Innovation in School Meals: New Ideas for Creating a Successful School Meal Experience

Background:

Between 2012 and 2014, schools participating in the federally-funded National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs were required to revamp their food and beverage offerings to ensure compliance with new nutritional standards. Implementation of these new standards was a daunting task for some small school districts, including Norwood City School District (NCSD) (Norwood, OH). To change their financial trajectory, NCSD developed an innovative plan to meet business needs of the district while addressing nutritional needs students.

Approach:

Between 2010 and 2015, NCSD/FS implemented a plan to redefine the culture of school food service and improve student meal satisfaction. Activities performed as part of the work plan operationalized common constructs from social cognitive and social learning theories, improving student outcomes expectancies and expectations, and providing opportunities for social modeling and observational learning. From a business perspective, the Department modified their operations to accommodate more scratch cooking, and they also established working relationships with other local businesses to improve their program.

Results:

Since implementing their new model, NCSD/FS has changed from operating as a cost center to operating in a self-sufficient capacity. Their business success has been achieved while maintaining a strong overall NSLP/SBP participation rate. NCSD Food Services continues to source healthy ideas through collaborations with local businesses, and encourages healthy eating practices among students.

Objectives:

Objectives for this portion of the panel presentation are as follows.

By the end of this presentation, the attendee will be able to:

• Compare and contrast activities and strategies implemented by NCSD FSD

• Apply best practices garnered from NCSD FSD to his/her programs