School Food on the Frontlines: It’s been a COVID year for Andrea and engagement with families!

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Posted on March 26, 2021 by schoolmealsthatrock

Andrea Early, MS, RD, in her 18^th year as Director of School Nutrition for Harrisonburg City Public Schools. This Virginia district has 6,500 Students Pre-K through 12 grade. Pre-pandemic the district was headed toward 100 percent CEP, with an ADP around 78 percent at lunches and 70 percent at breakfast with alternative service models. During Covid19 school closures they served curbside (moving frow 2X to 1X per week in order to increase participation along with ‘door dash’ for schools delivering 500 bags via car routes. During April the district is gradually bringing students back into buildings and the department is returning to cafeteria and classroom meals.

What was the biggest challenge that you had to overcome in the past year?

Like many of her fellow directors Andrea Early, mentions employee health and safety as her biggest challenger over the past year. With many older employees and health challenges, workplace accommodations were always top of mind. Since there was no option for remote work, people had to learn how to take risks seriously, how to self-screen for symptoms, and how to make informed decisions about immunizations. Andrea is grateful to work in a district where the administration was very data-driven and provided consistent messaging to staff and families.

What achievement are you the proudest of in the past year?

Andrea is proud that her department was instrumental in helping the entire district stay engaged with students (and their families) as much as possible. Due to the combined efforts of teachers, administrators and food service, meal curbside pickup became a big part of family connections to the district. While school nutrition had a high profile prior to the pandemic, “we were able to amplify our voice at the table.” Although participation was not what it would have been without COVID, Andrea was able to maintain staffing levels and offer an appropriate wage increase.

**Teachers (in costume and not) helped to deliver meals and engage families**

What innovation have you made that you will continue using in the future?

Many districts, like Harrisonburg City Schools, have developed a bigger picture of education through the COVID19 lens. As schools realize that virtual or hybrid may be better for some students, Andrea knows that her department has learned how to package and deliver meals for those students too. Large-scale, attractive, packing in bags – “we have it figured out now!”

Hunger Does Not Take a Summer Vacation

Posted on June 30, 2018 by schoolmealsthatrock

When Michelle Barber (aka Dairy Mom RD) asked me to be part of an American Dairy Association Northeast campaign called #ThisIsWhyWeDairy for #JuneDairyMonth, I said yes immediately. This is a #sponsored post, but make no mistake: It is about one of the most important summer nutrition and education issues in the US. Here is why:

FREE Summer Meals are designed to fill the nutrition gaps for the millions of hungry children who are eligible for free- and reduced-priced school meals. However, according to the Food Research and Action Center … [o]nly one in seven children who ate a free or reduced-price school lunch during the 2016-2017 school year were reached by the Summer Nutrition Programs in July 2017. This means that millions of children are missing out on key nutrients they need to keep growing strong all summer long. Without nutritious fuel for their brains, they may also be susceptible to the ‘summer slide,’ the recognized decrease in student’s academic skill level when school is out.

Joey loves summer meals in Cherokee County, Georgia

This post from Cherokee County School Nutrition shows one way to make sure kids have access to FREE summer nutrition. Joey IS smart and adorable and he can enjoy free breakfast and lunches in one of 14 sites in Cherokee County School District. However, some children can’t #BeLikeJoey because they do not have a way to get to the school, church, park, or community center where FREE meals are served. The NYC Department of Education is tackling the problem with on-trend meals, colorful graphics, smartphone apps and food trucks to serve FREE breakfast and lunches at hundreds of schools, pools, parks and libraries.

New York City Goes ALL OUT for Summer Meals

What do Summer Meals look like across the US? In New York City, they serve bagels, egg sandwiches, organic cereal and New York yogurt for breakfast — with deli sandwiches, cold wraps, kid-friendly kale salads, New York apples and plenty of fresh fruits and veggies for lunch. Every FREE meal comes with refreshing milk from New York dairy farms. In Fairfax (left below) and Loudon (right below) County Schools outside Washington, DC, offerings are similar — tasty, healthy and packed with the nutrients that kids need, like calcium, vitamin D and potassium. Remember these meals are FREE to everyone 2 through 18 — no registration, no documentation, no paperwork!

