SNAP project catches on in the Southwest - School Nutrition Action Project

School lunch programs work best when there's open communication between food service staff, parents, and students. In the Southwest, a project called SNAP--School Nutrition Action Project--is encouraging open communication and helping schools make positive changes in their lunch programs.

The project, which began in one school in New Mexico, is now catching on in schools in several states, thanks to FNS' Southwest regional office.

Project began

in Albuquerque

A group of concerned parents gave birth to the project at Albuquerque's Longfellow Elementary School when they petitioned Elaine Atkins, food service director for the Albuquerque public schools, to make some major changes in their children's school lunch menus. Adkins was a bit hesitant when the parents' demands were first laid before her, but realized that the motivation the group had could be a powerful ally if channeled in the right direction.

"Some of the changes they wanted to make were financially impossible," she says, "and others just weren't nutritionally sound. What we finally agreed to do was to form a smaller working group where the parents and I would review the menus and work on modifications. Then we would call the entire group back together and discuss what we could and couldn't do."

Extensive negotiations finally culminated in menus both sides were pleased with. Some of the modifications included such things as using whole wheat flour in all baked goods and bread items, serving fresh fruits and vegetables as often as possible and, when canned fruits are served, using those that are packed in their own juices rather than in syrup.

Because of the success in working with parents and making changes at Longfellow, Adkins decided to formalize the process in a project that could be expanded to other Albuquerque schools. She set three main goals: involving parents and students; modifying menus; and building a nutrition network that could help schools teach children to take responsibility for their own well-being by arming them with solid nutrition knowledge.

Other schools

eager to join

Other Albuquerque schools were quick to join. In addition to Longfellow, more than 30 public schools in the city now have SNAP. To participate, each school must set up a nutrition committee and incorporate nutrition education into its curriculum.

The nutrition committee, usually composed of the cafeteria manager, the school nurse, a teacher, a parent and a couple of students, is responsible for evaluating school menus and making manyof the decisions on what changes will be made. Committee members evaluate the success or failure of the changes and make adjustments accordingly.

"One issue that always comes up is whether or not chocolate milk should be served," Adkins says.

Opinions on the subject run the entire gambit. "Some people are convinced that chocolate is going to ruin us all," says Adkins. "Others are willing to tolerate it if it's the only way they can get their kids to drink milk.

"Many schools," she continues, "take a middle ground and offer chocolate milk twice a week, or so." Adkins tries to allow the schools as many internal decisions as possible.

"I want each school to feel that the project is theirs," she says. "They have to ask to become a SNAP school." The request can come from the school nurse, counselor, principal, a teacher, a parent--anyone who is interested.

Motivation is

key to success

One thing Adkins and her staff learned from the Longfellow experience was that the project works best when motivation is already present within the school community.

As a result, they have relied mainly on word-of-mouth advertising for bringing schools into the program. The have, however, readily accepted invitations to speak to interested groups, and they have published a booklet to explain the program to school staff, teachers, students, and parents. The booklet outlines the project's guidelines and contains related nutrition information, health hints, and class projects.

Adkins' staff includes a nutrition coordinator who is responsible for the nutrition education component of SNAP. She conducts one in-service workshop per month for food service employees, plus two full-day training sessions during the year for cafeteria managers. On request, she makes nutrition education presentations to students in their classrooms.

She also publishes a newsletter which contains, among other things, nutrition education lessons that can be adapted by teachers for classroom use. The newsletter is distributed to all schools, each of the district's area offices, and to the school system's curriculum staff.

Adkins' staff is currently working with nutrition experts at the University of New Mexico on a curriculum which Adkins hopes to disseminate throughout the district once it has been developed and tested.

Participating schools

see positive changes

Preliminary results of a research project Adkins conducted, again in conjunction with the University of New Mexico, show that children in SNAP schools have a significantly more positive attitude toward school lunch than do children without SNAP.

The positive attitude came through loud and clear for Jan Jones, chief of the school nutrition programs unit for the Food and Nutrition Service's Southwest region, when she visited Albuquerque for a first-hand look at SNAP in action.

Part of the beauty of the project, says Jones, is its simplicity. "The menu modifications the schools are making are quick and easy. They boil down to simply incorporating the dietary guidelines into their menu-planning process.

"This is really nothing new," she adds, "because the dietary guidelines have been part of the school lunch menu planning guide for several years. SNAP, however, gives the concept a keener focus.

"Albuquerque schools have also taken full advantage of parent and student involvement in the project and are indirectly using it as a marketing tool. The end result is increased stature for school lunch in the community. They seem to be reaping enormous benefits from making a few simple changes."

Taking the idea

to the states

Jones and others at the regional office level were convinced this was an idea other school district could use. They felt they could do regionally what Adkins had done in Albuquerque--that is, make the SNAP concept known, offer assistance if needed, then wait for interest to be shown.

They began by presenting the SNAP concept to state directors of school nutrition and food distribution programs and incorporating the directos' suggestions into an overall project design.

They kept the three components of SNAP--menu modification, parent and student involvement, and nutrition education--but wrote SNAP objectives broadly enough to accommodate differences among states and shools.

To help communities learn about and use the project, the regional staff developed a slide and tape presentation and a prototype press packet for use by both state agencies and local school districts.

The slide-tape series, in addition to explaining what SNAP is, explores how eating habits are developed and how research is now showing that our health may be related to our dietary habits.

The prototype press packet provides a sample news release, two taped public service announcements that can be reproduced and distributed locally, sample fact sheets, and a few important tips on planning a successful publicity campaign or media event, such as inviting local reporters to join students for a SNAP lunch.

To encourage idea-sharing, Jones and her stafff put together a bulletin called "SNAP-Shots." A concise summary of SNAP activities occurring at the state and local levels. "SNAP-Shots" is distributed periodically throughout the Southwest region.

State respond

in various ways

As Jones explains, each state agency's approach to SNAP has been different." Some, like the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, which administers the private school programs, liked what they saw, trained their food service personnel during summer workshops, and implemented the concept with the opening of school this fall."

The education departments in Louisiana and New Mexico presented the SNAP concept this spring and summer at school food service association conventions and other meetings and workshops for local school food service personnel.

The Oklahoma Department of Education decided to target SNAP toward their largest school districts first and, in Texas, the Department of Human Services saw a logical role for SNAP in their Nutrition Education and Training (NET) Program.

During the coming year, Jones hopes states in the region will focus on different aspects of SNAP and share with each other what they develop. The FNS regional office's role will be to facilitate this sharing.

"One thing we hope to accomplish is to place our school programs back in a position of leadership," she adds. "People today are extremely interested in health and fitness. It's a perfect opportunity for school nutrition programs to become known as a reliable source for nutrition information and to play an important role in combatting misinformation."

Each issue of "SNAP-Shots" ends with the slogan "Better Nutrition is a SNAP." For schools in the Southwest, it's a slogan--and a reality--that's becoming increasingly familiar.

For more information on SNAP, contact: H.H. Pullium, Regional Director Special Nutrition Programs Southwest Regional Office Food and Nutrition Service, USDA 1000 Commerce Street Dallas, Texas 75242 Telephone: (214) 767-0214

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