Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Karen B. Kamin
Committee Member
Judy Stein
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
B Elementary School, B Middle School, Bureau of Food and Nutrition, commodity food usage, commodity standards, economically needy students, educational level, federal programs, federally donated commodities, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, food service managers, free and reduced-price meals, government policy, government school relationship, intervention, meal programs, Miami Dade County Public Schools, one-to-one training, quantitative data, school audits, school nutrition, usage rates
Abstract
In 1999—2000, an audit of 15 Miami Dade County Public Schools by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Bureau of Food and Nutrition (VanTreese, 2000), revealed that none of the 15 were effectively utilizing federally donated commodities in the meal program. A review of quantitative data from 26 schools revealed there was an overall usage rate of 62% of federally donated food in the school meal program, 38% less than the federal government requirements that 100% of donated commodities be used. The commodity usage rate in 2000-2001 for B Elementary School was 85%, and the commodity usage rate for B Middle School was 68%.
An intervention was conducted to increase commodity food usage in selected schools, based on the literature, which included the establishment of a commodity value usage rate that is standard and one-to-one training of food service managers on the use of commodities. The dollar value of purchased food should decrease at the same rate of increase of commodity food usage.
The goal was to increase the usage of commodities in the meal program by 15% in B Elementary School and by 32% in B Middle School; both schools had a high percentage, 92% and 90% respectively, of economically needy students authorized to receive free and reduced-price meals.
An analysis of the data revealed that usage of commodities increased by 27% in B Middle School with complete intervention and decreased by 14% in B Elementary School with limited intervention where, one-to-one training was not included in the limited intervention. In order to increase usage, a commodity standard should be set with one-to-one training of food service managers.