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With 152 out of 242 SNS staff responding, the results on the survey have statistical validity and a 4.9 percent margin of error. Prismatic monitored the survey returns by school and determined that surveys were received from a representative sample of the SNS staff population.
Most of the SNS staff respondents work 20 hours or less (63%). Most were new to their current assignment (59% at their location one to five years), with 10 years or less in SNS (59%).
Respondents were evenly split among the school levels (elementary, middle, and high). SNS staff respondents were largely complimentary in most areas, with some exceptions:
More than half feel the cafeteria is too noisy at lunch.
Half feel there are not enough adults to supervise lunch.
Nearly half feel that the meals they eat at home are healthier.
Thirty-nine (39) percent agree that students throw away most of the lunch they take. Thirty-eight (38) percent agree that they run out of popular foods before everyone is served. One-third believe that students regularly take food without paying for it.
One-fourth believe that students purchase food from vending machines or school stores
rather than eat school lunch.
Nearly one-fourth are actively looking for a job elsewhere.
On the SNS staff survey Prismatic asked four open-ended questions related to the district meal program:
How could school breakfast be improved? How could school lunch be improved?
What kinds of things would improve your job satisfaction? How could the child nutrition department be improved?
Responding to these items was optional; not all survey respondents answered all four questions.
Exhibits 2-3 through 2-6 provide a summary of SNS staff responses to the open-ended questions,
developed through recoding of all responses provided. It should be noted that a respondent could provide answers that fit into multiple categories for each question. In those instances, a respondent’s answer was recorded in as many categories as necessary to capture all their opinions.
As shown, SNS staff feels that improving food variety (defined as either having different menu options or including specific food items) would improve both breakfast and lunch. Two-thirds think
SNS overall would be improved by improving food quality/cooking on-site. One-third think their jobs would be improved by being able to work more hours.
Exhibit 2-3
Summary SNS Staff Responses to School Breakfast Open-Ended Question How Could School Breakfast Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 5 8%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 4 7%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 27 46%
Improve food presentation 10 17%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 4 7%
Provide more time to eat 9 15%
TOTAL 59 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
Exhibit 2-4
Summary SNS Staff Responses to School Lunch Open-Ended Question How Could School Lunch Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 12 16%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 9 12%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 35 47%
Improve food presentation 9 12%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 8 11%
Provide more time to eat 2 3%
TOTAL 75 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
Exhibit 2-5
Summary SNS Staff Responses to Job Satisfaction Open-Ended Question What Kinds of Things Would Improve Your Job Satisfaction?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Having benefits (sick days, holiday pay, etc.) 16 23%
Increased number of work hours 23 32%
Better control or organization of students in serving lines 2 3%
Improved communication/work conditions 14 20%
Improved kitchen equipment/space 7 10%
Improved food quality/on-site cooking 9 13%
TOTAL 71 100%
Exhibit 2-6
Summary SNS Staff Responses to SNS Department Open-Ended Question How Could the Child Nutrition Department Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Having benefits (sick days, holiday pay, etc.) 2 5%
Increased number of work hours 1 3%
Improved communication/work conditions 10 26%
Improved food quality/on-site cooking 26 67%
TOTAL 39 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
2.3 PRINCIPAL SURVEY
Only 49 out of 107 principals responded to the survey request. More than half (52%) were principals of elementary schools. Most (80%) agree that lack of food at home is a significant and regular problem for at least some of their students. Most (76%) also agree that sometimes students are too hungry to concentrate on classwork and that lack of nutrition is impacting academic achievement of at least some students (84%).
Principals had a number of negative opinions of SNS and the cafeterias in their schools:
Three-fourths do not usually like the food served in the cafeteria. Most do not regularly eat either school breakfast or lunch.
Most do not think their teachers regularly eat school lunch.
Principals were almost evenly split as to whether the cafeteria serves a good variety of food. They were also split on whether the cafeteria runs out of popular foods and whether students wait in line longer than five minutes to get lunch.
Principals were complimentary in several areas:
Most feel that the kitchen and dining areas are clean.
Most feel that the POS system helps the lines move faster and that staff serves food quickly. On the principal survey, Prismatic asked two open-ended questions related to the district meal program:
How could school breakfast be improved? How could school lunch be improved?
Exhibits 2-7 and 2-8 provide a summary of principal responses to the open-ended questions. As shown,
similar to SNS staff, principal think both breakfast and lunch could be improved by improving food variety. At least one-third of principals also think that breakfast presentation could be improved; slightly fewer think the same of lunch presentation.
