State CN Agencies (Directors and Key Staff), SFSP Sponsors (Directors and Key Staff), and SFSP Sites (Supervisors) - SLT

APPENDIX C-5. SITE SUPERVISOR INTERVIEW GUIDE

OMB Control Number: 0584-XXXX

Expiration Date: XX/XX/20XX

Introduction

Good morning/afternoon. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. My name is [INTERVIEWER’S NAME] and I work for Westat, a private research company based in Rockville, Maryland. With me today is [NOTE TAKER’S NAME], who will be taking notes.

PURPOSE: Today I am going to ask you some questions about the summer meal program you run. You may not know this, but your site is part of a program called the Summer Food Service Program, which is sometimes called the summer meals program. The federal Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is the office within the U.S. Department of Agriculture that funds this program. FNS hired Westat to conduct a research study on the summer meals program. During our conversation today, we will ask you about how you oversee your summer meals program, any challenges you’ve encountered, and any training that was useful. We’re trying to get a feel for how the program works, and it’s okay if you don’t have an answer for every question.

HOW YOU WERE SELECTED: We are talking with 48 summer meals programs around the country to hear about how they are run in different areas. We recently talked with [sponsor name] and they suggested that we talk with you about your program.

RISKS AND PRIVACY: There is little risk to being part of this study. We use the information we collect only for the purposes we describe. When we report the results of these conversations, we will combine all the information we gather from different people. Neither your name nor the name of your organization will be identified. In our reports we may include quotes from the interviews, but we won’t include the name of the person we quote. When we send FNS the transcript of this interview, we will remove information that could identify you or your organization.

STUDY COSTS AND COMPENSATION: There is no cost to you to participate apart from the time you spend talking with us.

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is conducting this study to obtain information about the administration and oversight of the Summer Food Service Program and to identify potential barriers to ensuring the integrity and effective management of the program. Participation in this study is voluntary and the information collected will be used to determine resources, develop training, and provide technical assistance. Under the Privacy Act of 1974 and the System of Record Notice FNS-8 USDA/FNS Studies and Reports, any personally identifying information obtained will be kept private to the extent provided by law. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-XXXX. The time required to provide this information collection is estimated to average 30 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather and maintain the data needed, and complete and review the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1014, Alexandria, VA 22302 ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx).

VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION: Your participation is voluntary. If you decide not to participate, your decision will not affect you or your summer meal program in any way. During our conversation, you can take a break, skip questions, say something off the record, or stop at any time.

QUESTIONS: If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, please call the Westat Human Subjects Protections office at 1-888-920-7631. Please leave a message with your full name, the name of the research study you are calling about, which is the SFSP Integrity Study, and a phone number beginning with the area code. Someone will return your call as soon as possible.

This discussion should last no more than 30 minutes, until [TIME]. Is that still okay?

With your permission I would like to record this discussion to help us fill any gaps in our written notes. The recordings, transcripts, and any notes we have will be stored on Westat’s secure server and will be destroyed after the project is complete.

Do you have any questions? [ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS]

May I turn on the audio recorder now?

[TURN ON AUDIO RECORDER IF GIVES CONSENT]

Now that the audio recorder is on, do you agree to participate? [PAUSE FOR RESPONSE]

And do you agree to be audio recorded? [PAUSE FOR RESPONSE]

Background Information Summary

[Interviewer to complete prior to interview]

Site Supervisor Name
Sponsor Name
Program Type (open, enrolled, camp, migrant, NYSP)
Are meals prepared on site or does the site use a vendor?

Warm Up

I would like to begin with a few background questions. First, let me ask, what do you call your summer meals program? [Interviewer note: use that name instead of the more generic “summer meals program” when possible.]

1. What is your role at [SITE]?

2. How long have you been working at [SITE]?

3. Approximately how many years has [SITE] been serving summer meals? Your best estimate is fine, but it’s also fine to say you don’t know.

[Interviewer note: If the site’s sponsor is a school food authority (SFA), then it is possible they operated the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) for part of the time they have been serving summer meals. If the site mentions this, ask them how many years were specifically SFSP.]

4. Which months of the year does [SITE] serve summer meals?

5. What meals do you serve this year (e.g., breakfast, lunch, snack, supper)?

Start Up and Training

6. Please tell me about the training that you received from [SPONSOR NAME] for the summer meals program.

1. When did that training happen?

Probe: Was it before the summer started, during the summer?

2. Was the training provided in person, via phone call, via webinar, or some other format?

   1. Do you think that was the right format or would you have preferred a different format? Explain.

3. Who else from the site participated in this training, if anyone?

[Note: we don’t need names, just the roles of the people who were trained.]

7. What topics did the training cover?

   1. Is there any other topic you wish the training had covered? If yes, explain.

   2. Did you have to take a quiz either before or after the training?

1. [If Yes] What did the quiz ask about?

8. Did you receive any other training for the summer meals program this year?

[If Yes]

1. What did that training cover?

2. When did that training happen?

9. What parts of the trainings were most helpful to you?

[Interviewer note: If site director participated in multiple trainings, ask him or her to answer based on all trainings, rather than describing most/least helpful parts of each one.]

