(a) Certified Food Safety Manager – a school nutrition employee who holds a state approved food safety certificate as defined in the Georgia Rules and Regulations for Food Service:  Chapter 290-5-14.03 (3)(b).

   (b) Classified school nutrition manager – an individual who meets one of the following conditions:

   1. Manager trainee – holds a minimum of a high-school diploma or GED or was employed as manager prior to September 1, 1988; employment in this classification has been uninterrupted; and the individual has completed 30 credit hours of core Training-In-Depth (TID) annually toward completion of 150 hours.

   2. Manager I – holds a high school diploma or GED or was employed as manager prior to September 1, 1988; and has completed the core TID.

   3. Manager II – holds an associate or more advanced degree; and has completed the core TID..

   4. Manager III – holds a school nutrition director service certificate issued by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission.

   5. Manager/Supervisor – was employed as Manager/Supervisor prior to July 1, 2015, or meets one of the following conditions:

• holds an associate degree in a specific major (food and nutrition, food service management, dietetics, family and consumer sciences, nutrition education, culinary arts, business or a related field) with two years of relevant school nutrition programs experience, or
• holds a Bachelor’s degree in any academic major with two years of relevant school nutrition programs experience, or
• holds a Bachelor’s degree with any academic major and a school nutrition director service certificate issued by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, or
• holds a Bachelor’s degree with academic major in food and nutrition, food service management, dietetics, family and consumer sciences, nutrition education, culinary arts, business, or a related field.

All manager/supervisors must complete 30 credit hours of core TID annually until all core requirements are met. All must meet the requirements of director as specified in paragraph (2)(a)5(ii) of Rule 160-5-1-.22 Personnel Required in systems of less than base size having four or fewer schools.

   (c) Competitive Foods - foods defined by Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in Sections 210.11 and 220.12 as any food item that is sold to children other than foods sold or served as part of the National School Lunch (NSLP) and Breakfast (NSBP) Programs on the school campus during the school day or Smart Snacks, as defined by USDA regulations.  

   (d) Core TID Courses - Courses authorized by state law and state board rule for Classified School Nutrition Managers and constituting the 150 credit hours that must be earned within the first five years employed as a Classified School Nutrition Manager.

   (e) Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GPSC) – a state agency with the central responsibility for establishing a certification/licensure process that is streamlined, understandable, and flexible in order to remove barriers and to attract qualified individuals to the education profession.

   (f) Local Board of Education (LBOE) – a county or independent board of education exercising control and management of a local school system pursuant to Article VIII, Section V, Paragraph II of the Georgia Constitution.

   (g) Primary responsibilities related to meal accountability functions – prepayment and collection of cash and counting meals at point-of-service except in kindergarten and special entities, including, but not limited to, special education, alternative schools, in-school suspension, and special events; counting cash for deposit; final and official approval and verification of free and reduced-price meal applications; oversight of the process for assuring accuracy and completeness of related regulatory functions; and maintenance of an official master list of eligible students.

   (h) School Campus - all areas of the property under the jurisdiction of the school that are accessible to students during the school day.

   (i) School Day - the period from 12:00 a.m. until 30 minutes after the official end of the school day.

   (j) School nutrition program director – an individual who holds a school nutrition director service certificate issued by the GPSC and meets the requirements of director as specified in State Board of Education (SBOE) Rule 160-5-1-.22 Personnel Required.

   (k) School nutrition program director trainee – an individual who holds a certificate issued by the GPSC other than that which is in-field; and completes 6 semester hours annually toward the requirement for a school nutrition director service certificate issued by the GPSC; and meets requirements of director as specified in SBOE Rule 160-5-1-.22 Personnel Required (2)(a)5(i) for systems of less than base size having five or more schools.

   (l) School nutrition program personnel – those program personnel whose job responsibility relates to the planning, purchasing, preparing, service, accounting required by the program and whose wages are eligible for payment from school nutrition program funds.

   (m) Smart Snacks - science-based nutrition standards for snack foods and beverages sold to children at school during the school day.

   (n) State-approved nutrition program – a federal lunch program which operates in every school and is available to every enrolled student in attendance during the period of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and a breakfast program as required by O.C.G.A. § 20-2-66, including notification in the dominant languages to parents and students of the availability of the school breakfast program in all participating schools.

   (o) State performance standard – the standard used to allot state school lunch appropriations that prescribes a minimum of 85 lunches to be produced during eight hours of work by a full-time equivalent school nutrition position.

   (2) REQUIREMENTS.

   (a) Each local board of education shall through policy or administrative procedure maximize student participation and quality meals in the school nutrition program by providing the following:

   1. Participation by all schools in a state-approved nutrition program.

   2. A policy regarding the sale of competitive foods which includes the following, at a minimum:

   (i) Adherence to Public Law 11 – 296, The Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010 regarding exempt fundraisers; and

   (ii) Prohibitions from the sale of foods that do not meet the federal criteria:

   (I) During the school day; and    

   (II) On the school campus.

    3. A job-related training program for school nutrition program personnel that when implemented: 

   (i) Adheres to the federal rules regarding Professional Standards for local school nutrition personnel.

   (ii) Makes in-service training available to program personnel annually, based on local needs and consistent with requirements of Rule 160-3-3-.04 Professional Learning.  

   (iii) Requires all new employees to complete within the first full school year of employment training in program goals and philosophy, human relationships and service skills, safe and sanitary food handling, and first aid consistent with the department’s curriculum or approved local alternate.

   (iv) Facilitates 30 credit-hour training courses prescribed by the department through outline and/or curricula, sponsored by the local school system or postsecondary vocational school, and taught by school nutrition directors/managers or other qualified instructors.

   4. Requires each food service facility to have at least one school nutrition employee on site to be certified as a food safety manager, designated for that one site, who has successfully completed a state-approved food safety training program and passed a professionally validated Certified Food Safety Manager (CFSM) examination that is accredited by the Conference for Food Protection or other accrediting agency as conforming to national standards for organizations that certify individuals.

   5. Assignment of primary responsibilities related to meal accountability functions to school nutrition personnel.

   6. In base-size school systems, system-level supervisory school nutrition personnel employed in addition to those required by paragraph (2)(a)5 of Rule 160-5-1-.22 Personnel Required and assigned to manage or supervise or train multiple school sites shall minimally meet requirements of a classified school nutrition manager/supervisor or school nutrition program director trainee.

   7. A locally established salary schedule and number of full-time equivalent positions which meet or exceed the minimum state performance standard.

Authority O.C.G.A. § 20-2-66; 20-2-187.

Adopted:  July 16, 2015                                             Effective:  August 6, 2015