State and Local Governments

APPENDIX F03.02. SFA Director Survey Advance Letter/EMAIL (Group 1C)

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 0.05 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

[EMAIL ONLY: Subject line: 2024–2025 National School Foods Study]

[ LETTER ONLY: SFA Director FirstName LastName

Title

SFA Name

Address 1

City, State Zip]

Dear [FirstName] [LastName]:

Your school food authority (SFA) has been selected to participate in the 2024–2025 National School Foods Study. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has selected Mathematica and its research partner Decision Information Resources (DIR) to conduct the study for school year (SY) 2024–2025.

With better data comes better policy; we seek to collect data to fully understand the school food environment.

This important study will (1) describe the food and nutrient content and overall nutritional quality of school meals and afterschool snacks, (2) update information on the school food environment and food service policies and practices, (3) estimate the cost to produce school meals and snacks, and (4) collect information about student participation, satisfaction, and dietary intake. This important study will collect updated information from States, School Food Authorities, schools, parents, and children on the school meal programs. These data have not been collected in over 10 years and is critical to informing current and future program and policy decisions, affecting your schools and student lunches.

Within the next few weeks, DIR will email you an invitation to complete the School Food Authority (SFA) Director Survey on the web. The survey will ask about the food service characteristics of your SFA, «District_Name», and its schools. The email will come from ([FILL EMAIL]) and will include a unique link to the web survey. Your participation in this study is extremely valuable, and we appreciate the time and effort that you and other school staff will devote to the study. None of the information you provide in the survey will identify your district in any reports, or even that you were a respondent; only aggregated information collected from multiple school systems will be used to derive national estimates.

I have also included [LETTER ONLY: enclosed/EMAIL ONLY: linked] more detailed documents about the study and [a letter/letters] of endorsement for the study for your review.

• [ORGANIZATION] Endorsement letter

• Study Overview

[ORGANIZATION(S)] agree(s) that the data collected through the study vitally informs future policies for school meals and ensures the meals contribute to a healthier future for children.

Thank you in advance for your assistance with this important study. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at ashley.chaifetz@usda.gov.

Sincerely,

Ashley Chaifetz

Project Officer

Office of Policy Support

USDA Food and Nutrition Service