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Administrative Services » Child Nutrition

Child Nutrition

CN Summer Workshop
Child Nutrition Summer Workshop
The Region 7 Child Nutrition Program provides services, support, and assistance to 95 school districts and 10 charter schools throughout East Texas. Services provided to students and families through a district's child nutrition program are an integral component in helping students lead healthy and successful lives.
 
Our Region 7 Child Nutrition team is committed to ensuring its districts' child nutrition programs are operated effectively and efficiently in every school by offering a comprehensive range of training and technical assistance designed to aid child nutrition professionals in:
  • Meeting federal, state, and local program requirements
  • Mastering necessary skills and attaining knowledge through customized training and workshops
  • Implementing and maintaining sound financial practices and cost effective programs
  • Staying up-to-date on the latest news, developments, and legislation related to and affecting Child Nutrition programs
  • Incorporating methods to make meals appealing to students
  • Providing quality services and meals to schools, students, and families

Please learn more about services available by browsing our Child Nutrition web pages, and feel free to contact our office with questions or to obtain additional information. We look forward to serving you, your schools, and your students!
Region 7 ESC Child Nutrition provides a range of technical assistance and training for schools participating in many federal nutrition assistance programs:
 
  • NSLP (National School Lunch Program)
  • CACFP (Child and Adult Care Food Program)
  • SBP (School Breakfast Program)
  • SMP (Special Milk Program)
  • SFSP & SSO (Summer Feeding Programs)
  • FFVP (Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program)
  • FDP (Food Distribution Program) and Commodity Processing
  • DoD Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program
  • FTS (Farm To School) Program

Technical Assistance is provided by phone, fax, email, and in-person - either on-site at the school or in person at the ESC.  Participants can contact us for guidance and assistance with any issue or question pertaining to the operation of their program, federal regulations, administrative reviews, and corrective actions, etc.
 
Training Services are available on a regular basis in both group sessions and one-on-one as needed.  Various classes are held monthly to meet the training needs of participants.  Additionally, during the summer months, Region 7 Child Nutrition hosts a Summer Workshop.  Summer Workshop is a valuable opportunity for those who are unable to attend training during the busy workdays of the school year.
 
Common training classes offered are:
  • Meal Appeal
  • HAACP
  • Food Safety and Sanitation
  • Financial Management
  • Counting and Claiming
  • USDA Foods
  • Procurement
  • Food Production Records
  • Menu Planning
  • Eligibility
  • Menu Module
  • Verification
 
Many other training classes are offered at various times.  Participants can view available classes in the "Workshops" section of "Region 7's webpage" or call us for more information at (903) 988-6802.  
The Region 7 Commodity Processing Co-op is a service provided to area school districts and charter schools food service departments. Districts and charters who are members of the Region 7 Purchasing Co-op can participate in processing at no additional charge.
 
The processing of donated foods (commodities) from USDA allows schools to contract with commercial food processors to convert raw bulk USDA foods into more convenient, ready-to-use end products. The processing of USDA donated foods (commodities) provides many money saving and safety benefits for schools such as:
  • Helping stretch food dollars by lowering costs
  • Increasing food safety by eliminating handling of raw products
  • Effectively reducing labor costs and cash outlays for complex food preparation
  • Facilitating the reduction of storage and delivery costs
  • The convenience of Bulk USDA Foods delivered directly from USDA vendors to the processors of their choice

At least 70 products are reprocessed. Products that are most often reprocessed are:
Basic USDA Foods
(commodities)		 Processed End Products
(processed into)
Pork Cooked crumbles, shredded pork
Beef Charbroiled patties, crumbles, meatballs
Eggs Egg patties, breakfast burritos
Chicken Fajita strips, breast strips, nuggets, patties
Turkey  Turkey ham, breast deli slices, turkey crumbles
Flour, mozzarella, tomato paste Pizza
Tomatoes Salsa, marinara sauce, meat sauce, ketchup
Potatoes Oven roasted, dehydrated potatoes
Apples Fresh Slices, apple sauce
 
If you would like to participate in the Region 7 Purchasing Co-op and Region 7 Commodity Processing, please contact Geri Barrett at (903) 988-6832 or Katie Chenoweth at (903) 988-6778.

