Fulton elementary students will no longer have to worry about grabbing a nutritious breakfast before leaving for school this year with the new Breakfast in the Classroom program.
Rhonda Fletcher, director of food services for Fulton Public Schools (FPS), knows the morning rush to get ready for school can often seem chaotic, prompting students to often overlook eating a sustainable meal by either not eating enough or skipping breakfast.
"Most kids like to sleep late so they might choose to do that instead of eating a big enough meal or may decide to skip eating because school starts fairly early," Fletcher said.
When students arrived at school last year, Fletcher said they would have to rush to the cafeteria if they wanted to grab a bite to eat before classes started because serving breakfast is rushed at the school.
"We only have 20 minutes to serve the students and there's no way to get all of the students who probably need or want breakfast through the line with traditional serving," Fletcher explained. "So that's why we chose to go to the Breakfast in the Classroom. We can divide up the serving stations and give them more places to go to get breakfast in the morning."
Before the program was implemented, traditional serving meant hungry students only had 20 minutes to wait in the food line, choose their food, pay the cashier and eat at a table in the cafeteria before classes started.
Fletcher said the previous breakfast-serving procedure created a hurried environment in the cafeteria, which may have seemed too hectic and intimidating for some students. She added that sometimes tardy students ate on the floor outside of their classroom before the program was implemented. Those type of problems are eliminated with the program, since children can continue eating breakfast in their classroom after the bell rings.
Fletcher described how the program works, saying students can now grab a free meal immediately after entering the building. "We have three different serving stations at the school and it's according to grade groups," Fletcher explained. "They go by their assigned serving station on a cart in the halls and pick up their breakfast, put it in a bag and take it to the classroom to eat."
When students finish eating, they place their garbage in the bag the food came in and dispose of the bag in a trash receptacle in the hallway.
Students can choose an entree, a fruit and a fruit juice - or both - and chocolate or white milk. Flavored waffles, mini French toasts and pancakes, cereal bars and muffins are just a sample of the list of items available to students. Elementary schools are also serving protein-rich food items, including the recently introduced breakfast taco and a breakfast flat bread pizza, although Fletcher said FPS are not required to serve high-protein foods under current federal law.
More food options will be available once students and faculty become more familiar with the new breakfast routine, Fletcher said.
"When everybody gets used to the program, we are going to reintroduce cereal into their choices," Fletcher said. "But we didn't want to make that a choice in the beginning because of the possibility of spillage. I didn't want to overstress the teachers with messes in their room in the beginning. Once the kids get used to it, there won't be those messes."
Whole grain cereal such as Honey Nut Cheerios, along with popular children's cereals Cocoa Puffs and Golden Grams, will be available options in the near future. String cheese and yogurt will also be reintroduced at a later time.
Fletcher said the menu offers picky eaters something they will find appealing, and accommodates children with food specific food allergies.
"We have other options that fit within their allergies," she said. "We offer them something to drink if they're allergic to milk, gluten-free cereal if they have a gluten intolerance. Generally most kids can find something they like within the choices that we have."
The breakfast menu for each month is displayed in each elementary school and posted on the school district's website for children and parents to reference.
Fletcher commended the teachers for undertaking new responsibilities that come with the new breakfast routine.
"Most of them have not experienced this responsibility and they have that responsibility now," Fletcher said.
She added that she has received positive feedback from teachers about the program.
"Most of teachers I've spoken to are all for this program," Fletcher said. "They really like it. It gets them off to a good start in the morning."
Fletcher discussed why she initially looked into the program, which she attributed to not reaching the elementary students who were eligible for the free and reduced meal plan.
"I knew that we were missing out on a lot of kids and those that really need it," she said. "So I knew that if we could get breakfast available to kids, that they probably would eat breakfast."
Since Fulton elementary students returned to school Aug. 19, Fletcher has noticed about a 25 percent increase in student participation. As the program gains popularity, she is hopeful that more children will participate.
"Our goal is that our participation will increase to 80 or 90 percent, or even more, for breakfast," she said.
Fletcher discussed several benefits of eating a balanced breakfast daily, especially for growing children. She said a nutritious breakfast helps "to get your system jump-started and to give you fuel so you can think and perform well in school."
Fletcher and school administrators hope the program will reduce the daily number of hunger-related disruptions, such as the number of daily tardy and absent students and visits to the nurse for stomach and headaches. They also think the new morning routine will boost academic performance.
"Their focus, ability to learn, classroom participation and hopefully test scores will increase," Fletcher commented. "There have been studies done on this program across the country that have shown these things to come true, and we will be tracking some of these in our schools."
Fulton Elementary Schools are also beneficiaries for grants from the National Dairy Counsel and General Mills for equipment and food needed to manage the program. Fletcher will be tracking the program's progress by recording the number of students absent and tardy, along with test scores, to compare all three schools' results to national claims.
Although the program involves increased costs and more staff time, Fletcher and school administrators also think the participation will cover the extra spending.
"This is a universally free program, which means all the kids that choose to eat breakfast, eat breakfast free," Fletcher said. "However, our reimbursement is still based on whatever status they are approved for in the program."
"We have the potential of introducing some type of program that would help with breakfast in the middle school and the high school level - a grab and go, or the same kind of concept there," Fletcher said. "We'll see how this goes for a little bit and we'll go from there."
She said Breakfast in the Classroom was piloted about four or five years ago for schools across the country.
"It's not a program that has been done very much here in the central United States, in mid-Missouri," she said. "There are a few programs in our area but we're one of the few that have decided to give this a try. I just think it's the right thing to do for the kids. It's a program that I have been dreaming about for several years, so I'm excited that it's working."