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Action Tips: Write a Letter to Change Your School's Dining Services
The Decision Maker
Tell someone in charge of your school's dining services to make a change before your health suffers. First, do some research to find out who makes the decision about which dining service gets a contract with your school. You could go to your principal or ask a teacher. If that doesn’t work, find the names of some members of the Board of Education on a school newsletter and try to call them.
Support
It’s important to make sure you have people who support your argument before you write your letter. It would be really helpful if you conducted a poll at lunch time. Pass out score sheets and have classmates score the cafeteria food they are eating. You can do this for a couple days or a week, whatever works.
Sample Survey
Please rate the cafeteria food you are eating now using the scale below. Rate the food based on taste, nutritional value and freshness. Score each food item from 1 (worst) to 5 (best).
| Today's lunch Items | Taste | Nutrition | Freshness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tater Tots | 12345 | 12345 | 12345 |
| Cheeseburger | 12345 | 12345 | 12345 |
| Cherry Pie | 12345 | 12345 | 12345 |
| Comments |
The results from this survey will help you figure out what your friends and classmates think about cafeteria lunch food. Most likely, they have complaints too.
For more on making a survey click here
Rough Draft
Jot down some of your thoughts first. It actually really helps to organize your thoughts in outline form, and then write a first draft before you move onto your final letter. Ask a friend or someone from your school paper to proofread your letter and give you feedback.
Finally
Remember to include the results from your survey in your final version. It might help to create a graph of ratings that clearly displays everyone’s dissatisfaction with the lunch menu.
Tips to remember while writing your letter:
- Get to the point- state your case in the first paragraph.
- Be pleasant- no one wants to respond to a completely negative letter.
- Keep it natural- take on a conversational tone and make sure sentences aren't too long.
- End with action- suggest to the reader what their next steps should be.
- Presentation is key- make sure there are no spelling mistakes or weird formatting issues.
Time on your hands
Everyone is busy. Don’t worry if you don’t get a response right away. If you haven’t heard back in about two weeks, go ahead and call the office to see if your letter was received.
Keep in mind that your school might have to finish out the current contract with the dining service. This means that you might have to wait a while to see a change. Keep in contact with the decision maker and the Board of Education during this time. Be persistent.
Take Action
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- Let us know if you're going to do this...
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- Find more info on other causes:
Comments
errors:
*Be pleasant
*End with action- suggest the reader's next step to your issue.
I'm actually a vegeterian and I don't eat my school's lunch, but all my friends do. To bad they don't realize what that food is actually made out of... :0 )
This is a fantastic idea because i have been really disgusted with what my school serves at lunch and brunch and I really want them to put healthier items on the menu so we don't all die of obesity -____-
This is a fantastic idea because i have been really disgusted with what my school serves at lunch and brunch and I really want them to put healthier items on the menu so we don't all die of obesity -____-
This is a fantastic idea because i have been really disgusted with what my school serves at lunch and brunch and I really want them to put healthier items on the menu so we don't all die of obesity -____-
School food is crap. I mean I love cheeseburgers, even more so some taters! But we all must be more health conscious. Healthy foods are more of a rarity, especially considering the war in Lybia and the Fukushima disaster. I'm hoping to find to find a health food store in my area that still has quality items! My budget isn't always what I would like, but when I can buy better- even with cash, I do.
School food is crap. I mean I love cheeseburgers, even more so some taters! But we all must be more health conscious. Healthy foods are more of a rarity, especially considering the war in Lybia and the Fukushima disaster. I'm hoping to find to find a health food store in my area that still has quality items! My budget isn't always what I would like, but when I can buy better- even with cash, I do.
School food is crap. I mean I love cheeseburgers, even more so some taters! But we all must be more health conscious. Healthy foods are more of a rarity, especially considering the war in Lybia and the Fukushima disaster. I'm hoping to find to find a health food store in my area that still has quality items! My budget isn't always what I would like, but when I can buy better- even with cash, I do.
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