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

Food and Nutrition, Jan, 1986 by C. Kay Blakley

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.