P195 - Eat Smart Idaho Uses Strong Partnerships as the Backbone for Smarter Lunchroom Success

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Objective: Eat Smart Idaho, the Coeur d'Alene School District Food Service staff and two local fire departments entered into a unique partnership to boost all 10 elementary schools up to Gold Status by the fall of 2018 using the Smarter Lunchroom Assessment Tool. In the fall of 2015, before the implementation of this partnership, eight schools received Bronze Status and two received Silver Status. Target Audience: The Coeur d'Alene School District includes 10 elementary schools serving over 5,200 youth; 50.4% of youth are on free or reduced lunch. Theory, Prior Research, Rationale: A smarter lunchroom nudges kids towards nutritious foods. Cornell University's Smarter Lunchroom is a program giving opportunity for kids to select and consume a balanced diet. It applies research-based principles leading children to make healthy choices. Description: Several concepts were implemented to raise schools to Gold Status: local firefighters from two departments were used as healthy role models for the district; Harvests of the Month were implemented to encourage healthy eating habits; hundreds of youth were used to creatively name each vegetable, fruit, main dish and dairy offering served in the district, and monthly breakfast and lunch menus have been revamped with nutrition messaging. Evaluation: All 10 elementary schools were re-evaluated in September 2017 using the Smarter Lunchrooms Scorecard. The scorecard contains 60 simple lunchrooms strategies to increase consumption of healthy foods. Each elementary school in the district reached our goal of Gold Status. Conclusions and Implications: The partnerships created to increase the success of Smarter Lunchroom in the Coeur d'Alene School District has been invaluable. Through Eat Smart Idaho's outreach, the Post Falls School District and their local fire department have initiated talks to implement a similar program. Additionally, the Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL) Community Healthy Initiative Youth Sub-Committee group has initiated talks to bring these ideas statewide. Funding: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—Education, Idaho's Department of Health and Welfare, Coeur d'Alene School District.