Steps to change your child's school lunch program

Get support- hold meetings at PTA (PTO) groups, hold meetings at local libraries, health food stores, mother groups, anywhere you can find other parents who support this cause (*use the MOMS-INC name to help with credibility)

Meet the school lunch coordinator- Once you have other parents involved, schedule a meeting with your school lunch program coordinator

1. First, send a letter to the school superintendent with your intent to meet with the coordinator and your hopes to help improve the lunch program (see attachment 1)

2. Next, contact the food service coordinator, schedule an appointment that will take approx 30-45 minutes

3. When you meet with the coordinator, use a positive approach on how you are there to help improve the lunch program and work “with” them

4. Use a questionnaire (see attachment 2) to enable you to get a whole picture of their situation, review their menu with them

5. Keep notes at your meeting

6. Explain MOMS-INC thinking and the “Fake 5”

7. Find out what changes they have already made, what changes are planned for the future and what obstacles are in the way

8. Make some suggestions if they seem feasible

9. Write a thank you letter after and set a date to follow up to keep them updated of changes, etc

Set a plan- based on the information you learned from the food service people, decide on the next step

1. Looking at the school menus, see where changes need to be made. Attachment 3 is an example of a typical school lunch menu.

2. Write up a mock menu with some healthy changes (see Whole Food Guidelines for ideas)

3. If budget is the biggest concern, look at our list of recommended manufacturers ( attachment 4), contact them to get some basic cost information, etc

4. Establish a wellness committee and develop a wellness curriculum (see attachment 5 for a template ).

* Attachment 6 is from a company called "Natural Ovens". They created this document called "Whole Food Guidelines" which is another great source of information. It was used as a template by many schools that have made a transition to a healthier school lunch program. While we don't agree with everything they suggest, it does provide many good ideas. (Use the text version for dial up-- file is large)

Make a Proposal- Once you have redesigned a menu, and figured out some basic budgeting information, write up a proposal to present to the school board

Get Attention- invite the press to cover this proposal, or send an article to the paper regarding your plans to change the school lunch, etc