Rural School Food Service Director Perceptions on Voluntary School Meal Reforms

Natoshia Askelson,Disa Cornish,Elizabeth Golembiewski

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2015.061.007

Abstract

This mixed-method study examined rural U.S. food service directors' perceptions of and experiences with voluntary school meal programs, which have the potential to improve school nutrition but have not been widely adopted in rural areas of the United States. Little is known about how rural food service directors perceive these programs. Interview and survey instruments examined how rural food service directors characterize barriers and facilitators to participation in voluntary school meal programs like farm-to-school and school garden programs. Rural school food service directors participated in a semistructured telephone interview (n=67) and an online survey (n=57). We defined rural school districts by the most rural locale codes (as categorized by the National Center for Education Statistics) in a midsized Midwestern state. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. We analyzed qualitative responses using thematic coding. The qualitative analysis revealed that directors had little experience with these programs and perceived these programs to be very challenging to implement. Issues common to rural school districts were a very small staff, lack of concrete knowledge about how these programs work, and lack of access to local producers and chefs. These findings underscore the need to consider the unique situation of rural schools when promoting voluntary school meals reform programs. We make recommendations about adopting and adapting these voluntary programs to better fit the reality of rural areas. See the press release for this article.

Highlights

The U.S Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) was the first legislation in decades to dramatically change school meals
There are many efforts nationally in support of voluntary school lunch reforms that aim to increase the nutritional quality of school meals; these include programs like school gardens, farm-toschool movements, and the Chefs Move to Schools initiative
The purpose of our current research is to explore the experiences of rural school food service directors with voluntary school meal reform efforts in one rural, Midwestern state with low participation in farm-to-school and school gardens

Summary

Introduction

The U.S Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) was the first legislation in decades to dramatically change school meals. Some of these changes included increasing the portions of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that are served, while limiting fat, calories, and sodium. Voluntary changes and programs such as farm-to-school and school gardens have been options for school food service programs to supplement healthy school meals and provide sustainable outlets for food procurements. None of these voluntary reforms and programs, has been widely adopted. Approaches like collaborating with local growers, maintaining a school garden, and working with community members may provide solutions to challenges they face by increasing access to fresh food and student participation in meals

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