Andrea Early, MS, RD, in her eighteenth year as Manager of Schoolhouse Nutrition for Harrisonburg City Public Schools. This Virginia district has 6,500 Students Pre-One thousand through 12 class. Pre-pandemic the commune was headed toward 100 percent CEP, with an ADP around 78 percent at lunches and 70 percentage at breakfast with alternative service models. During Covid19 school closures they served curbside (moving frow 2X to 1X per week in gild to increment participation forth with 'door dash' for schools delivering 500 bags via car routes. During April the district is gradually bringing students back into buildings and the section is returning to cafeteria and classroom meals.

What was the biggest claiming that you lot had to overcome in the by year?

Similar many of her fellow directors Andrea Early, mentions employee wellness and safety as her biggest challenger over the past year. With many older employees and health challenges, workplace accommodations were ever elevation of mind. Since at that place was no option for remote piece of work, people had to acquire how to take risks seriously, how to cocky-screen for symptoms, and how to brand informed decisions about immunizations. Andrea is grateful to piece of work in a district where the administration was very data-driven and provided consistent messaging to staff and families.

What achievement are y'all 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) equally much every bit possible. Due to the combined efforts of teachers, administrators and food service, meal curbside pickup became a big function 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 information technology 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 appoint families

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

Many districts, like Harrisonburg City Schools, accept adult a bigger motion-picture show of education through the COVID19 lens. As schools realize that virtual or hybrid may exist amend for some students, Andrea knows that her section has learned how to package and evangelize meals for those students likewise. Big-scale, bonny, packing in bags – "we have it figured out now!"

When Michelle Barber (aka Dairy Mom RD) asked me to be role of an American Dairy Clan Northeast campaign called #ThisIsWhyWeDairy for #JuneDairyMonth, I said yes immediately. This is a #sponsored post, but make no fault: It is about 1 of the most important summer diet and instruction issues in the United states of america. Here is why:

Free Summertime Meals are designed to fill the nutrition gaps for the millions of hungry children who are eligible for complimentary- and reduced-priced school meals. However, co-ordinate to the Food Enquiry and Action Center [ o] nly one in vii children who ate a free or reduced-price school tiffin during the 2016-2017 school twelvemonth were reached by the Summer Diet Programs in July 2017 . This means that millions of children are missing out on key nutrients they need to continue growing strong all summer long. Without nutritious fuel for their brains, they may besides be susceptible to the 'summertime slide,' the recognized subtract in student'due south academic skill level when school is out.

GA CCSD Joey

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 summertime diet. Joey IS smart and adorable and he tin enjoy free breakfast and lunches in one of xiv sites in Cherokee Canton School District. However, some children tin't #BeLikeJoey because they do not have a way to get to the schoolhouse, church, park, or customs centre where FREE meals are served. The NYC Department of Educational activity is tackling the problem with on-tendency meals, colorful graphics, smartphone apps and food trucks to serve Gratuitous breakfast and lunches at hundreds of schools, pools, parks and libraries.

NYC Summer Meals

New York Metropolis Goes ALL OUT for Summer Meals

What exercise Summer Meals look similar across the U.s.a.? 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 luncheon. Every Complimentary meal comes with refreshing milk from New York dairy farms. In Fairfax (left beneath) 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. Recollect these meals are FREE to everyone 2 through eighteen — no registration, no documentation, no paperwork!

VA Fairfax Lunch VA LCPS Lunch

Many Summer Meal sites serve much more than a Costless breakfast, dejeuner or supper. They likewise offer fun activities focused on literacy, math and other skills so that children tin can eat, play AND learn! It'southward simple to learn about Costless Summer Meals in whatever location in the Usa: Just text 877-877 with a cypher code OR accost/metropolis/state.Want to increase the meals y'all serve with additional activities? Check out the Free toolkit bachelor from Sacramento (CA) Summertime Meal Collaborative and United Manner at FuelYourSummer.org!CA Toolkit

By Dayle Hayes, MS, RD

While the buzz virtuallyNational School Breakfast Week, is now behind us, the reasons to expand forenoon meals at school sit in America'south classrooms every mean solar day. Many children are nonetheless coming to school too hungry to focus on their teachers and too hungry to acquire. In the 2015 Hunger in Our Schools Study from No Kid Hungry, 3 out of 4 public school teachers say that students regularly come up to school hungry and 81% say this happens at to the lowest degree in one case a week. Educators report that hunger results in aninability to concentrate (88%); lack of energy or motivation (87%); poor academic performance (84%); and tiredness (82%).

Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC). McMinnville, Oregon

Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC). McMinnville, Oregon

Fortunately there are solutions.USDA'due south School Breakfast Program, which is growing beyond the country, is the front line in helping all students exist well-nourished and ready to learn. Every year the FRAC School Breakfast Scorecard lists participation rates for every state and the Commune of Columbia. On the plus side, the 2015 report (information from school year 2013-14) shows steady increases since 2003, with a total of 320,000 more than low-income students eating a school breakfast each twenty-four hours compared to the prior year.

