BREAKFAST

removes obstacles to students getting the meals. Those include time, for students who might be running late, and stigma, for those who might not want to identify themselves as from lowincome households.

The results are striking. In Newark, for example, participation increased from 33 percent of students in the 2014-15 school year to 70 percent in 2017-18, after the new classroom model was adopted.

“It’s just a normal part of our day,” sixth-grade teacher Stephanie Rakestraw said, watching as her 13 students munched on granola bars and sipped juice boxes. “We’re like a little family, hanging out, eating breakfast together.”

The success in the district of about 6,300 students was one of many highlighted in a recent report by the Children’s Hunger Alliance regarding the Walmart Foundation’s support. The alliance distributed nearly $300,000 in grants to start classroom-breakfast programs in 65 Ohio schools, including five in Newark, which received the largest grant, and seven in the South-Western district, which received $7,400.

The money was used to buy startup supplies, such as crates, carts and equipment needed to store and transport food; trash bins; and the technology needed to track breakfasts served for reimbursement purposes.

On average, districts that moved to a classroom-breakfast model experienced a 20 percent boost in participation, the report said.

The programs are important because the American Academy of Pediatrics has linked poor nutrition to more frequent and lasting health problems, behavioral issues and difficulty concentrating in school, said Judy Mobley, president and CEO of the Children’s Hunger Alliance.

More than 575,000 children in Ohio, or 20 percent, live in Mary Disbennett, a food-service employee for the Newark schools, wheels a cart of breakfasts out of the kitchen to be distributed to classrooms at Wilson Middle School on Thursday.

food-insecure households, she said.

In Ohio, state law requires that all schools where 20 percent or more of the students qualify for free meals participate in a breakfast program. Additionally, a district must create a breakfast program if the parents of half its students request one.

Statewide, student participation in breakfast programs has increased 7 percent since 2012, said Andrea Denning, director of the Ohio Department of Education’s Office for Child Nutrition.

In the 2016-17 school year, Ohio schools served more than 72.6 million breakfasts, she said.

In addition to the Children’s Hunger Alliance grants, schools across Ohio secured more than $600,000 in grants for the 2017-18 school year from the national consortium Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom, which is Breakfast items at the school include milk, granola bars and cereal treats.

also funded by the Walmart Foundation, the alliance’s report said.

Although it might sound counterintuitive, offering every student a meal, as Newark and South-Western do for their classroom breakfast programs, actually can offset more of a district’s

expenses for food and employees. That’s because the federal government reimburses districts for every breakfast served, at a rate that varies based on the student’s family income. Newark food-service director Todd Gallup said grants and reimbursements from the now-popular

program meant that it essentially broke even for the district last year.

Schools in “severe need” receive $1.84 per meal for students who receive reducedprice lunches and $2.14 for students who receive free lunches. Schools not in “severe need” receive $1.49 and $1.79, respectively.

Every district receives 31 cents a meal for students who don’t qualify for discounts.

It requires a little extra work to track those reimbursements, prepare early-morning meals and monitor what foods are popular, but making excuses isn’t an option when kids are coming to school hungry, Gallup said.

“When you receive a hug and a thank-you from a happy kid, or see them eating with a big smile on their face, it’s always worth it,” he said.