As a former Director, I heavily relied on the input of my team. In one former district, I had thirty-five schools that served our students. Because I was only one person, I could not be in every school, every day to see the students and get to know their likes verses their dislikes. Therefore, I created a Manager Advisory Team to help me do just that. There were six managers on the team and they were voted on by their peers. There were two managers for elementary, middle and high so that all three age groups were represented evenly. During the Spring meeting, we would discuss new ideas that I had for the upcoming school year. The team would give me honest
Manager Advisory Team
feedback regarding those ideas. Sometimes this meant we scratched the idea all together, sometimes we tweaked it to make it better and sometimes they liked it as it was presented. They also brought new ideas to the table which we were able to implement if the team as a whole, saw fit. We went through the menus to see what worked and what didn’t. The team’s help allowed me to make the decisions I needed to make in order to clean out the old things in our program that weren’t working anymore and to implement new things for the next school year. My management team were my eyes and ears of the program therefore their input was valuable to me when cleaning out.
Springtime cleanouts are a very important part of creating the best program we can for our students. It is a time where your team can come together and get ready to be better for the upcoming school year. Throwing out the old that doesn’t work anymore and replacing it with the new might just be what your program needs in order to be successful for your students. Happy cleaning. •
Getting the opinions of the principals can be very beneficial to cleaning out your program. Around year three of being a Director, I decided to reach out to a few principals in each of my elementary, middle and high schools to gain their feedback. I mainly wanted to know, from point of view, how we could make our program more effective and efficient. Were we getting the students through the line
Principal’s opinions
fast enough? Did we need to implement kiosk in the buildings to help with breakfast? Are the child nutrition team members serving the students well? Do we need to come up with a plan to update the cafeteria? The feedback I gained from the principals allowed me to see our program from a different perspective which made our program even better. Most principals are happy to answer a few questions in order to ensure their students are being served with great care.
Donette Worthy | Client Relations Manager, NxtGen Network Donette is from sweet home Alabama and is passionate about all things Child Nutrition. With 13 years of experience in Child Nutrition with 10 years as a Director, she brings a different perspective to the NxtGen team. Throughout her years in CN, she’s spoken nationwide to help programs flourish, enjoying marketing’s creative aspects and professional growth. Her theory is you can always learn something new because when you think you know it all, it’s time to go to the house.
8 | Healthy Harvest June 2025
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