Aug 2, 2017 4 min read

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Getting back into the morning routine at the beginning of a new school year isn’t easy for kids or parents. The a.m. hustle and bustle sometimes means school children don’t have time for a healthy breakfast. And in some cases, families aren’t in a situation to provide breakfast at home. Washington School District administrators are hoping to change that this fall thanks to a new grant focusing on providing healthy breakfasts for students.

“I think the opportunity we’re providing for the breakfast program to basically give them a great start to their morning is really critical,” says new Washington School District Superintendent Dr. James Konrad. “If you think about how many studies have been done emphasizing the importance of eating a healthy breakfast, that gets you energized for the day. The district is committed to making sure we get students off on the right foot so that way they can achieve high academics in their classes and they can actively participate and learn while in school.”

The Action for Healthy Kids Breakfast Grant will provide $3,000, which will be split between the district’s two buildings. District administrative assistant Kim Smith wrote the grant proposal and is thrilled that the first grant she has ever written got approved. “We’re going to try to increase participation in the breakfast program because some of the kids were coming in later and weren’t getting breakfast,” Smith explains. “The last two weeks of the school year, we noticed the numbers increased tremendously as long as we brought the breakfast to the classroom. At the high school level, we’re going to try to concentrate on that more. At the Park school, every teacher will bring them to the cafeteria so that all of the students are offered the breakfast meal.”

Breakfast is already offered at both Washington Park Elementary for kindergarten through eighth grades and at Washington Junior/Senior High School for grades seven through 12. The goal of the grant is to improve participation. Smith says, “We had the grab and go at the high school in the cafeteria, but not as many students would come down to the cafeteria because they come in different entrances. The teachers said it was amazing how many more students ate breakfast when we brought it to the classroom.”

Administrators looked at the number of students actually eating breakfast and realized many of them were not taking advantage of the opportunity. They decided to revamp the way it is offered to improve participation. This fall, high school students will be offered a brown bag breakfast in their homerooms while elementary and middle school students will accompany teachers to the cafeteria for a sit-down breakfast environment. The schools will track numbers to see how many students are eating breakfast and will be able to make adjustments throughout the school year as needed. “We want to be able to support as many students as possible and support that healthy lifestyle,” Konrad says. “We’ve tried to make the program accommodating in that it’s grab-and-go we realize the typical high student might not sit down for 25 minutes and eat breakfast because they’re getting ready for a test in first period or catching up with some friends.”

At Washington Park School, the approach will be a bit different because of the students are younger. “For the younger kids, from my perspective, I think it’s best when students really do get a chance to sit together and have that socialization time,” Konrad adds. “With technology these days, to have the person to person face time is a skill that our students really need to acquire, so that we can have conversations with classmates and it will transcend when they graduate from Wash High.”

The focus on health and nutrition will also be supported through health and physical education classes. A monthly newsletter students can take home will include information on fitness and keeping kids active as well as nutritional tips and healthy recipes. “If we can get kids ages 6 to 18 to make those good choices,” Konrad says, “it will really stick with them as they continue to transition into adult life.” Student volunteers will create posters advertising each day’s breakfast options to spread the word about the new options. “Having a positive start in the morning is really important,” Konrad says. “We’re educating the whole student, so obviously the nutritional piece is a huge aspect.”