Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

District hungers to feed students

Number of low-income students eligible for breakfast, lunch rises as participation stalls

School meals

RICHARD BRIAN / SPECIAL TO THE SUN

From left, Fay Herron Elementary kindergartners Jesus Silva, Ashley Leon and Daisy Aguilar have cereal and rolls before the start of class on Friday. Students at the school can eat at their desks between 8:35 and 9 a.m., when the school day officially begins.

Click to enlarge photo

Fay Herron Elementary School Principal Kelly Sturdy shows breakfast items to be delivered to classrooms.

The share of Clark County School District students receiving free and reduced-price meals is expected to hit 50 percent by spring, and that’s thought to be an all-time high.

The numbers have climbed as the Southern Nevada economy continues its decline. As of this month, 48 percent of the district’s more than 308,000 students receive breakfast and lunch through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s school nutrition program, up from 46 percent at the start of the academic year.

“We’ve had more people losing their jobs, and the jobs people are finding are often lower-paying,” said Susan Wright, director of Title I services for the School District. “There’s no doubt these are very difficult times for families.”

Just as troubling to officials is that as the numbers of those in need have grown, the state has had less success getting families to participate in the program.

Nevada fared poorly in a recent report card that measured participation by low-income students in federally subsidized school breakfast programs — its state ranking slipped to 47th in the nation from 40th just two years ago, according to the report by the Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit policy group in Washington, D.C.

The report found that on an average school day in Nevada, just 37 of every 100 low-income students who had lunch at school also had breakfast. The national average was 47 of 100.

If Nevada were to boost its participation to 60 of every 100 students — as the report recommends — it would mean another 28,000 students eating breakfast, and the state seeing an additional $6.5 million in federal funding to cover the cost.

Numerous studies have shown children who eat a healthy breakfast perform better in school. Studies have also shown that children who skip breakfast are more likely to eat high-starch, sugary snacks during the day — a habit that can lead to obesity and Type II diabetes, both on the rise in America’s youth.

In some of Nevada’s rural districts, students didn’t get breakfast because it’s not offered at school. But in Clark County, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the state’s K-12 enrollment, breakfast is available at all campuses.

However, because district participation rates continue to lag, state and local officials are pushing for new approaches to boost the numbers.

There are many reasons why students don’t take part in breakfast, district and state education officials say. In some cases school buses deliver students just moments before the first bell rings, or students who walk don’t leave time to stop at the cafeteria before class. Some parents prefer their children eat at home or aren’t aware that subsidized breakfast is available.

Donnell Barton, director of the Nevada Education Department’s Office of Child Nutrition and School Health, said her office has pushed school districts to adopt new policies and initiatives aimed at boosting participation in breakfast programs, including changing bus schedules, offering “grab and go” meals and serving breakfast to students at their desks.

Those ideas haven’t caught on, Barton said.

One of the initiatives, known as “Breakfast in the Classroom,” started about six years ago but has been all but abandoned. The idea was that students could be served cold cereal, muffins, juice and milk at their desks during the first minutes of the instructional day, time typically set aside for calling roll and announcements.

Some teachers and administrators said despite their best efforts, breakfast cut into instructional time and created more work for staff to keep classrooms clean.

The district limited the program to its highest-poverty campuses, where federal funding provides free meals to all students.

The number of participating schools in the free meals program fell from 40 to 11, after district officials determined the federal reimbursement wasn’t covering costs. Currently only one of those 11 schools — Fay Herron Elementary — delivers breakfast to classrooms.

On Friday at the North Las Vegas campus, fifth-graders Guadalupe Ayala and Karla Quintana poured milk on their cereal while their teacher wrote out the day’s assignments on the board.

Breakfast helps students learn, Guadalupe said.

Karla agreed.

“When I skip (breakfast), I feel like I’m going to fall asleep all morning,” Karla said. “It’s hard to concentrate.”

Fay Herron Principal Kelly Sturdy said her teachers support the program, which allows students to eat at their desks between 8:35 and 9 a.m., when the school day officially begins.

It does require additional staff time for preparation and cleanup. And Herron lost some cafeteria workers in the recent budget cuts, so Sturdy said she recruits fifth-graders to help deliver the carts of food to the classrooms.

In Mily Brobst’s kindergarten classroom, the children know the routine. As soon as they finished eating, Brobst squeezed anti-bacterial gel onto the tabletops and the students wiped down the surfaces with disposable cloths before finding a seat on the floor for the first lesson of the day.

Young children from low-income households are often less verbal than their peers from more affluent homes, and sharing breakfast encourages them to communicate, Sturdy said.

“We all know the research that shows the value of families eating dinner together,” Sturdy said. “We’re seeing the same benefits, only it’s breakfast with their teacher.”

There are some trade-offs. The school is being renovated, but the district told Sturdy that the carpeting wouldn’t be replaced until she stops serving breakfast in classrooms. But with over 1,000 students, it takes four lunch shifts to feed everyone, Sturdy said. There’s no time in the morning to run a similar breakfast schedule.

At C.P. Squires Elementary School, which has a high-minority, high-poverty student population, Principal Marcie McDonald decided to drop “Breakfast in the Classroom” a few years ago.

“We only have so many hours in the day,” McDonald said. “Every instructional minute has to count.”

The school has since worked hard to make sure needy students are getting to campus early enough to take part in the cafeteria breakfast, which McDonald said she believes is more nutritious — and palatable — than what was being delivered to classrooms.

The School District’s food services division, which has about 1,000 full-time employees and another 1,000 part-time workers, is required to be self-supporting and receives no money from the district’s general fund. Its operating budget is $80 million to $90 million.

Students in the reduced-price meals program pay 30 cents for breakfast compared with the regular prices of $1.25 at elementary schools and $1.50 at middle and high schools. Reduced-price lunches are 40 cents, compared with $1.75 at elementary schools and $3 at middle and high schools.

Charles Anderson, director of food services for the School District, said his division is continually looking for ways to encourage all students to eat breakfast and reminding parents of the benefits of the subsidized meal program.

“We are in the business of feeding kids, and we want to feed all the kids we possibly can,” Anderson said.

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