School Meal Survey for Parents and Caregivers of CPS Elementary Schools

School Meal Survey for Parents and Caregivers of CPS Elementary Schools

Healthy school food matters. Healthy school food plays an important role in supporting students’ wellness and academic success. Parent leaders in Chicago’s communities have successfully advocated for healthy school food (plus recess and much more) through Parents United for Healthy Schools. Over the past few years, CPS has taken significant steps in making breakfast and lunch more healthy, and making sure these nutritious meals are available to all students.

Your perspective is important. Now, we are gathering information about parents’ ideas and real experiences with school breakfast and lunch at CPS schools. As a parent, you have an important perspective on what’s working and what needs improvement.

Share your experiences with CPS leaders. We’ll present this information to CPS school food leaders as part of advocacy for further improvements to the school meal program. When the survey is complete, we will arrange a meeting for parents to discuss the findings and experiences with CPS leaders.

A note about privacy. The information shared with CPS will be identified only by school name. If you would like to be contacted, you can share your name and contact information at the very end of the survey.

Your voice matters for healthy school food in Chicago. Thank you for being part of this effort!

Completing the survey

Completing the survey should take about 10 minutes.

To complete the survey, you will need to obtain a menu for school breakfast and lunch. This survey includes questions about:

●How to best communicate with you about school meals

●Your thoughts about what the district should focus on in the coming years

●Your ideas for improving school breakfast and lunch

Some questions refer to the menu for school breakfast and lunch. You can find menus online at cps.edu/menu.

When the survey is complete, please return it in one of these ways:

●Give the printed copy to Jovita Flores or Kenneth Varner

●Fax to (312) 419-1806

●Email to or

If you have questions, please contact Guillermo Gomez or Kenneth Varner at (312)-419-1810 or or .

Section 1. General Information

Do any of your children attend a Chicago public school? __Yes __No

What grade(s) is/are your child(ren) in? Choose all that apply.

Pre-k K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

For the following questions, if you have more than one child, please choose one child’s school experience.

School Name where your child attends: ______

How often does your child eat breakfast at school?

__ Every day

__ About three times per week

__ About once per week

__ Never

If your child doesn't participate in the school breakfast program often, why? Choose all that apply.

__ Selection of Food __ Nutritional Value __ Quality __ Service __ Breakfast eaten at home

Does your child’s school offer the Breakfast after the Bell program? Through Breakfast After the Bell, CPS incorporates breakfast as a part of the school day in the classroom or other common areas for students at the beginning of the school day.

__ Yes

__ No

__ I don’t know

How often does your child eat school lunch?

__ Every day

__ About three times per week

__ About once per week

__ Never

If your child doesn't eat school lunch often, why? Choose all that apply.

__ Selection of Food __ Nutritional Value __ Quality __ Service__ Other

CPS policy requires schools to have at least 20 minutes to eat lunch, counting from the time they have received their meal and are seated. Do you feel your child has enough time to eat lunch?

__ Yes__ NoIf not, why? ______

How much time does your child’s school schedule for the lunch period?

__ Less than 20 minutes __ 25 minutes __ 30 minutes or more __ I don’t know

Chicago Public Schools policy recommends that lunch be served after a 20-minute recess period. Is lunch scheduled before or after recess at your child’s school?

__ Before recess

__ After recess

__ I don’t know

From what sources do you get information about the school meal program? (Check all that apply)

__ School-specific website

__ CPS Nutrition Support Services website: cps.edu/menu

__ On paper sent home from school

__ School newsletter

__ As an email, Please specify from who:______

__ Information posted around your child’s school

__Through Facebook or another social media platform

__ Other parents

__ Dining staff

__ My child

__ Teachers

__ School meetings such as a Local School Council meeting

__ Other

In the future, how would you like to receive information about school meals?

______

What information do you not have, but would like to know regarding the school meal program?

______

Section 2. Prioritizing School Meal Efforts

Improving the school meal program is complex and dependent on many factors. CPS, with guidance from the Community School Food Advisory Group, has identified 11 categories to guide strategic goals and improve the school food environment for all students.

Please read the descriptions of each category and rank each of the following items in order of importance with #1 being the most important to #11 being the least important.

Food Culture + Health: Offer culturally diverse, nutritious school meals that are appealing to students.
Procurement: Support and expand the procurement of local and sustainably grown products and foods that are less processed and more nutritious.
Teaching + Learning: Deepen students’ knowledge, skills and attitudes related to where food comes from; how it is produced; and the connections between our food, our health and the environment.
Community Engagement: Involve CPS families and the community in the efforts to improve school meals by strengthening feedback mechanisms and providing engagement opportunities, including educational opportunities to raise awareness, understanding and support for the school meal program.
Leadership: Continue being a national leader in serving healthy, delicious meals while igniting change by sharing best practices and using creativity to overcome barriers; use the purchasing power and prestige of being the third largest district to influence the marketplace to provide better quality products that are fiscally responsible.
Marketing + Communications: Promote healthy meal programs and meaningful learning environments to school staff, students and their families.
The Dining Experience: Create an inviting dining environment that encourages positive social interaction and healthy eating—a place that students enjoy, that makes meals a time they look forward to, and that helps them feel safe and valued at mealtime.
Professional Development: Provide regular professional development to support food service staff in providing excellent food for our students; help educators teach students about food and food systems as a way to learn about health and nutrition, cultural diversity, and the environment; support all school staff to model healthy behaviors to encourage healthy habits among students.
Facilities: Have dining facilities that allow for the cooking of healthy and less processed meals and reinforces lessons learned in the classroom.
Finances: Ensure that the school meal program is fiscally sound while providing fresh, nutritious foods.
Environment: Support sustainable food systems and reduce waste while helping students understand the need to conserve natural resources. Implement green facility cleaning practices to reduce health risks for students and staff, and reduce the environmental impact of cleaning products and materials.

