'Grab & go' school breakfasts fuel students for learning

The Cranston Herald ·

Cranston West students could swing by the cafeteria last Wednesday morning and grab their breakfast on the go thanks to the Rhode Island Department of Education’s (RIDE) new “breakfast challenge” being implemented statewide.

The challenge is designed to combat a growing statewide issue: eligible students aren’t taking advantage of free breakfast at school.

The breakfast comes in the form of three models, according to RIDE communication director Megan Geoghegan. There is breakfast in the classroom for the hungry students who get there right as school starts, there is “grab and go,” where students can go by the cafeteria before classes and snag milk, yogurt, fruit, or other breakfast items to bring with them, and there’s second chance breakfast, which is a bagged breakfast students can get between classes to bring with them.

The grab and go breakfast was showcased last week at Cranston West because, according to Geoghegan, many of the older students in the state are getting to school later than most, especially if they’re driving themselves, and this is much easier for them.

Data provided by RIDE shows the difference between how many eligible students are taking advantage of the free breakfast program compared to the free lunch program.

The current breakfast program serves an average of 29,000 children daily across the state, including students in public, private, child care, and state schools. Free meals, for both breakfast and lunch, are provided to children from families up to 130 percent of poverty level; reduced-prices of $.30 or less are given to those between 130 to 185 percent of poverty level, and those above 185 percent pay a price determined by the school, according to RIDE’s website. In all, 85 percent of breakfasts are served for free or at a reduced price.

In Cranston, more than double the amount of lunches were consumed than breakfast over a 22-day span last March-April. Overall, Cranston schools only served 61,279 breakfasts over that month-long period compared to 103,675 lunches, showing how many more students are getting their lunches from school compared to breakfast, even considering those who eat breakfast at home. Cranston West, for example, sold/gave out 16,636 lunches compared to 8,034 breakfasts.

The lack of all eligible students taking advantage of the breakfast programs has prompted RIDE commissioner Ken Wagner to spearhead this campaign.

“School nutrition and focusing on nutrition is part of the Governor’s third grade reading challenge, so we’ve been talking about it,” Wagner said. “We have a lot of students who are [taking advantage of the current program] but we could always increase participation.”

That reading challenge, designed by the Governor’s office with the goal of 75% of third-graders in the state to be reading at grade level by 2025, pegs proper nutrition as a key factor in the school success of students. That was another reason for RIDE to devise this breakfast challenge to increase the nutritional intake of students around the state.

The initiative is using a diversified approach in trying to get students to take advantage of breakfast programs.

“The traditional approach is you come to school early, go to a certain place, and eat breakfast there,” Commissioner Wagner said. “One of our ideas is that if we modified the approach, allowing students to come a little bit later, we might increase participation.”  

That modification resulted in the three new models that RIDE is having schools around the state showcase this year.

Commissioner Wagner also said that food waste isn’t an issue right now because the schools prepare food consistent with the current numbers of students, but the issue is necessary to address because students need nutritional breakfasts to energize themselves for a school day.

“We’re just trying to bring awareness [to the issue] and incentive students,” Wagner said.

As for a universal breakfast that would be free to everybody, Wagner said the federal government has a strategy for tackling the issue. For now, RIDE is trying to increase a lacking participation in breakfast programs so students can be better ready for their classes.