Meal Benefits

Overview: Meal benefit categories Apply for Free or Reduced Price school meals Review application from a household Help families Race to the Cut Off Community Eligibility Provision

Meal Benefits Meal benefit categories Application, on-line or paper – Free or Reduced Price Meal – Paid, income above income guidelines for household size Categorical eligibility – Directly Certified: SNAP*, TANF*, FDPIR*, Foster, Title X, Migrant, Head Start Free Meals Extended benefits for SNAP, TANF & FDPIR Cannot extend benefits for Foster, Title X, Migrant, Head Start

Meal Benefits Categorical Eligibility SNAP & TANF – Weekly updates from ODE FDPIR – Notification from household Foster – Notification from household Title X – Daily updates from district liaisons, Funded Programs Migrant – Annual notification from MEP Head Start – Annual import from Synergy

Meal Benefits Apply for free or reduced price school meals Submit an online application – Confidential – Faster Submit a paper application – Print from the NS website – Pick up application from PPS school offices or cafeteria

Meal Benefits Online application

Meal Benefits Online application

Meal Benefits Paper Application

Meal Benefits

Review application All students are listed in the Student Information section of the application Foster student indication is marked, if applicable, no need for separate application Number living in household matches the number of names on the application SNAP or TANF case number is valid Application is signed-this is critical

Meal Benefits Help families Print customer list weekly from WebSMARTT Use one list to track received applications Send applications to NS BESC office promptly Work with school office to determine unmatched siblings Call families to remind them of application carryover expiration date Attend back to school nights

Meal Benefits Race to the Cut off Win the Race to the Cut Off and Lunch with the Director in your school category by being the first to have all “prior year” eligible students updated for current year benefits. K-5/K-8/6-8 < 25% F&RHS < 50% F&R K-5/K-8/6-8 25% - 60% F&RHS > 50% F&R K-5/K-8/6-8> 60% F&R Note: being the first to have all “prior year” eligible students be updated for current year benefits means that you have contacted all families AND they have responded. If a family does not want to reapply and tells you that they are not eligible in the current year then document the date of contact and “not eligible” next to the student name(s).

Meal Benefits Race to the Cut off From left, Kirby Phillips, Rigler K-8; Trena Beatty, Franklin HS; Gitta Grether- Sweeney and Kerry Rose, Woodstock K-5

Meal Benefits Race to the Cut off (from left) Brenda Davidson, Sitton K-8; Linda Mannthey, Madison HS; Marsha Hart, Bridger K-8; Leslie Phillips, Woodmere K-5, Barbara Woods, Whitman K-5 and Gitta Grether- Sweeney.

Meal Benefits Race to the Cut off tips Print a customer list weekly Mark applications at the top if there are new or paid students on the application Contact families Follow up on applications that have been sent to the NS central office but have not been processed after 5 days with new students on them

Meal Benefits Community Eligibility Provision-new this year Portland Public Schools will implement the Community Eligibility Provision, CEP, program at 25 eligible schools. These CEP schools will provide school breakfasts and lunches to ALL students at NO CHARGE while they are enrolled in a CEP school during the school year. Families do NOT need to submit a free or reduced-price meal application for students who are enrolled in a CEP school during the school year. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 authorized CEP to provide an alternative to household applications in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. The intent of CEP is to improve students’ access to free school meals in eligible schools and to eliminate the burden for families who are required to complete complicated income applications on an annual basis. CEP was piloted for a three year period in a limited number of States and is now available nationwide beginning July 1, 2014.

Meal Benefits CEP Sites Madison HS Marysville Pioneer Program Rigler Roosevelt HS Rosa Parks Scott Sitton Vestal Whitman Woodlawn Woodmere Meek Boise Eliot/Humboldt Cesar Chavez Faubion George MS Harrison Park James John Jefferson HS Kelly King Lane MS Lee Lent

Meal Benefits FAQs How do I enter a meal for a student on paid status or not yet in WebSMARTT but I have reviewed an application from the household and the students will qualify for free meals? – Write the student’s name and ID on the cafeteria activity log, use the A key to serve the meal

Meal Benefits FAQs If a student transfers from a CEP site, do they still get free meals? – Students transferring from CEP sites will be given free status for 10 days. If an application has already been received by Nutrition Services it will be processed and the family will be notified. There will be a note on the student’s record noting the CEP application number. If no application has been received, the meal benefits department will send the family information on how to apply for free or reduced price school meals.

Meal Benefits FAQs How much time should I spend getting information to complete an application? – Application must be sent to the NS office to be processed promptly. If there is missing information on an application when it is received, other than a signature, call the family to try to get the information but do not hold onto the application. – Return the application to the household if it is missing a signature, and the student is not directly certified, with a note to sign and return for processing.

Meal Benefits FAQs How do students become directly certified (DC) based on SNAP? – A list is sent to Oregon Department of Education (ODE) weekly to be matched with the Department of Human Services (DHS) database of current SNAP clients. In addition, a second match is done when the records are imported into WebSMARTT that looks at guardian and address.

Meal Benefits FAQs Can I give a customer list from WebSMARTT to the principal, the secretary or a teacher? – Student meal benefit status is confidential information, by law, and can only be provided to designated person for approved uses after a signed confidentiality agreement has been received. In order to protect this confidential information all requests for lists must be sent to the Nutrition Services offices. All requests can be sent to Meal Benefits at

Meal Benefits FAQs How long does it take to process an application? – By law, the district has 10 business days to process an application. Our goal is 3 days. However, we cannot process incomplete applications.

Meal Benefits FAQs What should I tell a new students or students who were not eligible the prior year? – These students are asked to prepay for meals or bring a lunch from home until an application for the current school year has been completed and approved.

Meal Benefits FAQs Who is included on the meal benefit application? – All household members should be included on the application. A household is defined as a group of related or non-related individuals who are living as one economic unit. There can be more than one household living at the same address.

Meal Benefits FAQs Can a student that qualifies for free meals just get a milk? – Student’s that qualify for free school meals can prepay money to their account or bring money to the cafeteria to pay for milk. We would encourage a student on free or reduced price meals status to get a reimbursable meal including milk that would supplement the meal that they have brought from home.

Meal Benefits FAQs How do I send applications to the NS central office for processing? – The best way to send applications to the NS central office is to use the provided “Brownies” given to the NS drivers.

Meal Benefits FAQs How do I contact the meal benefits office about a sibling of a DC student? – the office at – In the be sure to include all information DC student name and ID Non-DC student name and ID How you know that they are siblings

Meal Benefits FAQs How do I contact the meal benefits office about an application that was sent in but has not been process? – the office at – In the be sure to include all information Name and ID of the student(s) Date the application was sent in

Meal Benefits Important information Applications are being sent to the school offices A meal benefits packet will be sent on the NS trucks – Application review checklist, Income guidelines, Cutoff reminder signs, Memo for secretaries, labels Meal benefit application transports (the brownies) will be sent on the NS trucks

Meal Benefits Reminder- New students are not eligible for free or reduced price meals until you have seen and reviewed an application or an application has been processed – Use the A key and record the student name and ID on the cafeteria activity log for all reviewed free meal benefit applications – Use the B key, collect $.40 and record the student name and ID on the cafeteria activity log for all reviewed reduced price meal benefit applications

Meal Benefits Have a great year & thank you for everything that you do to help families and students!