Many Summer Meal sites serve much more than a FREE breakfast, lunch or supper. They also offer fun activities focused on literacy, math and other skills so that children can eat, play AND learn! It’s simple to learn about FREE Summer Meals in any location in the US: Just text 877-877 with a zip code OR address/city/state. Want to increase the meals you serve with additional activities? Check out the FREE toolkit available from Sacramento (CA) Summer Meal Collaborative and United Way at FuelYourSummer.org!

School Breakfast Helps Students Make the Grade in 2015

Posted on March 8, 2015 by schoolmealsthatrock

By Dayle Hayes, MS, RD

While the buzz about National School Breakfast Week, is now behind us, the reasons to expand morning meals at school sit in America’s classrooms every day. Many children are still coming to school too hungry to focus on their teachers and too hungry to learn. In the 2015 Hunger in Our Schools Report from No Kid Hungry, 3 out of 4 public school teachers say that students regularly come to school hungry and 81% say this happens at least once a week. Educators report that hunger results in an inability to concentrate (88%); lack of energy or motivation (87%); poor academic performance (84%); and tiredness (82%).

Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC). McMinnville, Oregon

Fortunately there are solutions. USDA’s School Breakfast Program, which is growing across the country, is the front line in helping all students be well-nourished and ready to learn. Every year the FRAC School Breakfast Scorecard lists participation rates for every state and the District of Columbia. On the plus side, the 2015 report (data from school year 2013-14) shows steady increases since 2003, with a total of 320,000 more low-income students eating a school breakfast each day compared to the prior year.

Sadly, significant school breakfast gaps still exist for low-income children in many states. This is a serious problem because breakfast improves students’ nutrition, health and their ability to focus and pay attention in class. Hungry children cannot listen to their teachers – because they are listening to their stomachs. The just-released Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reinforces the importance of breakfast for young people noting that “[B]reakfast eating is associated with more favorable nutrient intakes compared to nutrient intakes from other meals or snacks. Adolescents and young adults are the least likely to eat breakfast, and targeted promotion efforts are needed to reach these groups. For children and adolescents, the school breakfast program is an important venue for promoting breakfast consumption and efforts are needed to increase student participation rates.”

Montana Food Bank Network Supports School Breakfast. More at http://mfbn.org/learn/outreach-education/school-breakfast-program/breakfast-every-student-every-day-psas

As a mom and a child nutrition expert, my mantra is simple. Breakfast. Every Child. Every Day. Research clearly shows that breakfast helps everyone be ready to succeed – and you probably make certain that your family enjoys these benefits every morning. I believe we all must go beyond our own families and support breakfast in every school – even if our kids eat at home. Here’s what you can do to help:

Digest the facts about breakfast and hungry children in America. The 2015 Hunger in Our Schools Report is a great place to start. You can also Map the Meal Gap in your state or county. A January 2015 Southern Education Foundation research bulletin showed that, for the first time ever, more than half of American children live in poverty. In my opinion, it is a moral imperative that we change this fact. Even if you do not agree, think of all the educational problems that hunger causes in classrooms – including those where your children and grandchildren are trying to learn.
Explore expert views on the power of school breakfast. Many forward-thinking educational groups understand the research connecting breakfast to academic performance, which is why they are working hard to expand breakfast opportunities at school. Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom – FRAC, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Foundation, the National Education Association Health Information Network (NEA HIN), and the School Nutrition Foundation (SNF) – have a passion for child nutrition and improving educational outcomes, which why they provide a virtual ton of toolkits and resources for making breakfast work in any K-12 school.
Advocate for breakfast in your community. Students from every income level benefit from a balanced morning meal every day, whether they eat it at home or school. Fuel Up to Play 60, a national program to improve school nutrition and fitness, has made healthy breakfast choices and effective school breakfast programs a priority. Check with your local dairy council about how to #FuelGreatness at breakfast and learn about fun ways to get all students more excited about that “most important meal of the day.”

