One of our goals here at Beyond Breakfast is to consistently provide our readers with excellent school breakfast resources. To that end, we invite school nutrition professionals to join us for our upcoming Breakfast Learning Series, which will be conducted over the course of five months using Podio, an online work platform designed for collaboration and project management. Our Breakfast Learning Series (BLS) begins with an instructional webinar that will give you an overview of the BLS as well as information on how to utilize the Podio software.
A New School Breakfast Resource
We are launching our Breakfast Learning Series to build upon our existing database of breakfast resources. In addition to the Beyond Breakfast blog, and the Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom website, we also have an extensive Breakfast-in-the-Classroom Resource Center where you can find detailed case studies, as well as information on feasibility, research, menu planning, and more.
Stakeholder engagement is a proven method of increasing success of a school breakfast program. The School Nutrition Foundation, along with our friends at the National Dairy Council, will be using our platform to provide the latest research and resources to SNA members; the goal is to help you implement school breakfast, share stories and best practices, and develop a network of SN professionals to interact, address & engage stakeholders.
About Podio
Podio is the interactive platform we will be using to connect everyone during the discussions. We encourage participants to create an account to start using, and getting comfortable with, the system. We will breakdown the breakfast series into segments, and each segment will be worth one CEU for SNA members.
We think you will see some similarities between Podio and Facebook, however Podio will function more like a professional workspace where we can all gather to take part in a guided discussion about school breakfast. Using Podio as our interactive platform will allow us to make decisions and discuss our motivations as we–acting as our “characters” in this fictional school district–make our way toward successful school breakfast implementation.
About the Breakfast Learning Series
Our “Fictional” School District
We will be exploring the issue of school breakfast using a fictional school district—Star School District, National Harbor, Maryland. This hypothetical school district will help us illustrate our examples, and give shape to our discussions. Here are the vital statistics about the Star School District:
- 17,830 students in 19 schools (13 elementary, 4 middle, 2 high school)
- 1,275 teachers
- 69 percent ethnic minority
- 94 percent free/reduced
- Lunch prices ($1.75 elementary, $1.90 secondary)
- Breakfast participation 24 percent
- Lunch participation 65 percent
- Summer food service; Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program; fresh fruit choices in every school
The BLS Schedule
Stakeholder engagement is a proven part of successfully building and expanding breakfast. By following the journey of the Star School District, we will provide you with an interactive way to help you effective address and engage stakeholders in your own school district and community. Each segment will focus on a different stakeholder group or CN operation. Here is a timeline and topic list for each segment:
- Introductory Webinar: You’ll dial in using Go To Meeting—on the Breakfast Learning Series and how to use Podio. Register online now to participate!
- Segment 1: Engaging Foodservice Staff around Non-traditional Breakfast Service.
- Segment 2: Engaging School Administration, Principals, and Teachers around Non-traditional Breakfast Service
- Segment 3: Engaging Industry Partners around Non-traditional Breakfast Service
- Segment 4: Engaging Community and Media around Non-traditional Breakfast Service
- Segment 5: Engaging Parents and Students around Non-traditional Breakfast Service
We hope you will join us on what we are sure will be an informative and enlightening journey. Stay tuned for more details, including a complete timeline for the upcoming series.