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COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DIVISION OF FOOD AND NUTRITION

INFORMATION REGARDING/INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE DIRECT CERTIFICATION REPORT

Information Effective with the 2011-2012 School Year, it is mandatory that all School Nutrition Program (SNP) sponsors that distribute and process household meal benefit applications perform the Direct Certification (DC) process on the COMPASS (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Access to Social Services) Web site three times a year.

The DC process can be performed two ways on COMPASS. Public school districts can either perform a download or upload, or both, but all other sponsors must perform the upload. Please reference the COMPASS Training Guide, available on the PEARS Form Download, COMPASS section, for step-by- step instructions on completing the DC process on COMPASS.

Since the DC lists will now be updated monthly, the Division of Food and Nutrition (DFN) is highly encouraging sponsors to perform the DC process on a monthly basis. The DFN’s goal is to increase the percentage of directly certified students as the Division of Food and Nutrition is being held accountable by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to meet benchmarks. The goal of the sponsors should be to capture as many directly certified students as possible. The more directly certified students the sponsor has, the less number of household meal benefit applications the sponsor has to review and verify.

Please note: if the DC process is not performed during any of the three DC Process Periods, the sponsor may be placed on Stop Pay. If placed on Stop Pay, the sponsor is still permitted to submit monthly claims, but will not receive reimbursement until they are removed from Stop Pay.

A DC Report must be completed and submitted on the CNPEARS (Child Nutrition Program Electronic Application and Reimbursement System) Web site three times a year. The timeline is reflected on the following table.

Information Regarding/Instructions for Completing the Direct Certification Report August 2011 Page 1 of 16 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DIVISION OF FOOD AND NUTRITION

INFORMATION REGARDING/INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE DIRECT CERTIFICATION REPORT

Direct Direct Direct Instructions for Reporting Certification Certification Certification the Number of Directly Completed Process Period Report Due in Certified Students PEARS August 30th July 1st – August By September 30th Report the total number of 30th directly certified students as of August 30th. Included in this total should be the number of directly certified students currently being carried over from the prior school year as of August 30th. November 30th September 1st – By December 30th Report the total current November 30th number of directly certified students as of November 30th.

February 28th December 1st – By March 30th Report the total current February 28th number of directly certified students as of February 28th.

INFORMATION REGARDING/INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE DIRECT CERTIFICATION REPORT (CONTINUED)

Accessing the DC Report 1. Log into the CNPEARS Web site at www.pears.ed.state.pa.us

2. Click Applications

3. Select Sponsor Application from the dropdown list

4. Make sure you are in the current school year 5. Click Modify

6. The green “GO” button list will appear 7. Click the green “GO” button preceding DC Report

8. Since the DC process has to be performed three times per school year (by August 30th; by November 30th; and by February 28th) on COMPASS, and the DC Report must be completed and submitted on PEARS three times per school year (by September 30th; by December 30th; and by March 30th), click the green “GO” button to access the applicable DC Report.

9. Please note that the DC Process Period and the Due Date of the DC Report will be displayed at the top of the DC Report. See screenshot below for September 30 DC Report.

Completing the DC Report To complete the DC Report, answer the following three questions as reflected on the screenshot below.

If no information is entered on the DC Report and the DC Report is submitted in PEARS, the following errors will appear as reflected in the screenshot below:

 Enter the name and contact information of the person who can answer questions about this report. Enter the school employee responsible for DC. If the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), Division of Food and Nutrition (DFN), contacts the sponsor, the school employee must be knowledgeable and be able to answer questions regarding DC.

 What date was Direct Certification performed on COMPASS? Enter the date the DC process was performed on COMPASS. The DC process must be performed on COMPASS during the DC Process Period. The DC Process cannot be performed prior to the beginning date of the DC Process Period, or performed after the ending date of the DC Process Period.

For example, the DC Process Period for the December 30th DC Report is September 1st through November 30th, so the DC process should be performed beginning September 1st and completed by November 30th.

Please keep in mind that the DC list is updated monthly. You will receive an e-mail notification when the DC list has been updated. Make sure you run the DC process at least once during each DC Process Period.

If a sponsor enters a date prior to or after the DC Process Period, the following errors will appear: For September 30 report – Date Certification Performed must be on or before 1302 I August 30th of the current program year. For December 30 report - Date Certification Performed must be after August 1306 I 30 and on or before November 30th of the current program year. For March 30th report – Date Certification Performed must be after 1307 I November 30 and on or before February 28 of the current program year.

 Total Number of students directly certified. Only include those students that attend schools under your sponsorship.

 Was the Notice of Direct Certification letter sent to the households whose children were on your Direct Certification list? You must answer Yes or No. The Notice of DC letter must be sent to all households whose children appear on the DC list. If there are zero directly certified students during the DC Process Period, you would not have to send any Notice of DC letters and would answer No. If answered no, the following error will appear: Was the Notice of Direct Certification Letter sent to the households whose 1304 children were on your Direct Certification List can only be answered No if Number of students directly certified is 0.

Once you have answered all three questions, please remember to select Submit (same as save) at the bottom of the DC Report, then click Finish.

Information Regarding/Instructions for Completing the Direct Certification Report August 2011 Page 15 of 16 Any questions, please e-mail Pam Heimbach at [email protected], or via phone at 1-800-331-0129, Ext. 434622247, or 717-783-3223.

Information Regarding/Instructions for Completing the Direct Certification Report August 2011 Page 16 of 16