While your child may be able to opt out of a school breakfast program, their friends and classmates may not have that luxury for a myriad of reasons. Breakfast is a simple, cost-effective way for high-performing schools to help every child be well nourished and ready to learn. That’s a strategy that I support as a mom, a Registered Dietitian (RD) and a taxpayer.

Apple-Maple French Toast, Windham-Raymond RSU #14, Maine

Maple Apple French Toast, Windham-Raymond RSU #14, Maine. Recipe from Vermont FEED, New School Cuisine Cookbook (http://www.vtfeed.org/materials/new-school-cuisine-cookbook)

This blog post originally appeared on the Midwest Dairy Makes Sense blog as School Breakfast Makes the Grade.

31 Days of #RealSchoolFood: #Hunger Doesn’t Take a Winter Break

Posted on December 21, 2014 by schoolmealsthatrock

Yesterday I was doing a little exploring in a new-to-me Billings neighborhood and I drove down a dead-end road on the outskirts of town. There sits, as my friend Ginny Mermel describes it, the “second worst trailer park in town” – muddy roads with thawing snow, dilapidated homes, rusty cars and many young residents based on the school bus just turning around after dropping off students for winter break.

While most children are excited about a two-week vacation with holiday celebrations and presents under the tree, winter break has a whole different meaning for kids who live in poverty. It means two weeks without school meals – two weeks without the guarantee of a hot breakfast and lunch every day. Thanks to my friend and colleague, Virginia ‘Ginny’ Mermel (far left) and the Billings Public Schools BackPack Meals Program, the situation is not as bleak as it could be in our community.

Archie Cochrane Ford donates $2500 to the BackPack Meals Program (May 2014)

Ginny received one of the 2014 Hunger’s Hope Award from the Montana Food Bank Network (MFBN) in November. In presenting this prestigious award, MFBN noted … “Ginny has the challenging task of feeding very low-income, food insecure students in Billings through school pantries and BackPack programs. Many of the students she serves are emancipated or homeless and rely on the assistance provided through her programs in order to eat. She has steadily expanded the reach and scope of child hunger programs in Billings and the surrounding area while working tirelessly to ensure stable funding and administration for child hunger programs.”

While I see the work of Billings Public Schools BackPack Meals Program and Teen Food Pantry Program personally, I know that thousands of schools and other volunteers work year round to bring healthy food to families in need. Here are two of the many recent Facebook entries that impressed me.

The San Diego (CA) Unified School District Farm to School Program posted this photo on the Friday before their break: “Since today was our last day of school before the 2 week winter break, we donated our leftover fresh produce to 11 San Diego food rescue agencies including Feeding America San Diego, Bayview Charities, various churches, mental health agencies, etc.! Trying to do our part to help those in need.” Rather than letting beautiful produce go to waste, they made sure that it went to those in need.

Produce Donations from San Diego School District

In Greensboro, North Carolina, the Guilford County Cooperative Extension School Garden Network had a great idea on December 16tth: “The Donation Station at the curb market at Yanceyville St. was a hub of activity Saturday as shoppers donated mounds of beautiful produce for our food insecure population here in Guilford County. Volunteers Melissa Tinling, FoodCorp service member and Cynthia Nielsen, GCCES School Garden Network Coordinator for Farmer Foodshare.”

Donation Station in Guilford County, North Carolina

It’s not too late to make the holidays better for hungry children in your community. Wherever you live your local donation station is as close as a food bank, food pantry or mission. Confused about what to donate? How about MILK – one of the most requested, least donated food items? You can donate milk directly or through The Great American Milk Drive. Thanks to America’s Milk Companies and Farm Families, you can help fill the milk gap – and have your donation matched gallon-for-gallon. Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than that!