Sadly, significant school breakfast gaps still exist for low-income children in many states. This is a serious trouble considering breakfast improves students' nutrition, wellness 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 simply-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 food intakes from other meals or snacks. Adolescents and young adults are the least likely to consume breakfast, and targeted promotion efforts are needed to attain 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 ."

As a mom and a child nutrition expert, my mantra is simple. Breakfast. Every Child. Every Day. Research conspicuously shows that breakfast helps everyone be set up to succeed – and you probably make sure that your family enjoys these benefits every morning. I believe nosotros all must get beyond our own families and back up breakfast in every schoolhouse – even if our kids consume at habitation. Here's what yous can exercise to help:

  • Digest the facts about breakfast and hungry children in America. The 2015 Hunger in Our Schools Report is a cracking identify to start. You lot can alsoMap the Meal Gap in your land or canton. A January 2015 Southern Education Foundation research bulletin showed that, for the commencement time ever, more half of American children live in poverty. In my opinion, it is a moral imperative that nosotros change this fact. Even if y'all practise non 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 ability of schoolhouse breakfast. Many forward-thinking educational groups sympathise the enquiry connecting breakfast to academic performance, which is why they are working hard to expand breakfast opportunities at school. Partners for Breakfast in the ClassroomFRAC, the National Association of Simple Schoolhouse Principals (NAESP) Foundation, the National Education Clan Health Information Network (NEA HIN), and the School Nutrition Foundation (SNF) – have a passion for child diet and improving educational outcomes, which why they provide a virtual ton of toolkits and resource for making breakfast work in any K-12 school.
  • Advocate for breakfast in your community. Students from every income level do good 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 diet and fitness, has made good for you breakfast choices and effective school breakfast programs a priority. Check with your local dairy council about how to#FuelGreatness at breakfast and larn about fun means to get all students more than excited nigh that "most important meal of the mean solar day."

While your child may be able to opt out of a school breakfast programme, their friends and classmates may not accept that luxury for a myriad of reasons. Breakfast is a unproblematic, cost-constructive mode for high-performing schools to help every child be well nourished and prepare to learn. That's a strategy that I support every bit a mom, a Registered Dietitian (RD) and a taxpayer.

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

Yesterday I was doing a fiddling exploring in a new-to-me Billings neighborhood and I drove down a dead-cease road on the outskirts of town. In that location sits, as my friend Ginny Mermel describes information technology, the "2nd worst trailer park in town" – muddy roads with thawing snowfall, dilapidated homes, rusty cars and many immature residents based on the schoolhouse bus just turning around afterwards dropping off students for wintertime intermission.

While most children are excited about a two-week vacation with vacation celebrations and presents under the tree, winter pause has a whole different meaning for kids who live in poverty. Information technology means two weeks without school meals – 2 weeks without the guarantee of a hot breakfast and lunch every twenty-four hour period. Thanks to my friend and colleague, Virginia 'Ginny' Mermel (far left) and the Billings Public Schools BackPack Meals Plan, the situation is non as bleak as information technology could be in our customs.

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

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

Ginny received ane of the 2014 Hunger's Promise Award from the Montana Food Banking concern 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 schoolhouse pantries and BackPack programs. Many of the students she serves are emancipated or homeless and rely on the help provided through her programs in order to swallow. She has steadily expanded the achieve and telescopic 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 run across the work ofBillings Public Schools Haversack Meals Plan and Teen Food Pantry Plan 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 contempo Facebook entries that impressed me.

The San Diego (CA) Unified School District Subcontract to Schoolhouse Program posted this photo on the Friday earlier their break: "Since today was our final solar day of schoolhouse earlier the 2 week winter break, we donated our leftover fresh produce to xi San Diego food rescue agencies including Feeding America San Diego, Bayview Charities, diverse churches, mental health agencies, etc.! Trying to practice our part to help those in need." Rather than letting beautiful produce go to waste, they fabricated sure that it went to those in need.

Produce Donations from San Diego School District

Produce Donations from San Diego School District

In Greensboro, N Carolina, theGuilford County Cooperative Extension Schoolhouse Garden Network had a great idea on Dec 16tth: "The Donation Station at the curb market at Yanceyville St. was a hub of action Saturday equally 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

Donation Station in Guilford County, Due north Carolina

Information technology'south non too late to make the holidays better for hungry children in your customs. Wherever you lot live your local donation station is as close as a food bank, nutrient pantry or mission. Confused most what to donate? How nearly MILK – one of the nigh requested, least donated nutrient items?Y'all can donate milk direct or through The Groovy American Milk Drive. Thanks to America's Milk Companies and Subcontract Families, you lot can help make full the milk gap – and have your donation matched gallon-for-gallon. Honestly,  it doesn't get much better than that!

