You will have to interact with many audiences throughout your CHOICE campaign. These include: Parents, Educators, Administrators, Food Services, and Students. The more you understand each audience's needs, expectations, and concerns, the better your relationship will develop with them.
Parents
Educators
Administrators / Principals
Students
Food Services
Local Businesses
Medical Community
Parents are perhaps the most important audience for you to work with. Clearly they have a personal stake in their children's health and well being, and schools do tend to recognize and support their concerns.
In general, parents are aware that their children should eat foods low in fats, sugars and sodiums, and they would like to see their children eat more fruit and vegetables. They will also have questions regarding the current status of their local school lunch program. But they are often not aware of the devastating effects that can be incurred through a lifetime consumption of a meat and dairy-centered diet.
Parent's will want / need to know the following:
1. The basics and current status of the school lunch program. (Let them know that even though there are restrictions and challenges facing the school lunch program, they do not have to accept them.)
2. The statistics regarding children's diet (in terms of fruits,veggies, fats, etc.).
3. What a plant-based diet is, why it is the basis for good health, and what are the implications of a meat-based diet on their children's health.
4. How they can participate in improving school lunches and helping their children to choose a healthier lifestyle..The most important channel for reaching parents is the schools PTO / PTA. Keep open communication with parents, and provide them with materials directly from the medical community that emphasize the importance of a plant-based diet.
It is crucial for parents to understand that you are advocating healthy choices and plant-based options. You are not trying to impose your standards upon their children; rather you are requesting options for children who would prefer healthier meals.
Parents will vary in their response to the CHOICE campaign. In general, parents will appreciate your efforts, but will only support them from afar. Encourage all parents to take lunch with their children and know what is being served in the cafeteria. For guidelines on working with the PTA / PTO, and providing information to parents, click here.
Educators are a critical component of your local effort. If student's do not have proper nutrition education and experience with healthier foods in their classroom activities, it will be very difficult to get them to eat the healthier foods when they are served in the cafeteria. Thus developing a solid relationship with educators, and working with them to educate students and provide unique opportunities for them to try new foods is a cornerstone of your effort.
Educators have a genuine desire to provide the best for their students. They can help you meet with students, involve other teachers and influence administration. But educators are also pressured by many expectations in the form of discipline, FCAT testing, parent's expectations and oversized classrooms. Reach teachers either through a personal meeting, or through a group meeting scheduled by a teacher or school administrator. (If meeting one-on-one, schedule your conference in advance.)
Educators will want to know that the materials you are offering are:
• Up-to-date and scientifically sound, and
• Presented in a balanced manner that is stimulating to students.If you are qualified to do so and wish to speak to the class, the teacher will also assess your general demeanor to be sure you can be effective and trusted with their students. He or she will also want to feel confident that you will be supportive of their efforts -- an asset, rather than an imposition.
While scrutiny may sometimes seem daunting, know that teachers are anxious to have access to new information and materials. A guest speaker provides the class with fresh perspectives, and offers the educator a bit of a break.
For lesson plans, class activities, teaching aids, and information on presentations, click here.
Your goal with the school principal is to encourage them to welcome you into their school, introduce you to the right teachers, invite you to give presentations to the students and have you work with their food service department to coordinate improved meals and cafeteria settings.
Principals are busy. They carry diverse responsibility, including final accountability for all school actions, coordination of staff, oversight of school facilities, discipline of students, interaction with parents, day to day decisions, and administration of school board policies.
They are often not easy to reach, so don't become impatient.When meeting with the school principle, keep your message concise. Questions to ask your principal or school board member:
Who makes decisions about "what's for lunch"?
How can parents participate in the policy-making process?
Does the school or school district post its lunch menus for the week and do the menus provide information about nutrition facts?
Be accurate and provide written material.
Principals will want to know how your program will improve the school. The major selling point is having a school that 'sets the standard' in nutrition. Schools are concerned about childhood obesity and know that change is coming. Help them see that change can be easy to implement, that change can bring positive recognition, and that change will improve the health of their students. Healthy foods not only improve children's physical health, they alsot improve their behavior. Do your homework, and provide interesting materials (check out the In the News section of this website). Other points you will want to incorporate include:
•Your purposes and goals.
•The link between diet and disease, learning and emotional behaviors.
•Your alignment with programs such as "5 A Day" and Team Nutrition
•Successes in other schools
•A mutual appreciation for education, academic performance and the well being of the school's student.As with all audiences, it is important that you understand the principal's concerns. Principals are responsible for the overall picture. So their involvement in your local effort should extend beyond healthy meal selection into support areas. You may discuss and partner with the principal regarding ways to improve the cafeteria environment, provide improved facility -- such as contacts with local organic farmers who would be willing to provide produce at low prices -- and discuss outreach to parents, educators and students.