31 Days of #RealSchoolFood: Breakfast Changes Everything

Posted on December 2, 2014 by schoolmealsthatrock

As I walked off an airplane yesterday in Denver, the large Food Network–No Kid Hungry sign was straight in front of me. The only thing that would have made it a more appropriate greeting would have been my other mantra: Breakfast. Every Student. Every Day.

Denver International Airport, December 1, 2014

Breakfast does change everything for children. Breakfast changes their ability to focus, concentrate and learn – to listen to their teachers rather than their stomachs. Breakfast changes behavior too. Hungry children are often anxious, distracted and attention seeking. Breakfast changes school attendance patterns as well. A November 24, 2014, article in JAMA Pediatrics confirmed that a Breakfast in the Classroom program can dramatically increase breakfast participation and improve school attendance as well.

The accompanying editorial “Continued Promise of School Breakfast Programs for Improving Academic Outcomes: Breakfast Is Still the Most Important Meal of the Day” summarizes the research to date. The authors conclude with the powerful statement that … “innovative breakfast programs, with their wide reach and high implementation rates, have the potential to address the achievement gap in the United States.” A 2013 report, Ending childhood hunger: A social impact analysis prepared by Deloitte for No Kid Hungry reached basically the same conclusion: Breakfast Changes Lives

Breakfast Changes Lives, 2013 No Kid Hungry Report

The good news for hungry students and their families is that #RealSchoolFood is not just for lunch it’s for breakfast too! School nutrition directors are meeting the challenge of the new Breakfast Meal Pattern with all whole grain-rich cereals, breads, bagels and more – and additional servings of fruit available to every child. Read all about how districts are managing – with limited budgets – to provide brain fuel for students in my article on School Breakfast 2014: Can Cafeterias Rise and Shine? in the November 2014 issue of the School Nutrition Magazine (page 72).

Rise and Shine with School Breakfast article begins on page 72

While a simple grab-and-go breakfast of whole grain cereal, milk and fruit offers nutrient-rich fuel for learning, many schools go way beyond the basics. Such programs are regularly featured on the School Nutrition Foundation’s Beyond Breakfast blog and the American Association of School Administrator’s Courageous Conversations with superintendents. You can also find more than a hundred photos, tips and recipes ideas on the School Breakfasts That Rock Pinterest board. Breakfast changes everything by putting a smile on a child’s face!

Breakfast in the Classroom, Goddard Elementary Worcester, Massachusetts

Why You Should Support School Breakfast, Even If Your Kid Eats At Home

Posted on March 5, 2014 by schoolmealsthatrock

It’s National School Breakfast Week and the buzz about breakfast at school is louder than ever this year. I’ve also been hearing pushback from parents who feed their children home – “our family doesn’t need school breakfast, why should we support that program?”

Every parent in America has probably used this phrase many times: “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” If you recognize the multiple benefits of breakfast for strong bodies and smart brains, that’s great. If you make certain that your children never leave home without a breakfast of whole grains, fresh fruit and Greek yogurt or backyard eggs, that’s awesome for your kids. Their metabolism got a great kick-start and their brains have the fuel they need to focus on the teacher and learn new information – until lunchtime – every day.

But what about Jane, Johnny, Sam, Suzy and all the other students sitting around your child’s desk or table at school? Did they have a balanced breakfast? Did they have breakfast at all? In fact, did they have anything nutritious since they ate lunch at school the day before? Why should you care what your child’s classmates have or have not eaten? Why should you support a breakfast program at your school even if your kids will never need it?

According to Share Our Strength’s Teacher Report 2013, the answers are quite shocking:

Too many children are too hungry to learn. 87 percent of principals see hungry children in their schools at least once a week and 73 percent of teachers have students who regularly come to school hungry because there isn’t enough food at home.

