MNPS Farm to School: Education

AGRICULTURE AND NUTRITION MODULES FOR SCHOOLS

Invitation to ParticipateTM from the Alignment Nashville School Nutrition Team

OVERVIEW

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) aims to provide fresh, high-quality local produce to school cafeterias and to educate students about nutrition and agriculture by way of the Farm to School initiative from the School Nutrition Alignment Team.

With this Invitation To Participate, the School Nutrition Team intends to gather educational resources around agriculture, horticulture, food industry, agricultural sustainability, and healthy eating and nutrition for MNPS schools that are part of the Farm to School pilot (as well as any other schools that have expressed interest via an internal MNPS survey). The materials and resources will be used alongside the fresh local produce they are receiving in their cafeterias and will contribute to a holistic approach to teaching nutrition and agriculture in the classroom and cafeteria.

The secondary purpose of this initiative is to broaden MNPS’ network of agricultural and educational partners, to create sustainability for the long-term success of both the procurement and educational aspects of MNPS Farm To School.

 

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Resources requested include, but are not limited to:

  • Agricultural/horticultural field trip locations that are low-cost or free
  • Farmer visits to schools for individual classroom presentations
  • Posters or learning materials for the cafeteria
  • School garden development and coordination
  • Professional development or training for teachers around nutrition, health, agriculture, horticulture, etc.
  • Cooking classes for students or teachers
  • Farm-to-school, agriculture, and horticulture teaching guides/materials for teachers
  • Programming/presentations for the cafeteria
  • Farmer visits to schools for school-wide assemblies
  • Taste tests at a school

Details of services and educational modules will be compiled into an online resource guide to be distributed to principals and Healthy School Team leaders at the 48 schools that expressed interest in receiving this information.

Do you offer engaging agricultural, horticultural, or nutrition-based education and/or school garden development and support?


OUTCOMES OUTCOMES

The desired outcomes for this initiative are as follows:

IMMEDIATE OUTPUTS

  • SN Team surveys MNPS principals as to the type and frequency of F2S education components they would be able to implement at their schools
  • At least 5 responses to initial F2S Education ITP by June 2016
  • SN Team builds an online resource guide using the AN Portal to house educational resource/module information and contacts

SHORT TERM OUTCOME

  • By June 2016, at least 8 nutrition/agriculture educational modules or activities will be available to schools that opted into this initiative

MID TERM OUTCOMES

  • By Spring 2017, at least 5 new partnerships/relationships formed between MNPS and the local agricultural community
  • By Spring 2017, increase by 5% the number of students voluntarily selecting & consuming fruits or vegetables with school lunch

LONG TERM OUTCOME

  • Improved children's health & wellness [measured by Coordinated School Health BMI data]