Sponsor First Week Visit Requirement
March 7, 2002
MWCN 300: SF2
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Policy Memorandum #02-10:
Requirement for First-Week Visits
State Directors
Child Nutrition Programs
Section 225.15(d)(2) of the SFSP regulations requires all sponsors to “visit each of their sites at least once during the first week of operation under the Program and . . .[to] promptly take such actions as are necessary to correct any deficiencies.” The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that SFSP sponsors are aware of operational problems at sites at the beginning of the Program, and can take action to correct such problems before they result in the establishment of a fiscal claim against the sponsor.
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Policy Memorandum 22-99: Requirement for First-Week Visits in the SFSP dated June 9, 1999, authorized State agencies to waive the first-week visit requirement contained at Section 225.15(d)(2) for certain, School Food Authority (SFA) sponsors. This action was consistent with the Department’s effort to streamline administrative requirements in, and expand access to, the SFSP.
Program reviews indicated that sites staffed by experienced food service workers operate more smoothly from one year to the next while other sites, including those with new or less experienced staff, have more problems in administering the SFSP. We concluded that waiving the first-week visit requirement at well-run, experienced school based sites sponsored by a SFA and operated by the same staff from year to year allows the SFA to devote more time to training and monitoring activities during the first-week visits they conduct at other school and non-school sites with less experienced employees or less successful programs. Our references to “experienced” staff in this memorandum are intended to denote “experienced” sponsors and staff who are generally skillful, capable individuals who operated a well-run SFSP in prior years.
The purpose of this memorandum is to extend to State agencies the authority to waive this requirement for any SFSP sponsors having sites with experienced staff and no significant operational problems in their prior year. There is no longer a requirement that the sponsor be an SFA, nor is there a requirement that the site be school-based. State agencies may waive the requirement on a site-by-site basis, as appropriate, for 1 year, with the possibility of renewals.
State agencies that choose to exercise this waiver must ensure that all sponsors and sites operating under the waiver performed without significant operational problems in the preceding year and are staffed by experienced personnel.
State Directors
Page 2
We are rescinding the annual reporting requirement contained in Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Policy Memorandum 22-99: Requirement for First-Week Visits in the SFSP; there is no longer a requirement for state agencies and sponsors to report data on the sites operating under an approved waiver to regional offices.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our office.
Signed
THERESA E. BOWMAN
Regional Director
Special Nutrition Programs
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