However, because principals are already busy on many fronts, they will not want to take on additional actions. Every idea you introduce should be one that you can implement without their help. So speak with students and the art teacher about painting a 'healthy meals' mural in the cafeteria, bring sample letters for parents, research local produce in advance,etc.
Principals may introduce obstacles such as 1) we tried something along those lines before and it didn't work, 2) fresh fruit is too expensive, or 3) we're short staffed, and it will make it more difficult for our food service providers if they have to prepare new meals.
Sometimes these concerns are a polite way of saying, 'we are not interested.' But more often they are really saying, 'hey, what you say is good, but it is too difficult to do anything about it.' Listen carefully, and genuinely consider how you can help overcome their difficulties. Think outside the box. When you come up with ideas, suggest them, and be ready to implement them. (If you have thoughts after the meeting, send them to the principle in writing). If you can show you are serious and here to help, principals will be more inclined to "have you on board."
Remember too that principals are approached with a myriad of expectations daily. Make your interaction pleasant, so that they look forward to your meeting. Help them enjoy the repose of your meeting. If appropriate bring snacks, and try to develop a respectful friendship.
For support materials and relevant resources to utilize when working with principals, click here.
Older students like to be informed, especially with information that is not so readily available. They like to be empowered, and are often eager to make a difference. Younger students are sensitive to concerns about hurting animals or destroying their environment. They may be looking for ways and reasons to enjoy alternative foods. In both cases, your role is to provide necessary information and empower them to make changes in their life and in their school.
It's important that whoever liaisons with the students enjoys working with kids, knows how to motivate them, and can generate a comforable and trusting environment.
To reach students you will have to either work with teachers, the student council or form an after-school club (for ideas, activities and support materials, click here). Information provided should be given with due respect to time, place and circumstance. Always lead with the positive. Then weigh what other information is appropriate. Additionally, you may provide information regarding:
•The intimate link between what they eat, how they feel and the health of their body.
•Delicious alternative foods
•The link between food choices and crucial environmental issues.
•The realities of animal agriculture.Because children are often feeling pressured by academic demands and school rules, they seldom have a sense of how much their opinions, when presented constructively, matter! If you can help them find the means to express opinions and glean positive results, they will be increasingly involved and enthusiastic.
If you are successful in reaching and inspiring students, you will be able to act as a liaison between them and the school administration and food service providers. If students are enthusiastic, knowledgeable and resolute, they can spearhead change in their school, and will be influenced by their healthy food habits throughout their life.
As a final piece of advice…don't enter into projects with children that you are not prepared to follow through with. Trust is very important. Be prepared to stay involved for a long haul (a semester, or a year) and follow through: stay in contact with children who come forward, and work to see that their expectations are met.
The Food Service Coordinator / Director is responsible for all aspects of food preparation including: menu preparation, purchasing, finances and coordinating staff. A Food Service Director generally oversees a full district, while a coordinator generally oversees an individual school..
More than likely, your school food service coordinator is aware of the importance of serving healthy meals. The need for healthy meals is discussed regularly on the American School Food Service Association (ASFSA) website. But what is a healthy meal, and what changes must be implemented to serve healthier meals?
Food Service providers often work on minimal budgets. Their staff are underpaid, their kitchens are often underequipped, and they generally have a very limited time to prepare meals. Additionally, many kitchens run in the red; making them increasingly dependent on government subsidies. Finally, people tend to cook and serve the foods they are most familiar with and enjoy eating themselves, so if they have had little exposure to healthier, plant-based menus, it will be more difficult for them to provide such a meal on the lunch line.
For these reasons, change often comes slowly.
To generate more rapid improvement and healthier meals, you must be very pro-active, build a healthy relationship with your food service provider, and provide healthy school meal tools and aids (such as recipes, placemats, menus, mailings, posters, etc.) For suggested actions, click here.
Local Retailers / Wholesalers / Distributors / Farmers
Depending on your location, you may have access to community members who can help provide sample foods or discounted bulk items.
Their motivation for helping would be either based on concern for the health and well being of the students / children in the community, or a longer term benefit of increasing their market range.
Once you know the scope of your project, consider if there are local business leaders who can help. Their involvement provides added resource and additional clout.
Local Members of the Medical Community
If you have doctors, nurses, dieticians, or professors in your community who advocate a plant-based diet with their patients, you may wish to enlist their help in your local school effort. They can lend their name, write letters or speak at PTO meetings.
Effecting Change
Overview | How to Begin | Know Your Audience
Build A Team | Actions | Support
