State and Local Governments

APPENDIX C20. SNM INTRODUCTION EMAIL

(GROUPS 2A, 2B, 3)

This information is being collected to assist the Food and Nutrition Service in understanding school food purchasing practices, the nutritional quality of school meals and snacks, the cost to produce school meals, and student participation and dietary intakes. This is a mandatory collection and FNS will use the information to monitor program operations. This collection does not request any personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act of 1974. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0698. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 0.13 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314 ATTN: PRA (0584-0698). Do not return the completed form to this address.

OMB Number: 0584-0698

Expiration Date: 06/30/2027

F ROM: [EMAIL]

SUBJECT: School Visit: National School Foods Study Data Collection

[SCHOOL NAME] was selected for the 2024­­–2025 National School Foods Study as part of your school food authority’s participation in the study. Mathematica [IF GR 2: IF GR 3: and Decision Information Resources] are conducting the study for the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The principal [(FILL PRINCIPAL ROLE NAME)] has also been notified of these activities [IF G2a, G2b: and the study team will coordinate directly with their staff on activities that do not involve food service operations].

Your school district’s scheduled data collection week is: [TARGET WEEK]. We are scheduled to visit your school on: [VISIT DATE]. On this date, trained field interviewers will conduct interviews and make observations at your school. We will be sending you a link to a short web survey to help us plan for data collection during the target week.

You will be asked to participate in the following components of the study:

• School Nutrition Manager Survey: This survey will ask about district policies, the school environment, and food service operations.

• Observation Guide: Data collectors will observe one lunch and one breakfast period (if the school participates in the School Breakfast Program) in each sampled school to document characteristics of foodservice operations.

• Menu Survey: This survey will collect detailed information on the foods offered and served in each sampled school during a target week, as well as a la carte foods offered on a single day. The Menu Survey includes a questionnaire about foodservice operations that the school nutrition manager completes.

• [G3 ONLY] School Nutrition Manger Cost Interview: This interview is to gather information about the full cost of food service, including indirect and administrative costs.

• [G3 ONLY] Plate Waste Observation: At a subset of schools, data collectors will estimate the proportion of foods wasted by students in order to assess the nutrient and food group composition of foods wasted, and to assess the relationship between plate waste and characteristics of students, school food environments, and school foodservice operations.

• [2a/2b ONLY] Reimbursable Meal Sale Data Request form: You will provide POS report or complete hard-copy form to indicate whether sampled students obtained a reimbursable breakfast and/or lunch on the day referenced in the dietary recall.

With better data comes better policy; we seek to collect data to fully understand the school food environment. We appreciate the time and effort that you and other school staff will devote to the study. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our project team at [PHONE], or email [EMAIL].

We look forward to working with you on this important study.

Sincerely,

Alice Ann Gola

Study Project Director

Mathematica