How the Georgia Department of Education’s latest campaign is changing the message around school meals

Scrolling through Georgia School Nutrition’s social media channels reveals photo after photo of colorful school meals served at districts throughout the state.

The trays on display are part of the Tray of the Week campaign launched by Georgia School Nutrition, a state agency within the Georgia Department of Education. The campaign is intended to amplify all the work that goes into school meals served at Georgia schools.

“[The campaign is] a way, I think, for us truly to change the face and the perception of what a lot of people, unfortunately, may think school meals are, and I think that it continues to be our opportunity to really showcase the incredible work that's been done by local programs,” says State School Nutrition Director Linette Dodson.

Although the campaign just began in October, Georgia School Nutrition says it’s already boosting employee morale and spreading a positive message about school meals.

Setting up the rules

School nutrition programs can participate in the campaign by posting a picture of their tray on their own social media feeds with the hashtags #FuelingGA and #GATrayoftheweek or by emailing photos of their trays to the Georgia Department of Education. The photos must include a description of the menu items and the date and location that they were served. Trays also need to follow USDA National School Breakfast or National School Lunch meal patterns.

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The team then goes through all the tray entries for the week and narrows them down to their top five. The five trays are then posted on social media and put up for a popular vote, the winner of which is named the tray of the week.

So far, Georgia School Nutrition has received over 80 meal tray submissions. It’s decided to highlight trays that do not make it to the popular vote or win tray of the week during times when school is not in session, such as over winter break, says Georgia School Nutrition Strategic Marketing and Communication Specialist Kelli Cook.

Photo: Megan Gower

Boosting engagement

The team has already seen a jump in social engagement since the campaign began.

“In terms of the impact, just the sheer numbers have blown us away,” says Georgia School Nutrition Communication Business Support Analyst Catherine Carter.

The Georgia Department of Education’s Facebook profile has seen its engagement shoot up and its followers and likes have also increased.

“When we started back in October, we had followers and people who liked our page numbering at just about 8,029,” says Carter. “Yesterday, we were at 11,747.”

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The engagement has continued offline as well. The team has heard from parents who are asking if their school has submitted trays, and school nutrition directors and managers have also shared that their employees get excited when they see that one of their trays made it online.

“Their staff are energized,” says Carter. “They are motivated. They love seeing their school meals on our timeline. They love seeing the engagement. They love seeing the questions, and they love getting the comments, and so, it has had an effect of raising the level of motivation across the board.”

Continuing the campaign

Already, the Georgia School Nutrition team is thinking about how to continue the campaign this summer and into next school year. They are also looking at ways to further honor schools who won the tray of the week by potentially adding rounds of voting to honor a tray of the month, a tray of the quarter and a tray of the year.

The team has also started its own podcast to share more about what is happening all over the state and will continue to look for ways to tell the stories of Georgia school nutrition programs.

“I think this conversation is going to continue, and we're committed here in Georgia to continue this conversation around school nutrition and the great work that's happening in our districts,” says Cook.

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