Privatizing the Lunchroom: Operational Dynamics and Consequences for School Food Programs

• In Event: 56.038 - Education Policy and Social Issues: The Balancing Act of Implementing Federal School Food Policy

Abstract

Background and Objectives

This research explores how local operation dynamics affect the implementation and quality of federal school food programs in two case study school districts in California—Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD). This research examines how OUSD’s self-operated program compares to SJUSD’s program that is contracted out to Sodexo, a private food service management company (FSMC), in terms of how local-level priorities for the program are set, and how these priorities affect the quality of food served to students with regards to farm to school programming.

Theoretical Framework and Methods

This paper is theoretically positioned at the disciplinary nexus of sociology and political science, and draws on key theory bases from both disciplines. First, the research draws from political and economic sociology theories of neoliberalism and privatization (Harvey, 2005; Centeno & Cohen 2012; Mudge, 2008; Larner, 2000; Fourcade-Gourinchas & Babb, 2002) to explore the dynamics and consequences of SJUSD’s privatized school food program. Second, the research engages with sociological theories of social movement activism (Aldon & Staggenborg, 2004; Van Dyke & McCammon, 2010) to examine school food reform efforts in OUSD’s self-operated model.

This research draws on qualitative research conducted in OUSD and SJUSD from December 2014 to March 2016 including interviews, cafeteria site visits, and archival document analysis. Fieldwork was focused on exploring the varying implementation of federal school meal programs on a local level in an effort to contribute comprehensive scientific information to critical policy discussions surrounding childhood health and nutrition.

Findings and Scholarly Contribution

Research findings indicate that operational structures of federal school food programs play a significant role in setting local-level priorities for the meal programs on the ground. Findings from SJUSD suggest that the program’s main focus is on financial stability, and that the program has been locked into Sodexo’s profit-driven structure. Purchasing food from preferred vendors at guaranteed low prices effectively de-incentivizes the district from exploring the sourcing of fresh foods from small or local farmers, and makes grassroots farm to school efforts in the district difficult. The tradeoff, however, is that the program has accrued excess funds that contribute to the financial health of the program and the district as a whole.

By contrast, OUSD has been able to set its own priorities based on national dialogues concerning childhood obesity and the importance of farm to school programming, and parent calls for school food reform in the district. As a self-operated program without an external profit motive, OUSD’s school food program has been able to be responsive to bottom-up social change efforts that have made school food reform in the district a reality. In particular, through a series of grassroots reform efforts, the district is currently in the process of building a state-of-the-art central kitchen and educational farm that will drastically improve meal offerings in the district. Although the OUSD program has suffered financial hardship in recent years, being self-operated has allowed the program the flexibility to enact widespread, innovative farm to school programming.

Author

• Helena Lyson, Berkeley University of California