Hungry children cannot listen to the teacher because they are listening to their stomachs. When children come to school without a morning meal, it impacts their ability to concentrate, their attention span, and their classroom behavior. In the Share Our Strength report, 90 percent of educators say breakfast is critical to academic achievement.

Even if your family is blessed with a perfect breakfast every day, other inattentive, unfocused, under-nourished children can affect your child’s ability to succeed at school. It happens directly when hungry children need more of the teacher’s time -and indirectly when your child is distracted from the lessons at hand.

The important connection between breakfast and school performance is well known. When standardized tests are given, every school in America tells students to “get a good night’s sleep and eat good breakfast.” Unfortunately, breakfast during test week is too little too late! Children need breakfast every day to get new information and skills into their brains, not just to get them out on test day.

Here are three things that every parent can do to support breakfast, classroom performance and successful schools for every child — including their own:

Digest the facts about breakfast and hungry children in America. The 2013 and 2012 Teacher Reports are good places to start. You may also want to Map the Meal Gap in your state or county. A 2013 USDA report estimated that 1 in 5 American children (21.6 percent) live in food insecure homes. In my opinion, it is a moral imperative that we change this fact. Even if you do not agree, think of all the educational problems that hunger causes in classrooms from coast to coast.

Explore expert views on the power of school breakfast. Many forward-thinking educational groups understand the breakfast research. On March 3, 2014,
five leading education organizations and the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) announced the Breakfast for Learning Education Alliance to encourage schools and states to increase school breakfast participation. The alliance includes the major national associations representing parents (PTA) and virtually everyone who works in schools – teachers, principals and administrators. Honestly, can all these groups be wrong about such a simple and effective program.

Advocate for breakfast in your community. Students from every income level benefit from a balanced morning meal every day, whether they eat it at home or school. Fuel Up to Play 60, a national program to improve school nutrition and fitness, has made healthy breakfast choices and effective school breakfast programs a priority. Check out their breakfast “plays” and you’ll find fun ways to get all students more excited about getting a smart start on every day.

While your child may not need a school breakfast program, their friends and classmates may not have that luxury for a myriad of reasons. Breakfast is a simple, cost-effective way for high-performing schools to help every child be well nourished and ready to learn. That’s a strategy that I support as a mom, a Registered Dietitian (RD) and a taxpayer.

March is National Nutrition Month – and a great time to make sure your family is powered by breakfast. My takes on better breakfast bites can be found at Make Time for Breakfast and 4 Tips for Better Breakfasts from Kids Eat Right and the Academy for Nutrition and Dietetics.

Follow Dayle Hayes, MS, RD on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SchoolMealsRock

Eat. Play. Learn. N is for NO Kid Hungry

Posted on February 16, 2014 by schoolmealsthatrock

To celebrate the publication of Proceedings of the Learning Connection Summit: Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Student Achievement, I’m offering a short daily post during February on the ABCs of the health and academics.

N is for NO Kid Hungry

There is so much work that needs to be done. Sometimes it makes me cry and sometimes I am glad to have so many partners working to insure that NO Kid Hungry becomes a reality. This interactive State of Hunger map allows you to check state rankings and initiatives. Some states are clearly doing a better job than others; I guess I should feel better that Montana is somewhere in the middle. Honestly, I am just so sad that we live in a country that has not yet figured out how to feed all its children. NO Kid Hungry …

No Kid Hungry: State of Hunger Map

Eat. Play. Learn. M is for MICHIGAN

Posted on February 15, 2014 by schoolmealsthatrock

M is for MICHIGAN

I’ve had the pleasure of participating in several Michigan healthy school events over the years and I am honored to be invited back in March (23-27) to present a series of four “First Fuel” School Breakfast Challenge trainings across the state. The Michigan goal is to have 60 percent or more of free/reduced lunch participants also eating a school breakfast by 2015. The recently released Food Research and Action Center’s (FRAC) 2014 School Breakfast Scorecard found reported that Michigan’s rate of school breakfast participation is 53 percent of lunch participation – an increase of 2 percent since 2010.