FinalGAMD_infographic_3

As I walked off an airplane yesterday in Denver, the large Food NetworkNo Kid Hungry sign was straight in front of me. The only affair 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

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 besides. Hungry children are oft anxious, distracted and attention seeking. Breakfast changes school omnipresence patterns equally 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 every bit well.

The accompanying editorial " Continued Promise of School Breakfast Programs for Improving Academic Outcomes: Breakfast Is Still the Almost Important Meal of the 24-hour interval " summarizes the research to date. The authors conclude with the powerful statement that … "innovative breakfast programs, with their wide reach and high implementation rates, accept the potential to address the achievement gap in the United States." A 2013 written report,Ending childhood hunger: A social impact analysis prepared past Deloitte for No Child Hungry reached basically the same conclusion: Breakfast Changes Lives

Breakfast Changes Lives, 2013 No Kid Hungry Report

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 diet directors are meeting the challenge of the new Breakfast Meal Design with all whole grain-rich cereals, breads, bagels and more – and additional servings of fruit available to every kid. Read all about how districts are managing – with express budgets – to provide encephalon fuel for students in my article on School Breakfast 2014: Can Cafeterias Ascension 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

Rise and Shine with Schoolhouse Breakfast article begins on folio 72

While a unproblematic take hold of-and-become breakfast of whole grain cereal, milk and fruit offers food-rich fuel for learning, many schools go manner beyond the basics. Such programs are regularly featured on theSchool Nutrition Foundation'southward Beyond Breakfast weblog and the American Association of School Administrator's Courageous Conversations with superintendents. You can besides detect more a hundred photos, tips and recipes ideas on the School Breakfasts That Stone Pinterest board. Breakfast changes everything by putting a smile on a child's face up!

Breakfast in the Classroom, Goddard Elementary Worcester, Massachusetts

Breakfast in the Classroom, Goddard Elementary Worcester, Massachusetts

Information technology's National School Breakfast Calendar week and the buzz about breakfast at school is louder than e'er this year. I've likewise been hearing pushback from parents who feed their children dwelling – "our family unit doesn't need school breakfast, why should we support that program?"

Every student should start the day powered by breakfast

Every parent in America has probably used this phrase many times: " Breakfast is the most important repast of the day ." If you recognize the multiple benefits of breakfast for strong bodies and smart brains, that's not bad. 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 cracking kick-get-go and their brains have the fuel they demand to focus on the teacher and larn new information – until lunchtime – every mean solar day.

Just what virtually Jane, Johnny, Sam, Suzy and all the other students sitting effectually your child's desk or table at school? Did they accept a counterbalanced breakfast? Did they have breakfast at all? In fact, did they have annihilation nutritious since they ate lunch at school the day before? Why should yous care what your child'south classmates accept or have non eaten? Why should you support a breakfast program at your schoolhouse fifty-fifty if your kids will never need it?

According to Share Our Force's Instructor Written report 2013, the answers are quite shocking:

  • Too many children are as well hungry to learn. 87 per centum of principals see hungry children in their schools at least once a week and 73 percentage of teachers accept students who regularly come to school hungry considering there isn't enough nutrient at dwelling house.
  • Hungry children cannot mind to the instructor because they are listening to their stomachs. When children come to schoolhouse without a morning meal, it impacts their ability to concentrate, their attention span, and their classroom behavior. In the Share Our Strength written report, 90 percent of educators say breakfast is critical to academic achievement.
  • Even if your family is blest with a perfect breakfast every day, other inattentive, unfocused, nether-nourished children can touch your kid's power to succeed at schoolhouse. It happens direct when hungry children demand more of the instructor's time -and indirectly when your child is distracted from the lessons at hand.

PoweredByBreakfast-3

The important connexion between breakfast and school operation is well known. When standardized tests are given, every school in America tells students to "get a good night's sleep and swallow good breakfast." Unfortunately, breakfast during test week is also little likewise tardily! Children demand breakfast every day to go new information and skills into their brains, not just to become them out on examination day.

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

  • Assimilate the facts near breakfast and hungry children in America. The 2013 and 2012 Teacher Reports are practiced places to start. You may also want to Map the Repast Gap in your land or county. A 2013 USDA report estimated that 1 in v American children (21.vi percent) live in food insecure homes. In my opinion, it is a moral imperative that nosotros change this fact. Even if you practice non agree, think of all the educational issues that hunger causes in classrooms from coast to declension.
  • Explore good views on the power of school breakfast. Many frontwards-thinking educational groups empathise the breakfast enquiry. On March 3, 2014,

    five leading education organizations and the Food Research and Activity Heart (FRAC) announced the Breakfast for Learning Education Alliance to encourage schools and states to increase school breakfast participation. The brotherhood includes the major national associations representing parents (PTA) and near anybody who works in schools – teachers, principals and administrators. Honestly, can all these groups exist wrong well-nigh such a simple and effective programme.

