3 simple strategies K-12 operators should try to get buy-in from skeptical district leadership

During the School Nutrition Association’s (SNA) 2023 Annual National Conference held last July in Denver, attendee and Food Service Director for Madison Metropolitan  School District in Madison, Wisconsin Josh Perkins, kept hearing over and over from fellow attendees that while they were inspired by many of the sessions they attended, they knew they wouldn’t be able to get their district leadership to sign off on whatever initiative they wanted to start, whether that be breakfast in the classroom or expanding farm to school.

Seeing that this was a recurrent problem throughout the K-12 segment, Perkins joined fellow Wisconsin K-12 nutrition directors Bobbie Guyette at School District of New Richmond and Kaitlin Tauriainen at Ashwaubenon School District, at this year’s ANC in Boston to lead a presentation on how to approach district leadership.

During their session, which took place earlier this month, the directors discussed the results of a project in which they interviewed principals at their own districts about their thoughts on their respective district’s school nutrition program.

The results from the interviews revealed certain pitfalls that K-12 operators could find themselves in when speaking with district leadership. Here are three things shared during the session to help operators make their next conversation with district leadership a beneficial one.

1. Ask open-ended questions

Time on principals and other district leaders’ schedules is limited, so K-12 operators will want to make the most of every conversation they have with district leadership.

When going into a conversation with district leadership, operators will want to look for ways to keep the conversation going and find opportunities to learn about the leaderships’ current responsibilities and goals that they have for the district.

“I might have a request or a demand, something I'm pushing for, but you're going to want to keep them talking as well so that you can learn more about their perspective,” said Perkins.

One of the best ways to keep the conversation going is by asking open-ended questions. Instead of asking, “What do you think about our program?” for example, operators should ask questions like, “Where do you think we share interest in our jobs as leaders in this school district and helping our students reach their fullest potential?” or “Can you share possibly three different things that you would like to see improved in the program here and why?”

2. Come into the conversation as an equal

One of the takeaways from Perkins, Guyette and Tauriainen’s interviews was that the school nutrition department can be seen by school leadership as second-class compared to other departments.

“We do believe that from the answers and from sort of the demeanor and from the stories that we're kind of hearing, we feel that while no one's explicitly said this in our interview responses, we do conclude that school nutrition as a department just simply isn't seen as equal,” said Guyette.

In order to be seen as equals, K-12 operators should work on their tone, word choice and more when meeting with district leadership.

“If you come in just as a peer, not as an underling, you set that tone with your body language and how you're saying words,” said Guyette,

She also recommended that operators take the time to train the rest of their team on the approach that school nutrition is “a part of a bigger team” and that they should be respectful of everyone, including those in other departments. “We are all one district,” she said.  

3. Be prepared to compromise and educate

Another main takeaway garnered from the interviews was that many district leaders don’t fully understand the regulations and responsibilities nutrition professional have.

“I have often heard frustration from school leaders, kind of like, ‘I just want you to do this.’ And I’m like, ‘I would love to but there are federal regulations that I have to follow and so how are we going to agree on what I can do for you?,’” said Perkins.

Perkins recommends that school nutrition operators briefly explain what “guard rails” they must follow to leadership so they have a better understanding of why the nutrition team can’t do certain things.

In addition, operators should be prepared to compromise with district leadership and know ahead of time what concessions they would be willing to make.

“When you go into a negotiation with somebody else, and you need their time, their resources, or something like this, you’re probably not going to get everything you want,” said Perkins, adding that operators should be clear on what concessions they could make to help [district leadership] with what they need and that still gets them their most important objectives for their students.