Chicago Public Schools Launches 2024 Annual School Food Survey

CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has launched its annual school food survey of parents and students as another tool to gather feedback about the District’s free meal program. Survey results, as well as food tastings and focus groups, helps CPS increase participation in school meals by offering menu items that reflect the needs and preferences of CPS students and families, while meeting federal and local nutrition and operation requirements.

All students and parents/guardians from District-managed schools are encouraged to participate in the survey, which can be accessed here.

“We have increased our outreach to everyone - especially our students - as we try to strike that perfect balance of healthy and delicious,” said CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. “Once our District’s most important voices – our students – are heard regarding school menus, Nutrition Support Services will take that information and adjust our meal preparation and initiatives accordingly.”

Student engagement initiatives provide the District with critical feedback when improving CPS breakfast and lunch menus. These initiatives include:

• Regular student tasting events throughout the school year and summer
  • Examples from Fall 2023 -
    • 250 students at Mildred Lavizzo Elementary School tasted Chilaquiles Rojo with Eggs and a Chicken Biscuit Tostada. Both recipes received positive feedback and are slated to be served in schools this winter.
    • 110 students from Scammon and Owens Elementary Schools tasted a new product, half-popped popcorn, which will also appear on school menus this winter.

In 2022, the Office of Nutrition Support Services (NSS) conducted 40 tastings across the District. Among the items sampled were blueberry smoothies, baked potato with chili and cheese, Asian noodle salad, chicken ham frittata, pierogies, cheeseburger pizza, breakfast tacos, veggie pasta salad, BBQ tofu, chilaquiles, and more. The District conducted an additional 19 tastings during summer 2023 in advance of the 2023-24 School Year. As a result of those tastings, the District has continued to add a variety of new breakfast and lunch options for CPS students throughout the school year.

The School Food Survey will remain open until midnight on Friday, March 1, 2024, and the information collected will inform school food decisions for next school year and beyond. The District’s NSS team will gift some technology items to be raffled off to the elementary school and high school with the most students participating in the survey. Since increasing student outreach and engagement on the District’s meal program, the District has added more than 50 new items. Student participation at breakfast increased by three percent at breakfast and by four percent at lunch since last year.

“We want our students to be the main stakeholders when it comes to creating school meals,” said CPS NSS Executive Director Jason Mojica. “We are eager to continue increasing the percentage of students who will take advantage of our free meal program across all District schools.”

More information about CPS’ Nutrition Support Services is available here.