  • Abet for breakfast in your community. Students from every income level benefit from a balanced morning meal every mean solar day, whether they swallow information technology at dwelling or school. Fuel Up to Play threescore, 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 means to get all students more excited about getting a smart start on every 24-hour interval.

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-constructive style for high-performing schools to help every kid be well nourished and set up 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 brand sure your family is powered by breakfast. My takes on ameliorate breakfast bites can exist found atBrand Fourth dimension for Breakfast and 4 Tips for Amend Breakfasts from Kids Consume Right and the Academy for Diet and Dietetics.

PoweredByBreakfast-2

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

To celebrate the publication of Proceedings of the Learning Connection Tiptop: Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Student  Accomplishment , I'm offer a short daily postal service during February on the ABCs of the health and academics.

N is for NO Kid Hungry

There is and so much work that needs to be done. Sometimes information technology 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 chore than others; I guess I should feel better that Montana is somewhere in the centre. Honestly, I am simply and so sad that nosotros alive in a land that has non even so figured out how to feed all its children. NO  Kid Hungry

No Kid Hungry: State of Hunger Map

No Kid Hungry: State of Hunger Map

To celebrate the publication of Proceedings of the Learning Connexion Superlative: Nutrition, Concrete Activity, and Educatee  Achievement , I'one thousand offering a short daily post during February on the ABCs of the wellness and academics.

One thousand is for MICHIGAN

I've had the pleasure of participating in several Michigan  healthy schoolhouse events over the years and I am honored to exist invited back in March (23-27) to present a series of 4 "Starting time Fuel" Schoolhouse Breakfast Claiming trainings beyond the land. The Michigan goal is to have 60 per centum or more of complimentary/reduced luncheon participants also eating a school breakfast by 2015. The recently released Nutrient Enquiry and Action Center'due south (FRAC) 2014 School Breakfast Scorecard plant reported that Michigan's rate of schoolhouse breakfast participation is 53 percent of lunch participation – an increment of 2 percent since 2010.

While the Michigan schoolhouse breakfast goal is ambitious, they take potent support and the correct partners for the job. At the Michigan Department of Pedagogy, support comes from the very top, since Superintendent Mike Flanagan is a strong and vocal abet for school breakfast every bit 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 "Start Fuel" School Breakfast Challenge include the Michigan Team Nutrition Program, which has a extensive achieve on Twitter and Facebook, too as Michigan Blue Cross Blue Shield and United Dairy Industries of Michigan who are offer $250,000 in grants for marketing and equipment. I am looking forwards to being office of the Michigan work to insure that all children are well-nourished and ready to acquire.

FRIST FUEL Promotes School Breakfast

FIRST FUEL Promotes School Breakfast

To celebrate the publication of Proceedings of the Learning Connection Elevation: Nutrition, Concrete Activity, and Pupil  Accomplishment , I'm offering a short daily postal service during February on the ABCs of the health and academics.

L is for Lunch

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

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

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

Just wait 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 swallow it – even without distractions from other students and deli aides! With a a beautiful luncheon like this, children need time and encouragement to swallow, so they tin pay attention and learn in the afternoon.

First Grade Student in Bethel School District, Eugene, Oregon

Commencement Grade Student in Bethel Schoolhouse District, Eugene, Oregon

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

H is for HUNGRY

When I hear that schools are closed for days in a row, my firsthand thought is about what those children volition eat when they do not have access to school meals. If children regularly come up to school hungry , it ways that they do non have access to food at dwelling house. And, when the conditions 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 twenty-four hour period may be a hungry twenty-four hours. Preliminary 2013 USDA data shows that an average of eighteen.9 meg children ate a free school lunch daily and x.ane 1000000 ate a school breakfast on average.

The numbers in the previous paragraph also tell another story likewise – that is the enormous 'breakfast gap' of 8.8 million children who are eligible simply are not receiving a gratuitous breakfast. These are the children who may to be too hungry to acquire as reported in the securely agonizing Hunger in Our Schools: Teachers Study 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 trouble in our schools. The simple fact is that hungry children cannot focus, concentrate and acquire. School breakfast is one obvious solution and I applaud the administrators and educators who are ramping upwardly their efforts to expand the programme. Michigan State Superintendent of Schools Mike Flanagan is is a true nutrition hero for promoting the "Offset Fuel" Breakfast Challenge in his land – and I am proud to be part of the Michigan Team Diet training for this endeavour. Too hungry to learn is unacceptable for whatsoever child in Michigan, Montana or any other US state.

SHARE OUR STRENGTH'S TEACHERS REPORT 2013

SHARE OUR Force'S
TEACHERS REPORT 2013