School Nutrition Association February 2012 : Page 4

Fırst Word Forward Thinking here’s been quite a focus on “change” for SNA and the school nutrition profession over the last several months. SNA President Helen Phillips has asked members to “Stand up for Change,” using this declaration as the theme for her year’s plan of work. Last month, this magazine debuted a digital edition that you can read online. And, as of press time, we are still waiting to know what changes are in store with the release of the new meal pattern regulations. Of course, there have been many other changes, both in your own schools and districts, as well as behind the scenes of your national association and its state affi liates. In times of rapid and ongoing change, organiza-tions can struggle to continually adjust to fi ght this particular fi re or seize that specifi c oppor-tunity. That’s why it’s so important to stop and take a breath—and do some strategic planning. A three-to-fi ve-year strategic plan provides a framework for an organiza-tion’s leadership to act thought-fully, productively and effi ciently in its work on a weekly, full monthly and long-term basis. Your leadership and manage-mo ment teams at SNA understand this. That’s why a special me Strategic Planning Committee, composed of the SNA Board Str of Directors, appointed at-large members and the headquar-ters senior staff, came together in mid-December for a te three-day meeting to lay a strategic foundation for the th Association’s future. A It would be easy to go into such a meeting Frank DiPasquale armed with little more than an array of Chief Executive Ofﬁ cer individual passionate and well-meaning visions and agendas. Instead, SNA compiled recent member v satisfaction research and conducted a new survey to complement the existing fi ndings. The rich data that resulted was complemen most informative in helping the Committee to establish the top priorities among the opportunities and challenges that were identifi ed. For example, members told SNA that the negative perceptions of school nutrition and the inadequate sources of revenue or govern-ment funding for programs were the most critical issues facing the profession. In addition, they ranked the importance of SNA training activities, frequency of visiting SNA’s website, reasons for earning the SNS credential, barriers to using online training and much more. Such feedback helps the organization identify the biggest gaps between member expectations and performance—but those gaps also translate to the greatest opportunities for the future. At press time, the offi cial strategic plan was still being fi nalized prior to being formally presented. I can tell you that, in the coming months, you’ll be hearing more specifi cs about the fi ve “strategic pillars” of the plan—Education and Professional Development, Public Image, Advocacy, Community and Membership—as well as new mission, vision and values statements. Let me take this opportu-nity, however, to thank all the participants of the Strategic Planning Committee for their thoughtful refl ections and collaborative spirit— their work is another great example of how SNA’s leadership contin-ues to drive this organization in the right direction. SN FEBRUAR Y 2012 T Nutrıtıon February Fe b ruar y 2012 201 2 V Vo ol. l . 66 • No.2 School P U BL IC AT ION S TAF F Pu b l i s h e r Fra n k D iPa sq u a l e St a f f V ice Pr es i de n t o f Co m m u n ic a t i o n s Ma ria Ro be r t son Ed i t o r Pa tric ia L . Fi tzgeral d Ass i st an t Ed i t o r Cecily Wa l te r s A ssociate Ed itor Julie Ec kman Co m m u n ic a t i o n s A ss i s t a n t M e li s s a J. G ra n t Creat i ve Di rec t or Ch e r W illia ms C W D e sig n So l u tio n s, In c . EDIT ORIAL OF FIC E 120 Wa te r fro n t St., Su i te 3 0 0 Na tio na l Ha rbo r, M D 2074 5 (3 01) 6 8 6 -310 0 • (8 0 0) 877-8 822 s n ma g azi n e @sc h oo l n u tri tio n.o rg www.sc h oo l n u tri tio n.o rg AD VER T ISING INF O RMAT ION Ea s t Coa s t : Ma r tin Tu brid y Tu b rid y A s so c ia te s, In c . 3 Gl e nwoo d Rd. We s to n, C T 0 6 8 83 (203) 222-70 0 4 M i d wes t & Wes t Coa s t : Ba rba ra Boyce B oyce M e d ia S e r v ice s 20 50 S. Ja ma ic a Ct. Au ro ra, CO 8 0 014 (3 03) 337-6 8 54 CO V E R Da niel L a flor.com SCHOOL NUTRITION (ISSN 1075-3885) is published monthly (except bimonthly in June/July) by the School Nutrition Association (SNA), 120 Waterfront Street, Suite 300, National Harbor, MD 20745. The appearance of editorial matter and adver tisements do not imply SNA endorsement of ideas ex pressed or produc t s of fered for sale. Periodic als postage is paid at Oxon Hill, Md., and additional mailing offices. Subsc ription price: $9 0 per year for nonmembers and $2 per year from each member’s dues. Interna tional: w r i t te n $135. A ll ma terial in this magazine is P O ST M A ST E R : Send addr ess copyrighted by SNA and may not be r e p r o d u c e d w i t h o u t permission. ch anges to Sc h o o l N u t r i t i o n , SN A M e m b e r S e r v ic e s , 120 Water front St., Suite 300, National Harbor, MD 20745. SNA’s Member Services Depar tment processes all applica-tions received through the 15th of the month for the following month’s upda te. The f irs t issue of School Nut rit ion to be mailed is t wo months a f ter the applic a tion is processed. For example, for applic a tions received by Januar y 15, members will receive the Marc h issue. 4 School Nutrıtıon • The Official Publication of the School Nutrition Association

First Word

There’s been quite a focus on “change” for SNA and the school nutrition profession over the last several months.SNA President Helen Phillips has asked members to “Stand up for Change,” using this declaration as the theme for her year’s plan of work. Last month, this magazine debuted a digital edition that you can read online. And, as of press time, we are still waiting to know what changes are in store with the release of the new meal pattern regulations. Of course, there have been many other changes, both in your own schools and districts, as well as behind the scenes of your national association and its state affiliates. In times of rapid and ongoing change, organizations can struggle to continually adjust to fight this particular fire or seize that specific opportunity.That’s why it’s so important to stop and take a breath—and do some strategic planning. A three-tofive-year strategic plan provides a framework for an organization’s leadership to act thoughtfully, productively and efficiently in its work on a weekly, monthly and long-term basis. Your leadership and management teams at SNA understand this. That’s why a special Strategic Planning Committee, composed of the SNA Board of Directors, appointed at-large members and the headquarters senior staff, came together in mid-December for a three-day meeting to lay a strategic foundation for the Association’s future. It would be easy to go into such a meeting armed with little more than an array of individual passionate and well-meaning visions and agendas. Instead, SNA compiled recent member satisfaction research and conducted a new survey to complement the existing findings. The rich data that resulted was most informative in helping the Committee to establish the top priorities among the opportunities and challenges that were identified. For example, members told SNA that the negative perceptions of school nutrition and the inadequate sources of revenue or government funding for programs were the most critical issues facing the profession. In addition, they ranked the importance of SNA training activities, frequency of visiting SNA’s website, reasons for earning the SNS credential, barriers to using online training and much more.Such feedback helps the organization identify the biggest gaps between member expectations and performance—but those gaps also translate to the greatest opportunities for the future. At press time, the official strategic plan was still being finalized prior to being formally presented. I can tell you that, in the coming months, you’ll be hearing more specifics about the five “strategic pillars” of the plan—Education and Professional Development, Public Image, Advocacy, Community and Membership—as well as new mission, vision and values statements. Let me take this opportunity, however, to thank all the participants of the Strategic Planning Committee for their thoughtful reflections and collaborative spirit— their work is another great example of how SNA’s leadership continues to drive this organization in the right direction.

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