1. Why? What parts were least helpful? Why?

10. Sometimes an organization like yours will receive written guidance or resources to help then run their summer meals program. For example, some sites receive a written guide that explains the program rules, or a form to help keep track of meals served. Have you ever received any written guidance or resources from [SPONSOR NAME]?

Probes: forms to record meals served, menus, program rules, etc.

[If Yes]

1. Please describe those resources.

2. Which of these have you found most useful?

Probe: For boosting participation, meeting program requirements, and reducing any staffing strain that might occur?

11. What additional guidance on summer meal requirements, if any, would you like to get?

    1. How would you prefer to receive such guidance?

Probe: In writing, through a webinar, in-person training, or some other way?

Site Records

12. Please tell me how you go about counting the number of meals served each day.

Probe: do you take a tally, check off names on a paper roster, use a clicker, a point-of-sale computer system, other?

1. Who counts the meals?

2. What numbers do you keep track of?

Probe: Number of meals received or prepared? Number of meals served? Number of meals left over? Number of second meals served? Adult meals served? Staff meals served?

3. When do you count meals?

Probe: Do you count them before they are served? Based on attendance? As they are being served or after they are served?

13. Do you or your staff review the production records before sending them to [SPONSOR NAME]?

    1. [If yes] What do you look for in that review?

14. Tell me how you report meal counts to [SPONSOR NAME].

[If site sends records to sponsor]

1. Are you sending the production records to [SPONSOR NAME] by email, in hard copy, by entering the numbers into a computer system, or some other method?

2. How often do you send the records to [SPONSOR NAME]?

[If sponsor picks up the records from site]

3. How often does someone from [SPONSOR NAME] pick up the records?

4. Do they review the meal counts with you on site before leaving with the records?

15. [If send records to sponsor] What is the hardest part of reporting your meal counts to [SPONSOR NAME]?

    1. [If worked at site 2+ years] Have there been any changes to how meal counts are reported since you started working at [SITE NAME] that have made the process easier?

16. Aside from the production records, what other records, if any, do you keep?

Probes: delivery receipts, menus, health inspection reports

1. Do you send those to the [SPONSOR NAME]?

2. [If enrolled site] How do you find out the free/reduced price/paid eligibility status for each of the children enrolled?

Probe: Do they receive a list from the local schools with the free/reduced/paid eligibility status for each of the children enrolled, or do they receive meal applications directly from households?

17. Does [SPONSOR NAME] ever contact you with questions about the meal counts?

[If Yes]

1. What are the reasons they have come back to you? What questions did they have?

2. Did you end up making any changes? If yes, how did you make changes to the data at that point?

Monitoring Site Operations

As you may know, [SPONSOR NAME] has to visit all of the sites like yours that serve summer meals. For example, they need to make sure that every site has a health and sanitation inspection, and make sure that sites are serving meals at the times they said they would. My next few questions are about how [SPONSOR NAME] does this.

18. Please tell me a little about the health inspections process for the summer meals program. (Note to interviewer: This may not apply to mobile sites)

1. Who conducts the inspection?

2. [If site is only open for a couple of weeks, skip this question]: How often do health inspections happen?

3. How are the results documented?

Probe: does the site display a notice? Do they submit documents to the sponsor?

4. If the inspector finds a problem, what happens next?

19. [If site self-prepares meals and staff do the meal preparation]: There are certain rules about the food that can be served, such as the portion sizes and what food groups need to be on each plate. How easy or difficult is it to follow these rules?

20. [If site self-prepares meals] I understand that the number of kids who show up for meals can change from day to day or week to week. How hard or easy is it to prepare the right number of meals so that you don’t have too many leftovers or too little food?

    1. What do you find most challenging when it comes to preparing the right number of meals?

21. [If site uses a vendor] Does your site order the meals for your site, or does [SPONSOR NAME] place the orders?

    1. Do you have any issues with the vendor delivering on time?

       1. [If Yes]: How frequently does this happen?

    2. [if site orders] How do you adjust your orders with the vendor to make sure you don’t get too many or too few meals?

    3. [if sponsor orders] How do you communicate with [SPONSOR NAME] when you need more meals or fewer meals?

22. Tell me about the last time someone from [SPONSOR NAME] visited your site.

1. Did you know [SPONSOR NAME] would visit?

2. Did you have an opportunity during that visit to ask questions or discuss concerns?

3. What kinds of records, if any, did they ask to review?

4. What part of the meal service did they observe, if any?

23. Have you ever learned from your [SPONSOR NAME] that your team at [SITE NAME] was not meeting certain requirements or following certain rules?

    1. When did that happen?

    2. What was the reason?

    3. What happened after your team was told?

       1. Was there a discussion about what to do to fix the errors?

       2. Did anyone follow-up afterwards to check that corrections were made?

24. You probably know that kids need to eat the meals they are served on site, but do you ever have kids wanting to take their meals away from the site?

    1. [If yes] How do you handle that?

25. Do you find any of the rules about summer meals difficult to follow?

    1. Are there rules that you think don’t make sense? If so, which ones?

Probes: preparing or ordering the right number of meals, serving meals on time, congregate feeding, keeping good records

2. Why are those rules difficult to follow?

Wrap Up

26. Reflecting on everything we’ve discussed, what are you most proud of with regard to [SITE NAME] and the summer meals you serve?

Those are all the questions I have. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thank you so much for your participation.

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