Are you in need of training for your school nutrition staff?

Montana Team Nutrition is pleased to offer the Montana School Meals Certificate (MSMC). Participating school nutrition professionals will receive a thorough foundation in meal pattern components, weekly dietary specifications, and strategies to achieve compliance with USDA rules through training on food preparation techniques, recipe standardization and crediting, school food forecasting, and procurement.

What does the MSMC include?

  • 40 hours of training for food service directors and 8 hours of training for frontline staff
  • Substantial mini-grant funds (ranging from $5000 to $7500) to support staff bonuses*, staff or substitute pay, travel costs, food for student taste tests, equipment, supplies, and marketing materials
    • *If training is completed within 6 months, staff can recieve bonus pay ($500 for directors and $100 for frontline staff

How will training be delivered?

  • Participating school nutrition program staff can choose from of two training timelines:
    • Option A: February 2023 – July 2023
    • Option B: June 2023 – November 2023
  • They will also be able to choose from a combination of training formats that best suits their learning needs:
    • Live, in person training
    • Live, virtual training
    • Independently paced virtual self-study

This training is currently full

The Montana School Meal Certificate is funded by a USDA Team Nutrition training grant awarded to the Montana Office of Public Instruction. 

 

Resources for Current Participants

The Montana School Meals Certificate Program contains 3 main components to provide 40 hours of professional continuing education for School Food Service Directors.

Participating frontline staff will complete 8 hours of training, choosing their 8 hours from the 40 hours provided. 

 

School Nutrition Basics – 15 hours

Self Select Topics – 10 hours

Culinary Workshops- 15 hours

 

Hourly Tracking Form 

Please keep track of the hours you complete for the MSMC in your personal Google Drive tracking form.

Learning Checks

 

Training Opportunities

 

school lunch tray with chili, salad, fruit, milk, cinnamon roll

School Nutrition Basics (15 hours needed for Directors and Managers)

 

School Nutrition Basics Training Topics: 

  1. School Nutrition Program Overview (1 hr)  
  2. School Breakfast Program Meal Pattern and Offer Versus Serve (1.5 hr)
  3. National School Lunch Program Meal Pattern and Offer Versus Serve (1.5 hr)
  4. Veggielicious vegetable subgroups (1 hr)
  5. Whole Grains (45 min)
  6. Strategies to Reduce Sodium (45 min)
  7. Standardized Recipes (1 hr)
  8. Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice (1 hr)
  9. Procurement: General Procurement (1 hr)
  10. Procurement: Local Foods (1 hr)
  11. School Wellness Policies and Smart Snacks (1 hr)
  12. What to expect on Administrative Reviews (30 min)
  13. Documentation and Production Records (1 hr)
  14. Forecasting and Inventory Management (1 hr)
  15. Roadmap to Navigating Quality School Meals (1 hr) 

The School Nutrition Basics trainings are available in the following formats:

Below is the Zoom link to  access the webinars: 

Wednesday Webinar Zoom link  

If you missed a webinar or would like to revisit a training, access recordings of past webinars here.  

Follow this link to download a certificate of completion for this training. 

Click on the download arrow in the top right corner, save to your computer, and fill in the pertinent information.

 

  • Virtual and Self-Paced Trainings on the OPI Learning Hub

All school nutrition basics topics will be available at your own pace on the OPI Learning Hub. 

Follow these steps to access a virtual training:

  1. Navigate to the OPI Learning Hub. [learninghub.mrooms.net]
  2. Select the blue circle to 'create new account'.
  3. Scroll briefly to the “is this your first time here?” section and click on the New Account link to create your account.
    • Be sure to use a personal email, not a school email when creating your account.
  4. Once you have created an account, click on this link to locate the MSMC course information and choose ‘enroll me’. 
  5. After enrolling, you may access the ‘MSMC Training Program' course from your Hub homepage where it will show up at the bottom or the side of your screen, since you are enrolled. You may also access it by typing 'MSMC Training Program' into the ‘search courses’ textbox near the bottom of your homepage screen.
  6. Once you are on the MSMC homepage, please read through and follow the instructions for the training program.
Meadowlark elem salad bar

Self-Select (10 hours needed for Directors and Managers)

 

Self-Select Training Options  

Directors participating in MSMC need 10 hours of self-select training. Frontline staff are welcome to participate in any of the self-select training options to complete their 8 hours of training. The approved trainings counting for self-select hours are listed below and include virtual and in-person options. If you would like to count a training towards self-select hours that is not on this list, please contact Haley Scott before starting the training to confirm that it will count towards self-select hours. 

