Directors were recognized for their outstanding work by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Northeast Regional office. The two directors were featured in the USDA’s first publication of The Cafeteria Chronicles.
Continue reading “Maine School Food Service Directors recognized”
AUGUSTA — With the assistance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maine public schools have long offered a nutritious breakfast and lunch meal program to thousands of income eligible children in Maine during the school year.
To extend this program, the Child Nutrition Service, a division of the Maine Department of Education (Maine DOE), is now seeking out organizations who would like to participate in this federally funded Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), a program that provides children healthy meals when school is not in session.
“We all realize that children learn better when they have nutritious meals during the school day,” says Maine DOE Acting Commissioner William Beardsley. “Our long standing public school breakfast and lunch programs have served Maine children well. With federal assistance, Maine needs partners for the Summer Food Service Program.”
Last summer, 118 sponsors participated in the program, serving an average of 11,400 lunches a day to children at almost 400 sites reaching about 20 percent of eligible children. Community partners are working to maximize the number of sponsors utilizing the availability of funds under the SFSP.
The Summer Food Service Program may be offered statewide in areas or at sites where more than 50 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program or where census track data supports the need.
Organizations that provide services in rural communities or near migrant farm workers and American Indian populations are urged to participate. Eligible sponsoring organizations include schools, nonprofit residential summer camps, government agencies, and tax-exempt organizations including faith-based organizations.
Maine DOE encourages any eligible organization to consider providing this much-needed service to Maine children. The agency will begin accepting applications to participate in mid-February. Approved sponsors will be reimbursed for eligible meals served to children during the long summer break.
Interested organizations should begin planning now for a successful SFSP. Potential sponsors are required to take training courses. Current workshops are planned April 14 for new sponsors and March 16 for experienced sponsors. Maine DOE is available to attend meetings or consult by phone and email to answer questions regarding summer meals.
For more information about the Maine DOE’s Summer Food Service Program, contact gail.lombardi@maine.gov, call 624-6842, or visit http://www.maine.gov/education/sfs.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination against its customers, employees, and applicants for employment on the bases of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal and, where applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental status, sexual orientation, or if all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program, or protected genetic information in employment or in any program or activity conducted or funded by the Department. (Not all prohibited bases will apply to all programs and/or employment activities.)
If you wish to file a Civil Rights program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form online or at any USDA office, or call (866) 632-9992 to request the form. You may also write a letter containing all of the information requested in the form. Send your completed complaint form or letter to us by mail at U.S. Department of Agriculture, Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, by fax (202) 690-7442 or email at program.intake@usda.gov.
Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech disabilities and wish to file either an EEO or program complaint please contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339 or (800) 845-6136 (in Spanish).
Persons with disabilities, who wish to file a program complaint, please see information above on how to contact us by mail directly or by email If you require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) please contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Recently, five members of Maine Department of Education’s School Finance and Operations Team were recognized for their work in summer meals for students.
Maine DOE Newsroom 