Efforts underway to get kids to eat school breakfast

Friday is a good day to eat breakfast at Rowan Elementary School. It's kids' choice, and the menu includes whole grain strawberry toaster pastries, cheese grits, sausage patties, fruit, juice and four kinds of fat-free milk — plain, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.

Alexsis Caston, child nutrition director for Hattiesburg Public School District, said eating breakfast helps students get the day off to a good start.

"It's the most important meal of the day as we all know," she said. "If we can get kids here and get them breakfast, it will improve their whole day."

Child nutrition directors throughout Forrest and Lamar counties encourage more students to take advantage of breakfast served at school. Their participation percentages from the last five years tell the story of whether they're succeeding. All hope they are because, according to the Food Research and Action Center School Breakfast Scorecard, breakfast skipping among children and teens is associated with unhealthy outcomes like high cholesterol rates, smoking, alcohol use, physical inactivity and disordered eating.

Caston has seen her breakfast participation increase dramatically since 2010-11 when it was 55 percent. It's now 69 percent because of community eligibility — a federal program that allows school districts like Hattiesburg, with a high-poverty population, to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students.

"(Community eligibility) removes the barriers," Caston said. "When kids know and parents know they don't have to find the money to pay for breakfast, they can come in, get breakfast and go to class."

Push underway to get kids to eat school breakfast

A national group called Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom wants as many districts as qualify to adopt community eligibility, so more students will eat school breakfast.

"The goal is to increase breakfast consumption for not only health benefits but also for learning benefits," said Cathy Costello with Mississippi Center for Justice, a member of the group.

The group is also pushing schools to serve breakfast during first period to allow students to eat their meal in the classroom. The group is offering grants to high-need schools to implement the program. Lolita Burton, child nutrition director for Forrest County School District, said she is interested. The district's breakfast participation numbers have remained fairly steady since 2011-12, hovering between 49 percent and 54 percent.

Burton said she faces the dual challenge of timing and taste buds when it comes to getting students to eat school breakfast.

"We already know they only have a short period of time to get in and get out," she said. "And what do we have on our menu that kids are going to want to come (into the cafeteria)? I have to take that all into account and see what works best for our district."

Research shows eating school breakfast positively impacts children's mental health, improves school attendance and results in higher scores in spelling, reading and math.

HPSD to serve free cafeteria meals to all students

It's because of those benefits Petal School District has served breakfast in the classroom for the past two years. The district has seen its participation numbers increase from 31 percent to 34 percent.  But child nutrition director Danny Dillistone said he still has one big challenge.

"The biggest hurdle we face is responsible parents feeding their children at home," he said in an email. "It's hard to compete with that."

Julianne King, Lamar County School District's child nutrition director, has the same problem. Her participation numbers range from about 23 percent to 27 percent.

"It's really hard to convince a parent whose always fed their children at home to send a child to school hungry," she said.

At Forrest County Agricultural High School District, child nutrition director Vickie Catt saw her participation numbers go as high as 42 percent in 2013-14, up from 32 percent in 2011-12.

"We used to have a 9 a.m.-9:30 a.m. break," she said. "We provided breakfast for the students who wanted to come in at break.

"A lot of the students drive to school, and they get in late. They don't have time for breakfast, but by 9-9:30, they're ready for something to eat."

School officials canceled the break last year, and Catt has seen her percentage decline to 35 percent.

"At this point, I really wouldn't know what to do," she said. "I'm not sure if anything would get them to come in here."

At Rowan, school officials have gone so far as to produce "The Breakfast Song," complete with rapping cafeteria ladies and chanting kindergartners.

"I want to eat... I want to eat healthy," Rowan Choir members' voices filled the cafeteria on a recent Friday morning. "Shake it, bake it, stir it up. Put it on a tray, and serve it up."