Recent Updates to Free/Reduced Lunch

Overview

This article was created to list all of the latest updates to the Lunch module in Genesis. The following is current as of 8/1/2024

Release Notes

7/31/2024

* Direct Certification
 - Genesis is compatible with updates found in 7/30/24 memo for "SY 2024-2025 Direct Certification Application Update"

7/30/2024

* Online Lunch Application
 - Updated Lunch Eligibility numbers in Lunch Application Welcome Text when loaded.

7/24/2024

--------------- Fixed / Changed
* Report 21033 - Food Services: MEL Master Eligibility List (Form 128)
- Added MEDICAID columns

* Minor fixes and updates

--------------- New / Enhanced
* Online Lunch Application.
- The phrase Required if Applying for School Meals Only was added and placed by the request for the last 4 digits of the SSN as now required by the USDA
- Check to Opt-out of Summer EBT Benefits check box was moved to "Certify and Submit" portion of the application as requested by the State.

* Report 21037 - Food Services: Eligibility Letters (Form 70)
- New report for 2024 eligibility letters

* Report 21038 - Food Services: Verify Letters (Form 236)
- Report updated for 2024 letters

* Report 21039 - Food Services: Verify Letters (Form 244)
 - Report updated for 2024 letters

7/10/2024

* Lunch Applications

- Updates made per 7/3/24 School Nutrition Programs (SNP) memo

- The name that appears in the Parent Portal Lunch Application has been changed to "School Meals and Summer EBT Application". The name is editable

via Parents -> Setup -> Settings -> Lunch Application Settings

- The option "Display as 'Meal Application' rather than 'Lunch Application'" has been removed from the system as the name is now fully editable.

- A checkbox labeled "We do not wish to obtain Summer EBT benefits" has been added to page 3 of the application. It includes a link to https://www.nj.gov/summerebt/

The resulting data is stored in on the LunchApplication object as a boolean "denySummerEBTBenefits".

- The "Lunch Application 'Certify and Submit' Text:" has been updated to include "For Summer EBT Only: I certify that I am not already receiving Summer EBT benefits in another State" in the certify statement. This is editable via Parents -> Setup -> Settings -> Lunch Application Settings

6/20/2024

* Parent Lunch Applications
- Lunch Application Setting "Do not allow lunch applications for students with DC records:", will not affect students with a lunch code of
 DMR - Direct Cert-MEDICAID Reduced. These students will be able to apply.

6/18/2024

--------------- Fixed / Changed
* Lunch Eligibility
- Federal & New Jersey Expanded Income Eligibility Guidelines updated for 2024-25 school year. Lunch updates will appear in the 24-25 school year the morning after your district rolls over to the 2024-25 school year. Remember to update the "Lunch Application Welcome Text" if you are using the Parent Portal Lunch Applications in Genesis (Parents -> Settings -> District Settings -> Lunch Application Settings).
https://howell.edliotest.com/Food%20Services/Federal%20and%20NJEIE%20Income%20Guidelines.pdf

5/29/2024

--------------- New / Enhanced
* New built in report
- Report 9236 - Summer EBT Report
- This report is used to populate your Summer EBT template for uploading to SNEARS. By default, this report will generate all students active as of today's date. Optionally, students without qualifying lunch codes may be excluded.
Students with code S or NJF will not qualify as Free. Students who are paid or denied will still appear on the report with no eligibility listed. Extra columns of data labeled with X were added to assist with troubleshooting.
 Local Site ID is populated from the school's SFA ID field (Setup>Schools)

4/27/2024

--------------- Fixed / Changed
* 9236 - Summer EBT 2024 Report Update
 - Federal Eligibility Indicator now shows "S" for students with NJ Free lunch code F/R Eligibility Start Date & Federal F/R Eligibility Type columns were updated to display eligibility information only for students who appear with "F" or "R" in the Fed. Eligibility Indicator column