School lunch in Gainesville; from cash box to computer - Gainesville, Florida

School Lunch in Gainesville: From Cash Box to Computer

For many people in Gainesville, Florida, GATORS means only one thing--the University of Florida sports teams. But for school lunch managers, GATORS means Gainesville Automated Terminal Online Resource System, a state-of-the-art computer project that spells relief from paperwork while providing improved accountability for the school lunch program.

In 1981, the Alachua County school board decided to make better and more extensive use of computers throughout the 30-school district. County food service director, Bronna Godwin, who has recently retired, welcomed the chance to modernize school lunch operations.

"In looking at our business systems," says Godwin, "we realized they were old fashioned and unreliable." All monies for the school breakfast and lunch programs were collected in tin cash boxes and participation counts were tallied as hash marks on a form.

"We had a totally manual system. We knew we needed a change because we were handling more money than many companies in the area. We were running a $5 million business out of tin boxes."

Special terminals installed in schools

The first area Godwin addressed was cash collection and accountability for meals served. "Accurate meal counts are important," she says, "because they dtermine federal reimbursements." After reviewing a study on how to best use available computer technology, she decided to install point-of-sale cash register terminals in each of the 30 schools.

As Godwin explains, the terminals are placed at the end of the food line like ordinary cash registers. As children move through the line, the cashier at the terminal keys in information on the sale--for example, whether the meal is served free, at reduced-price, or at full price to students. Infornation on a la carte sales and meals served to adults is also keyed in.

Each terminal has a modem attached, which allows the terminal to communicate through a separate, direct phone line to a host mainframe computer located at the school board office. The food service staff and school board accountants view data from the schools on terminals that are linked to the mainframe.

Many chain restauratns use this same type of setup since it provides accurate accounting at the point of sale with appropriate checks and balances for cash collection.

A computer program, developed as a part of GATORS, transfers data from the schools' terminals to the mainframe host computer. The mainframe computer "polls" each school terminal at night through a telecommunications software program that retrieves data on school lunch activities that day.

System is fast and accurate

Electronic polling improves accuracy over manual keypunching since data is punched in only once at the point of sale. And it is faster--it would take one person almost 8 hours to keypunch one day's data that is now transmitted from all schools in less than an hour over phone lines.

If there is a telephone transmission problem with a school, data can be keypunched into the mainframe computer. While this takes longer than telephone transmission, it is still much faster thant he old manual system.

Persuading lunch managers to change to a new computerized cash collection system wasn't easy. "I had managers break out in hives during computer training because they were used to their tin boxes and forms," laughs Godwin.

In the first year, there was a fear of dealing with technology. "The managers were initially worried about the instant feedback we had on their school lunch data the next morning," says Godwin. But due to the proper atmosphere and support, the GATORS systems has been accepted well. "Now you can't find anyone who would even think about going back to the old system," Godwin says.

One of the benefits of GATORS is that managers now have more time for food and employee supervision rather than duplication of clerical work. In Gainesville, school lunch managers can save up to 6 hours a week of their time and almost 3 hours of their employees' time a week.

At one school, 30 forms a week have been eliminated thanks to automation. USDA's Office of Inspector General audited GATORS and found that it was effective in gathering and summarizing school lunch data.

"The terminals also help speed students through the lunch lines since item costs are programmed right in," says Godwin.

Even though the GATORS computer network is extremely sophisticated, the key to its success is the simplicity, accountability and flexibility built in. Most schools use only one terminal. "We put an additional terminal in a school only if it is needed due to an additional food line," Godwin explains.

Lunch data from the secondary terminal at a school is punched into the primary register at the end of the lunch period. All data is stored in the primary register until the host computer pools it that night.

Reports help managers plan

As a part of GATORS, management reports that include information on participation, food costs, and labor costs are provided to each school manager. This enables school lunch managers to compare their costs with other schools' costs and to evaluate ways to better manage their programs.

"We want each school food manager to see how much labor and food cost is involved with the meal. With this information, we're challenged to see if we can do it for less," says Godwin.

Management reports also help managers evaluate the expense involved in sophisticated kitchen equipment. "I think managers would be less prone to want some of the bells and whistles on equipment if they were aware there is a direct charge back to their programs.

"We want them to ask whether we should pay for the bells and whistles or put this money back into higher quality food for the students. There are many decisions that can be made and attitudes than can be adjusted based on the information that our reports provide," says Godwin.

GATORS works with the system each school has in place to protect the identity of those students who receive free and reduced-price meals, about 50 percent of those served in Alachua County.

Cashies identify the type of meal by a code on meal tickets or roster of students. "We want the food service program to be a satisfying and positive part of the school day. We don't want anyone to feel different," says Godwin.

For paid lunches, Godwin encourages students to prepay by offering a discount if at least five meals are paid in advance. "Parents have picked up on this incentive, which helps us plan our food needs better while saving students money," she says.

One way Godwin keeps cost to a minimum is the use of USDA-donated commodities. "We use all the USDA commodities that we can since it can really cut our costs. I encourage my managers to be innovative in utilizing the donated foods," she says.

The county has computerized the inventory of USDA commodities, making it easy for lunch managers to keep track of what foods they're using, what they have on hand, and what they need to order.

The change was worth the effort

From the start, Godwin was convinced that computerizing the lunch program was worth the effort and financial commitment it required. The county had the option of buying or leasing the computer equipment. They decided to buy the terminals for the schools--postponing some kitchen equipment purchases to pay for them--and lease the telephone modems.

"We wanted to show the school lunch managers our commitment to this project through our purchase of the terminals," says Godwin. "When you lease computer equipment, people sometimes think that it will be replaced or taken out if problems come up. We were dedicated to changing to the best technology available."

In deciding how to automate their lunch programs, Godwin suggests schools evaluate their needs carefully. "A system has to fit the needs of people and the priorities of that particular location," she says. Due to the expense involved in changing to computers, a system like GATORS may be best suited for those school districts that need to automate or have obsolete equipment.

Before automating her own program, Godwin spent time looking into how computers were helping other food service people. She feels school lunch managers can learn a lot from private industry.

"We have to look at what people in private industry--for instance the fast food chains--have developed for inventoris and sales to see if that is a need we have," she says.

County program is now a model

Harold Blanton, state food and nutrition director, is encouraging other Florida districts to adopt the GATORS system. "We are hopeful that many school systems will take advantage of this technology. At this time, around 15 counties plan to use all or part of the model," says Blanton.

Among the school systems that are implementing or are interested in GATORS are Dade County (Miami), Duval County (Jacksonville), and in Georgia, Atlanta. Alachua County staff have held a number of seminars on GATORS technology for other school districts.

GATORS is part of FIRN (Florida Information Resource Network) that will link all Florida school districts, universities, and the state education office later this year. This will allow computers to transfer funds for school food service throughout the state.

Alachua County is already sending school lunch participation reports to the state office through FIRN, which allows quicker reimbursement of funds.

GATORS has given Gainesville a more effective school lunch program today. Tomorrow it may be a management information system that is used in school lunch programs throughout the country.

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