Is it important that CPS increase scratch cooking (be less processed) in the school meal program?

❏Extremely important

❏Very important

❏Neither important or unimportant

❏Very unimportant

❏Not at all important

Is it important that CPS implement school meal waste-reducing programs and initiatives?

❏Extremely important

❏Very important

❏Neither important or unimportant

❏Very unimportant

❏Not at all important

Is it important that more non-meat protein rich foods (like beans, cheese, nuts) are available for your child’s school breakfast and lunch?

❏Extremely important

❏Very important

❏Neither important or unimportant

❏Very unimportant

❏Not at all important

How important is it to you that No Antibiotic Ever (NAE) chicken be served in the meal program? No Antibiotics Ever means no antibiotics of any kind were used in the raising of that animal and that sick animals that required antibiotics are removed from the “no antibiotic” line.

❏Extremely important

❏Very important

❏Neither important or unimportant

❏Very unimportant

❏Not at all important

Would you like to know more information about No Antibiotic Ever (NAE) chicken and its use in CPS school meals?

❏Yes! Tell me more

❏Sure

❏Not really

❏Don’t care

Please indicate how important or unimportant the following items are to you.

How important is it to you that school meals be... / Extremely important / Very Important / Neither important or unimportant / Very unimportant / Not at all important
Locally sourced and feature fresh local items that support the local economy
Nutritious
Delicious
Less processed
Culturally diverse
Less wasteful
Fiscally responsible

CPS is committed to eliminating the following unwanted ingredients from school meals. Eliminating these ingredients will improve the overall quality, nutritional value, and safety of food provided to all students in every school. To help CPS prioritize, please rate each of the following items on a rating scale of ‘Extremely important’ and ‘Not at all important’.

How important is it to you that school meals be... / Extremely Important / Very Important / Neither / Very unimportant / Not at all important
Free of high fructose corn syrup
Free of flour conditioners, chemical substances used as a dough conditioner for bread baking.
Free of artificial colors and artificial preservatives
Free of artificial sweeteners and other sugar-free sweeteners
Free of nitrates and nitrites, ingredients commonly used in processed meat products.
Free of partially hydrogenated oils, oils that improve the texture and shelf life of foods but also contain trans-fats.

Section 3. Feedback + Suggestions

Please think about the school meal program at your child’s school and indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Strongly Agree / Agree / Neither / Not Sure / Disagree / Strongly Disagree
Dining staff at my child’s school are friendly and take pride in their work.
I think the school breakfast meals offered are healthy
I think the school lunch meals offered are healthy
Meals are served at the appropriate temperature
Menu meal descriptions consistently match what is being offered in the dining center
Healthy messages are promoted and reinforced throughout the dining center and school
The dining center is a pleasant environment for students to enjoy meals at school.

If you were to give your school's breakfast menu and meal program a grade, what grade would you give? You can find menus online at cps.edu/menu.

__A __B__C __Below C

How can CPS improve their breakfast menu and meal program grade? Changes may include different food items, presentation of the meal, or other factors.

______

If you were to give your school's lunch menu and meal program a grade, what grade would you give? You can find menus online at cps.edu/menu.

__A __B __C __Below C

How can CPS improve their lunch menu grade? Changes may include different food items, presentation of the meal, or other factors.

______

Other than changes to food, what changes would improve the overall breakfast and lunch experience?

______

Section 4. School Specific Concerns and/or Compliments

28. If you have school specific concerns or compliments regarding the school meal program as it is implemented at your child’s school, please let us know below. Please be specific in your response.

Optional. Please share your contact information below if you would like to be contacted.

Name: ______Email: ______Phone: ______

Concern/Compliment

School Name: ______

Type of feedback (check all that apply)

❏Concern(s)

❏Compliment(s)

Concerns (check all that apply)

__ Temperature of food

__ Dining staff service

__ Menu is not being followed

__ Dining environment

__ Variety of meals

__ Nutritional quality of meals

__ School meal waste

__ Other (please specify)

Details of Specific Concern:

______

Compliment:

______

Concern / Compliment

School Name: ______

Type of feedback (check all that apply)

❏Concern(s)

❏Compliment(s)

Concerns (check all that apply)

__ Temperature of food

__ Dining staff service

__ Menu is not being followed

__ Dining environment

__ Variety of meals

__ Nutritional quality of meals

__ School meal waste

__ Other (please specify)

Details of Specific Concern:

______

Compliment:

______

Thank you for completing the survey! Please return it in one of these ways:

Give the printed copy to Jovita Flores or Kenneth Varner, Fax to (312) 419-1806 or Email to or