Congratulations to our two East Texas Silver Award winners of the Turnip the Beet Awards –

Frankston ISD and Longview ISD!!!
 
Director Share Points ~ April 13, 2023
Links Shared:
If we run SSO as an open feeding site can we use the traditional(SFSP Meal Count Sheets?) Yes, you can use the SFSP Meal Count Sheets as a meal count roster for the SSO. That is allowable.
Applying for SSO Please apply for SSO via TX-UNPS(you do not need to apply for the SFSP program). Please email us if you have additional questions. We can help you complete the SSO site application.
Running SSO for SFSP do we need to operate a full 30 days, or we can do Mon-Thurs starting June 5-June 30? ARM, Section 11, Page 12, CE's mandate to operate a summer program must operate the program for at least 30 calendar days during the summer recess. For example: a CE provides meals 4 days a week from June 1 through June 30.  June 1- June 30 meets the 30-calendar day requirement even though the CE only serves meals four days per week.
Can I bring our Food Service Director to Mega Con? She is not a District Employee Only district employees are allowed to attend MegaCon. No FSMC's, consultants, or vendors.
 
P-EBT Announcement
The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program will not be continuing for School Year 2022-2023, nor for Summer 2023. The Texas Department of Agriculture thanks you for your support and assistance as Texas was successful in providing benefits to millions of children during the public health emergency.
Please ensure that you complete all P-EBT eligibility verification forms for Summer 2022. The discontinuation of the P-EBT program for School Year 2022-2023 and Summer 2023 does not impact Summer 2022. All verification forms for Summer 2022 must be completed and returned to Texas Health and Human Services.
 

Food Service Training

NET Health:
 
 
ServSafe:
 
 
 
ESC Calendar
ESC Calendar-Closure Dates
Date Event/Workshop Workshop 
6/5/2023
Manager Academy-Part 4
Link to Schedule
 269711
6/14/2023 CACFP Live: The GOLDEN Gir...Rules of Budget & Procurement in the CACFP 257459
7/17-18/2023 Lead to Succeed: The Communication and Leadership Series 271825
7/24/2023 CACFP Application Renewal Open Lab 263953
8/1-2/2023
Child Nutrition Summer Workshop
Link to Full Schedule
Link to Room Map
 
8/9/2023 CACFP Live: Take the CACFP AR from Mission Impossible to POSSIBLE! 257460
 
Child Nutrition On-Demand Online Courses
CN Online- Meal Pattern & Menu Planning 272190
CN Online- PLE Tool 272930
CN Online- Eligibility & Verification 272935
CN Online- Navigating TX UNPS 272939
CN Online- Procurement 272941
The Cycle Menu Toolkit was developed to assist Contracting Entities (CE) using the meal patterns and nutrition standards prescribed in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 in providing Texas school children with nutritionally-balanced school meals. These school breakfast and lunch meals were designed using a variety of menu items intended to be tasty, student-friendly, colorful, and with consideration given to ease of preparation and production.
The complete toolkit includes PreK-12 Breakfast Menus and a Lunch Menu for PreK, K-8, and 9-12, corresponding food production records, and recipes. Click each for printable versions of each component of the toolkit. Requests for additional information can be submitted to Tricia Hays at [email protected]
Genny D'Souza
  • Administrative Review (AR)
  • National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
  • School Breakfast Program (SBP)
Geri Barrett
  • USDA Foods
  • USDA Commodity Processing
  • Technical Assistance: NSLP, SBP, and SSO
Valencia Watson
  • Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
  • Summer Feeding Programs (SFSP)
  • American Sign Language
Tracie Vineyard
  • General Information
  • Workshop Registration
  • Training Certificate Assistance
Lana Anderson
  • Administrative Review (AR)
  • National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
  • School Breakfast Program (SBP)
  
LISD Earth Day
2023 Longview ISD Earth Day Celebration
Turnip the Beet Award-LISD
2023 Turnip the Beets Silver Award-Longview ISD
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In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

  1. mail:
    U.S. Department of Agriculture
    Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
    1400 Independence Avenue, SW
    Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
  2. fax:
    (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
  3. email:
    [email protected]

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.