Workshop

Districts attend a two-day workshop where they will:

• Receive a detailed overview of the Get Schools Program, discussing its history and the expectations of participating in the program
• Review foundational strategies for successful school food reform through sessions such as recipe development, the importance of financial tracking, and how to best support staff to create change.
• Visit a partner district’s operation to discuss what it is like working with the Chef Ann Foundation, and includes visits to kitchens and cafeterias to see scratch cooking operations first-hand.

School Food Institute Courses

Each district selected for the program receives two Gold Certificates to Chef Ann Foundation’s virtual School Food Institute. Each Gold Certificate represents 8 courses, selected from the 11 available courses, including School Food Procurement, Recipes & Menu Development and Salad Bars in Schools. Each course is self-paced and meets USDA professional standards learning objectives.

On-site Assessment

School food experts observe all aspects of the current practices in action and collect key operational data to provide recommended actions for improvement in five key areas of school food operations:

• Food (i.e. procurement, commodities, recipe and menu development);
• Finance (i.e. budget development, meal counts, eligibility processing);
• Facilities (i.e. salad bars, cooking and service equipment);
• Human Resources (i.e. job descriptions, professional development, staffing structure); and
• Marketing (i.e. communications with students and parents, social media, branding and logo).

A post-assessment report, including recommendations, is provided to use as a guide for next steps and working with leadership and the school community.

Assessment Report

An assessment report of recommendations is provided to the district as a guide for next steps, working with both district leadership and the school community. The Center for Good Food Purchasing will conduct a baseline procurement assessment, while the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition provide a baseline score of the healthfulness of the school meals served, otherwise known as the Healthy Meals Score.

Strategic Planning

School food experts provide key district leadership with a strategic plan to review the recommendations from the assessment report, and the necessary actions the district would need to take in order to achieve the desired changes necessary for a succesful scratch cooking model.

Technical Assistance

The Chef Ann Foundation will provide districts both on-site and one-on-one virtual technical assistance support in areas identified in the assessment report. Areas include, but are not limited to: culinary skills, kitchen efficiency, budget development, staffing plan, recipe development, or marketing. Past districts have used additional training and TA to:

• eliminate flavored milk from their menus;
• accurately update their financial tracking tools;
• develop new recipes and kitchen efficiencies.

Connect and Reflect

Connect and Reflect provides peer-to-peer support sessions for districts to discuss current school food topics, share information, and keep up to date with what other districts are doing across Cohorts.

Systems Assistance Grant

Districts have the opportunity to apply for a one-time systems assistance grant that is designed to support the identified needs and goals of their program. This grant has been used by past participants to:

• purchase kitchen equipment used to prepare scratch cooked meals;
• implement salad bars that support the consumption of a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables;
• purchase software that allows districts to track inventory, manage production records, and incorporate new recipes;
• train staff on recipe development and testing.

Evaluations

Following assessment, districts participate in qualitative interviews and submit up-to-date program data to measure their progress in the program. The Chef Ann Foundation partners with the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition to complete a comprehensive evaluation of change management. Additionally, the Chef Ann Foundation also partners with the Good Food Purchasing Program will generate a follow-up procurement assessment to gauge the connection between scratch cooking and value based procurement.