After completing a self-select training, please complete the following tasks: 

  • Record the training in your personal tracking form. The google tracking form updates in real time so there is no need to save your document. 
  • If you'd like to download a certificate of completion for this training, visit this link, and click on the download arrow in the top right corner, save to your computer, and fill in the pertinent information.

Virtual Trainings: 

Chef Ann Foundation’s Professional Development  

Engaging online courses give participants the opportunity to learn how to transition school meal programs to scratch-cooked operations that provide real, healthy food to kids at school every day. 

Chef Ann Foundation offers two types of Professional Development: 

  1. Free recorded webinars/training videos. Usethese video resources for your personal professional development and to inspire your team. Webinars are a great tool for staying up-to-date on the field of school food and scratch cooking. 
  2. The School Food Institute- Courses which cost $99.00 - $149.00 to enroll.  (MSMC schools can use their sub grant funds to pay for this cost if needed). The School Food Institute gives child nutrition professionals the in-depth training, operational skills, and strategic vision necessary to make school food fresh, tasty and eye-appealing. 

Montana Farm to School Past Training & Webinars 

Visit the Montana Farm to School site and scroll down to view recorded trainings and webinars on topics including Beef to School, Harvest of the Month, and Montana Crunch Time. 

The John C. Stalker Institute of Food and Nutrition Trainings  

The Nuts & Bolts of School Nutrition Programs On Demand is an interactive online training series on fundamental topics in School Meal Programs. The Nuts and Bolts includes six modules with multiple lessons in each module. The following lessons are approved:  

  • Module 1: Introduction to School Nutrition Programs  
    • Lesson 1: School Nutrition Programs Overview (26 min) 
    • Lesson 2: School Nutrition Program Requirements (13:30 min) 
  • Module 2: USDA Foods 101 and Inventory Management  
    • Lesson 1: Role of USDA Foods in School Meal Programs (22 min) 
  • Module 3: 
    • Lesson 1: Administrative Review Basics (9:44 min) 
    • Lesson 2: Meal Access and Reimbursement, Meal Pattern and Nutritional Quality (22:13 min) 
    • Lesson 3: Resource Management, General Program Compliance and Other Federal Program Reviews (23:13 min) 
    • Lesson 4: Administrative Review Process Summary (6:29 min) 
  • Module 4: Resource Management  
    • Lesson 1: Financial Management and Budgeting (15:39 min) 
    • Lesson 2: Maintenance of the Nonprofit School Food Service Account (5:48 min) 
    • Lesson 3: Key Financial Reports (20:36 min) 
    • Lesson 4: Nonprogram Foods and Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) (17 min) 
  • Module 5: Civil Rights for Child Nutrition Programs  
    • Civil Rights for Child Nutrition Programs (37:40 min) 
  • Module 6: Food Allergies  
    • Lesson 1: Food Allergies (34:40 min) 

Institute of Child Nutrition Courses  

The Institute of Child Nutrition provides 88 free, online, self-paced courses to meet professional standards requirements. The Institute of Child Nutrition provides free professional development courses through iLearn.   

Instructions for accessing a training are listed below. Additional information and “how to” videos on navigating iLearn are available here.  

To register for a course, you will need to create an account. Here are the steps to create an account: 

  1. Register by creating a user profile. 
  2. Complete the user profile page. You will need to provide an email address and create a password.   
  3. Complete the additional fields page. On the bottom right-hand side of page, click REGISTER.

Please select courses within these 4 areas: 

  1. SN Administration 
  2. SN Operations 
  3. SN Communications 
  4. SN Nutrition

Culinary Institute of Child Nutrition (CICN), a division of the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN) provides school nutrition professionals with in-depth, hands-on culinary training and resources that are foundational for scratch-based cooking and the creation of culinary-inspired school meals that are healthy, flavorful, and student-approved!

 

All of these online culinary trainings are free and easy to access. Find the trainings by clicking on the Resource and iBites Recipe Videos options within the green bar across the top of the page. Topics range from baking, batch cooking, knife skills, flavor enhancements, salad bars, and more!