While the Michigan school breakfast goal is ambitious, they have strong support and the right partners for the job. At the Michigan Department of Education, support comes from the very top, since Superintendent Mike Flanagan is a strong and vocal advocate for school breakfast as the foundation for academic success. I know several other states that wish they had such a knowledgable and supportive state superintendent! Other active partners in the “First Fuel” School Breakfast Challenge include the Michigan Team Nutrition Program, which has a extensive reach on Twitter and Facebook, as well as Michigan Blue Cross Blue Shield and United Dairy Industries of Michigan who are offering $250,000 in grants for marketing and equipment. I am looking forward to being part of the Michigan work to insure that all children are well-nourished and ready to learn.

FIRST FUEL Promotes School Breakfast

Eat. Play. Learn. L is for LUNCH

Posted on February 14, 2014 by schoolmealsthatrock

L is for LUNCH

We hear lots of talk about breakfast being the most important meal of the day, especially for children in school. And, when we talk about childhood hunger, most of the conversation is again about insuring that food insecure children have access to school breakfast. But, what about school lunch? Is lunch any less important than breakfast at school?

School lunch is just as important for focus, concentration and learning as breakfast – just in the afternoon instead of the morning. More children have access to school lunch than school breakfast, but sadly many children may not have enough time or the right atmosphere to actually eat and enjoy the lunch they are served. Experts agree that students need at least 15 to 20 minutes of seat time for lunch. Unfortunately many children have 10 minutes or less to sit and eat at lunchtime – and often the cafeteria is loud or managed more like a prison with whistles, lights out and silence for bad behavior.

The good news is that some schools are creating Comfortable Cafeterias, which encourage students to socialize and enjoy their lunch – without being pressured to eat or to hurry. I have worked with Montana Team Nutrition on resources for Pleasant and Positive Mealtimes. The goal is make cafeterias inviting places for children to eat – so that the food goes into them rather than into trash cans. It is only nutrition when they eat or drink it!

Just look at the wonderful tray that this student in Bethel, Oregon, chose on the lunch line and consider for a moment how long it will take her to eat it – even without distractions from other students and cafeteria aides! With a a beautiful lunch like this, children need time and encouragement to eat, so they can pay attention and learn in the afternoon.

First Grade Student in Bethel School District, Eugene, Oregon

Eat. Play. Learn. H is for HUNGRY.

Posted on February 10, 2014 by schoolmealsthatrock

H is for HUNGRY

When I hear that schools are closed for days in a row, my immediate thought is about what those children will eat when they do not have access to school meals. If children regularly come to school hungry, it means that they do not have access to food at home. And, when the weather is bad, their families may be even less able to shop for groceries or visit a food bank. Honestly, for millions of American children, a snow day may be a hungry day. Preliminary 2013 USDA data shows that an average of 18.9 million children ate a free school lunch daily and 10.1 million ate a school breakfast on average.

The numbers in the previous paragraph also tell another story as well – that is the enormous ‘breakfast gap’ of 8.8 million children who are eligible but are not receiving a free breakfast. These are the children who may to be too hungry to learn as reported in the deeply disturbing Hunger in Our Schools: Teachers Report 2013 by No Kid Hungry: Share Our Strength. If nearly 73 percent of teachers regular try to teach hungry children, we are a very serious educational problem in our schools. The simple fact is that hungry children cannot focus, concentrate and learn. School breakfast is one obvious solution and I applaud the administrators and educators who are ramping up their efforts to expand the program. Michigan State Superintendent of Schools Mike Flanagan is is a true nutrition hero for promoting the “First Fuel” Breakfast Challenge in his state – and I am proud to be part of the Michigan Team Nutrition training for this effort. Too hungry to learn is unacceptable for any child in Michigan, Montana or any other US state.

SHARE OUR STRENGTH’S
TEACHERS REPORT 2013

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