Description
Prior to the 2018-2019 school year, many students at West Middlesex Elementary School were not participating in the traditional school breakfast program as they felt that they did not have enough time to move through the cafeteria line and then eat breakfast before heading to class. Therefore, with mini-grant funds from the PA Department of Education’s School Breakfast Initiative, a new line was added to the elementary school cafeteria. In a two-line system, students in kindergarten through second grade queued on one side while students in third through sixth grades formed another line. This allowed students, especially younger students, to feel more comfortable and less rushed in the line as they were among their peers. Moreover, service was eliminated. Students were trained about which items constituted a reimbursable breakfast and they moved down the cafeteria line selecting their own food items in a grab-n-go fashion. While this took a bit of time to establish the routine, within a few months the process was running smoothly and the success ran over into lunch as the procedures for both meals are very similar.
Each morning students who wish to participate in breakfast are let off of the school buses early and they eat their breakfast in the cafeteria before the start of the school day. In this way, they have enough time to enjoy their breakfast before heading off to class. Teachers supervise students in the cafeteria in the morning. This allows the students to be monitored by someone with whom they have rapport and allows for cafeteria staff to focus on welcoming students, helping them make healthy food choices, and sharing positive messages about breakfast. Additionally, a share table was introduced to encourage students to take the reimbursable breakfast even if there were items that they were not going to eat. By the end of the year, most students were eating the complete breakfast but any items that were placed on the share table were able to be enjoyed by other students.
The school has also had success experimenting with new breakfast items such as a ‘banana boat,’ a banana with yogurt and berries on top. They have also been reaching out to local vendors to obtain no-cost food products to benefit the program. These new food options have been made possible by individual serving containers that students can easily pick up as they move down the line. With this focus on expediency, innovation, and positive messaging around breakfast, students became excited to go to breakfast and soon began to bring their friends with them, further fueling the success of the program.
Contact Person: Marie Popatak
Contact Person’s Title: Food Service Director - West Middlesex Area School District
Email: mpopatak@wmasd.k12.pa.us
Contact Person’s Phone Number: (724) 634-3008
Advice
- Communicate with students and staff to determine which items are most popular before designing the menu.
- Apply for grants! The breakfast program was completely changed for the positive by the addition of a second line. Because of the grant, all students now have access to breakfast.
Evidence of Success
- After the implementation of the breakfast program, teachers noticed that students were less tired in class, had fewer behavior problems, and are more attentive.
- Students more frequently take and eat fresh fruit due to innovative serving methods.