New Orleans school meal programs during the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges and innovations identified through qualitative interviews.

Background: School meal programs are critical to reducing childhood food insecurity. This study identified challenges and innovations in school meal service in a disaggregated charter school system during COVID-19 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Methods: Semi-structured qualitative key informant interviews were conducted with school officials and school food providers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Using an immersion-crystallization approach, patterns were identified.

Results: Nine participants described challenges and solutions/innovations in food service focused around five themes: food service, procurement and costs, staffing, communication and outreach, and collaborations and partnerships. Participants faced challenges in meal service logistics, procuring food and supplies, staffing shortages, timely communication, lack of city-wide coordination, and the need to rapidly shift operations due to an evolving pandemic. While the disaggregated system created challenges in a city-wide response, the decentralized system along with policy changes offered opportunities for flexibility and innovation in meal programs through new partnership and coordination between schools and community, development of new processes for food service and procurement, and diverse modes of communication.

Conclusion: These findings add to the understanding of challenges faced and innovations implemented to continue school meal programs in a disaggregated school system. Collaboration with community organizations, leveraging resources, coordinated communication, and policies allowing for flexibility were key to response and should be encouraged to build capacity and resiliency in emergencies. In future city-wide emergency preparedness planning efforts, school leaders and food providers should be included in the planning to ensure continued equitable food access for students.