Exhibit 2-7
Summary Principal Responses to School Breakfast Open-Ended Question How Could School Breakfast Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 2 5%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 5 13%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 17 43%
Improve food presentation 13 33%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 1 3%
Provide more time to eat 2 5%
TOTAL 40 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
Exhibit 2-8
Summary Principal Responses to School Lunch Open-Ended Question How Could School Lunch Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 11 21%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 7 13%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 19 37%
Improve food presentation 11 21%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 3 6%
Provide more time to eat 1 2%
TOTAL 52 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
2.4 OTHER SFUSD STAFF SURVEY
Only 230 out of approximately 4,500 school-based staff responded to the survey request. This was below the threshold for being representative of the population of school staff and there were concerns as to whether respondents were unevenly distributed among the schools. Most of the respondents were teachers, with more than one-third (37%) located in elementary schools and slight less (35%) located in high schools. The rest were split between K-8 (13%) and middle schools (14%). Most (79%) agree that lack of food at home is a significant and regular problem for at least some of their students. Most (73%) also agree that sometimes students are too hungry to concentrate on classwork and that lack of nutrition is impacting academic achievement of at least some students (82%).
School staff had a number of negative opinions of SNS and the cafeterias in their schools:
Three-fourths do not usually like the food served in the cafeteria.
Most do not think the cafeteria serves a good variety of food or healthy food options. Most think the meals they eat at home are healthier.
Most do not regularly eat either school breakfast or lunch.
Most do not think that teachers regularly eat school lunch. Most school staff respondents do feel that the dining area is clean.
On the school staff survey, Prismatic asked two open-ended questions related to the district meal program:
How could school breakfast be improved?
How could school lunch be improved?
Exhibits 2-9 and 2-10 provide a summary of the responses to the open-ended questions. As shown,
similar to SNS staff, school staff thinks both breakfast and lunch could be improved by improving food variety.
Exhibit 2-9
Summary Other Staff Responses to School Breakfast Open-Ended Question How Could School Breakfast Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 4 4%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 12 13%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 46 48%
Improve food presentation 19 20%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 11 11%
Provide more time to eat 4 4%
TOTAL 96 100%
Exhibit 2-10
Summary Other Staff Responses to School Lunch Open-Ended Question How Could School Lunch Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 12 11%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 13 12%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 51 45%
Improve food presentation 21 19%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 15 13%
Provide more time to eat 1 1%
TOTAL 113 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
2.5 STUDENT SURVEY
On the student survey, 672 out of approximately 57,000 responded. While this would appear to have a small margin of error, it appears that the some schools are overrepresented in the sample, reducing the applicability of the results to the population. Most respondents were female (66%) and in high school (66%). They typically get to school by having a parent drive them (40%) or taking public transportation (36%). A majority (51%) say that they are often so hungry they have trouble concentrating in class.
Students had a number of negative opinions of SNS and the cafeterias in their schools:
Most say they do not usually like the food served in the cafeteria.
Most do not think the cafeteria serves a good variety of food. Most think the meals they eat at home are healthier.
Most say they often wait in line longer than five minutes to get lunch.
Most think the cafeteria runs out of popular foods before everyone is served.
Almost half (43%) do not think there are enough seats for everyone in their lunch period. Students were split as to whether the cafeteria serves healthy food options. Most feel that cafeteria staff treats them with respect and courtesy and that the cafeteria is clean. Most feel they have enough time to eat their lunch, but 41 percent also feel they have to skip or shorten lunch due to teacher or club meetings.
On the student survey, Prismatic asked four open-ended questions related to the district meal program:
How could school breakfast be improved?
What are the main reasons you do not eat school lunch on most days? How could school lunch be improved?
Exhibits 2-11 through 2-14 provide a summary ofstudent responses to the open-ended questions. As
shown, similar to SNS staff, students think both breakfast and lunch could be improved by improving food variety, but a high number also think the meals would be improved by improving the taste of food. A majority of student respondents do not eat school breakfast for reasons other than they already ate at home. Similarly, only 20 percent of students who do not eat school lunch regularly are bringing a lunch from home; they are not choosing to eat school lunch for other reasons.
Exhibit 2-11
Summary Student Responses to No School Breakfast Open-Ended Question What Are the Main Reasons You Do Not Eat School Breakfast on Most Days?