USDA LEAD to SUCCEED Trainings (a training course within SNA)- LEAD to SUCCEED includes hours of workforce and training tools designed specifically for school nutrition professionals seeking to Learn, Educate, Advance, and Develop in the areas of Personnel Management and Communication, and Marketing and Customer Service. 

 

If completing LEAD to SUCCEED, choose one of the following training series:  

 

  • Communications for Impact, Leadership Growth 

or 

  • Adult Training Series 

 Click ‘start training’. The site will prompt you to create an account if you are not already signed in. 

 

School Nutrition Association 

The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is the national, nonprofit professional organization of school nutrition professionals. The state affiliate in Montana is the Montana School Nutrition Association (MT SNA). SNA offers a wide variety of online training.  An SNA membership is required to have full access to the trainings.  An SNA membership can be purchased with your Montana School Meals Certificate sub grant funds.  Questions? Contact the MT SNA membership chair Chandra Plakke plakkec@ssd3.us or 406-239-5751. 

Instructions for accessing a training: 

  1. Visit the School Nutrition Association Professional Development webpage. 
  2. In the top right corner, click member login. Sign into your account or click ‘member registration’ to create an accountwith your SNA ID.– located in the top right-hand corner 
  3. Scroll down to ‘Training Zone’ and change the filters based on your preference 
  4. Use the search and filter function to choose a training that is interesting and relevant to your program.

USDA Professional Standards Database  

The Professional Standards Training Database allows school nutrition professionals to search for training that meets their learning needs in one easy-to-use website. More than 500 free or low-cost training resources are available in a variety of formats and most trainings are free.  

Instructions for accessing trainings: 

  • Click on ‘learn more’ under the ‘search for training’ section  
  • The menu along the left-hand side allows for selection of free trainings.  
  • Note the ‘format’ column and identify trainings that are either online, a webinar, or video. 
  • Select the title of the training for more information, including the website link where you can access the training resource(s). 

 

Scott Plainfeather demonstrates knife skills by slicing butternut squash

 Culinary (15 hours needed for Directors and Managers)

 

Please contact MT Team Nutrition staff if you would like to set up an individualized culinary training in your region.

Check out the drop-down menus for online culinary training options. Document each training topic that you complete in your individual tracking form.

 

CICN is a division of the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN), providing school nutrition professionals with in-depth, hands-on culinary training and resources that are foundational for scratch-based cooking and the creation of culinary-inspired school meals that are healthy, flavorful, and student-approved! 

All of these online culinary trainings are free and easy to access. Find the trainings by clicking on the Resource and iBites Recipe Videos options within the green bar across the top of the page. Topics range from baking, batch cooking, knife skills, flavor enhancements, salad bars, and more! 

Click here to access Wisconsin Let's Cook! culinary trainings and scroll down to the ‘Quality Meal Improvement’ section where the ‘Let’s Cook’ trainings are housed. Start by watching the introduction and choose any additional trainings of interest. 

  • Introduction (5 min) 
  • Mise en Place, Knife Cuts, and Kitchen Equipment (30 min) 
  • Knife cuts for fruits and vegetables (60 min) (WI Dept of Public Instruction) 
  • Herbs and spices (45 min) 
  • Stocks, soups, and sauces (30 min) 
  • Grains (30 min) 
  • Standardized recipes (15 min) 
  • Menu planning (15 min) 

These School Food Institute Courses from the Chef Ann Foundation provide a dynamic online education experience with community discussion boards, interactive homework assignments graded by Chef Ann, and office hours with Chef Ann. The following courses have a strong culinary component:

Please note: These courses do require a modest enrollment fee.  MSMC schools can use their subgrant funds to pay for these course.

This is a Youtube series with 13 short culinary videos perfect for schools.

Culinary Quick Bites Video (1 hour 10 min)

 

 

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to anyone on the team at any time.

Molly Stenberg - Co-Director

(406) 994-7217

stenberg@montana.edu

Haley Scott - Program Lead

(406) 994-5641

haley.scott1@montana.edu

Kylie Cassidy - Administrative Coordinator

(406) 994-5397

kylie.cassidy@montana.edu

Jay Stagg - Co-Director

(406) 994-5996

jay.stagg@montana.edu 

 

The Montana School Meal Certificate is funded by a USDA Team Nutrition training grant awarded to the Montana Office of Public Instruction.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. 

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