Response Category # of Responses % of all Responses Eat at home 179 42%
Not enough time/late 90 21%
Does not taste good 120 28%
Cost/too expensive 40 9%
TOTAL 429 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
Exhibit 2-12
Summary Student Responses to School Breakfast Open-Ended Question How Could School Breakfast Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 71 24%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 27 9%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 124 41%
Improve food presentation 35 12%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 35 12%
Provide more time to eat 7 2%
TOTAL 299 100%
Exhibit 2-13
Summary Student Responses to No School Lunch Open-Ended Question What Are the Main Reasons You Do Not Eat School Lunch on Most Days?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Bring own lunch 54 20%
Not enough time/line is too long 29 11%
Food is not healthy 14 5%
Does not taste/look good 145 54%
Cost/too expensive 29 11%
TOTAL 271 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
Exhibit 2-14
Summary Student Responses to School Lunch Open-Ended Question How Could School Lunch Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 113 24%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 50 11%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 172 37%
Improve food presentation 99 21%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 26 6%
Provide more time to eat 2 0%
TOTAL 462 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
2.6 PARENT SURVEY
On the parent survey, 2,161 responded. While this would appear to have a small margin of error, it appears that the some schools are overrepresented in the sample, reducing the applicability of the results to the population. Most respondents (73%) completed the survey in English, while the rest completed it in Chinese (17%) or Spanish (10%). The survey did not ask for ethnicity or race. For most (70%), their oldest child is in elementary school. Nearly half (49%) have only one child enrolled in SFUSD. Over one-third (39%) had eaten lunch with their child in the cafeteria at least once during the 2010-11 school year.
Not quite half (43%) feel that the school breakfast is “very important” for their child. More than half (60%) feel that the school lunch is “very important” for their child.
Parents were largely negative in a few areas regarding school meals:
Most think the meals they serve at home are healthier.
Almost half think there are enough fresh fruits or vegetables in the cafeteria lunch. Almost half think the cafeteria serves healthy food options.
Parents were split on a number of issues, including:
whether the cafeteria serves a good variety of food (44% to 39%); whether their child usually eats cafeteria lunch (50% to 44%); and
whether the lunch period is long enough for their child to eat without being rushed (44% to 43%).
On the parent survey, Prismatic asked four open-ended questions related to the district meal program:
How could school breakfast be improved?
Why does your child bring a lunch from home rather than eating the cafeteria meal?
My child would be more likely to eat school lunch if ________.
How could school lunch be improved?
Exhibits 2-15 through 2-18 provide a summary of parent responses to the open-ended questions. As
shown, similar to SNS staff, parents think both breakfast and lunch could be improved by improving food variety. Parents stated their children bring lunch from home for several reasons:
School lunch does not look/taste good (38%); Food from home is healthier (25%); and
Food from home is of higher quality (22%).
Parents think their children would be more likely to eat a school lunch if the variety was improved (37%) or food taste/presentation were improved (28%).
Exhibit 2-15
Summary Parent Responses to School Breakfast Open-Ended Question How Could School Breakfast Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 58 10%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 113 20%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 271 47%
Improve food presentation 86 15%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 18 3%
Provide more time to eat 25 4%
TOTAL 571 100%
Exhibit 2-16
Summary Parent Responses to No School Lunch Open-Ended Question
Why Does Your Child Bring Lunch from Home Rather Than Getting the Cafeteria/Beanery Lunch? Response Category # of Responses % of all Responses
Food quality is better at home 243 22%
Food is healthier at home 279 25%
Not enough variety at home 92 8%
Does not taste/look good 419 38%
Cost/too expensive 72 7%
TOTAL 1,105 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
Exhibit 2-17
Summary Parent Responses to Improving Lunch Participation Open-Ended Question My Child Would Be More Likely to Eat the School Lunch If:
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improved food taste/presentation 306 28%
Improved nutritional content (healthy options) 137 13%
Improved food variety (menu options, specific items) 402 37%
Food was fresher/fresh options available 183 17%
More cooking was done on-site (home style meals) 43 4%
Parent permitted it 23 2%
TOTAL 1,094 100%
Source: Prismatic Survey, May 2011.
Exhibit 2-18
Summary Parent Responses to School Lunch Open-Ended Question How Could School Lunch Be Improved?
Response Category
# of Responses
% of all Responses
Improve food taste 145 13%
Improve nutritional content (healthy options) 163 15%
Improve food variety (different menu options, specific items) 497 45%
Improve food presentation 166 15%
Do more on-site cooking (home style meals) 93 8%
Provide more time to eat 33 3%
TOTAL 1,097 100%