By ALICIA FEYERHERM
Tiger Media Network
Starting next Monday, breakfast will be free to all students in USD 489, regardless of free or reduced meal eligibility. The USD 489 Board of Education unanimously approved this decision at Monday’s board meeting.
During COVID, a program through the Department of Agriculture funded free breakfast and lunch for all students. That program ended in the fall of 2022.
“We were feeding kids every morning and we were seeing some good things because of that,” Superintendent Ron Wilson said.
Nutrition Services Director Jessica Younker said serving breakfast leads to improved classroom behavior and overall attentiveness. Additionally, making breakfast free for all students helps eliminate the stigma of eating breakfast at school versus at home.
During COVID between 700 and 800 students were eating school breakfast. However, when students had to pay again, that number dropped to around 500 students.
If breakfast participation levels return to COVID numbers, the district will break even. Younker said it’s hard to predict exactly what the financial impact will be, but said she is not concerned, especially since there is carry-over money from the lunch program this summer.
According to Younker, high school students eat the most breakfast in the district, which she attributes to the “Second Chance Breakfast” program. In addition to having breakfast in the cafeteria in the morning, students can pick up breakfast from one of two breakfast carts between first and second periods.
Board member Craig Pallister applauded Younker for her work and emphasized the importance of feeding students.
“It’s not their fault that they’re hungry,” Pallister said.
Due to Lincoln Elementary’s demographics, the school received a state grant for student meals and has been providing free meals since the start of the school year. Lincoln Principal Kerri Lacy said the implementation of free meals increased breakfast participation by over 30 percent.
For this reason, the program will begin next Monday to give nutrition staff time to prepare for a possible influx of students.
“My managers wanted a little bit of time to make sure they had enough food and were prepared,” Younker said.
Other meeting items:
- Wilson shared an update on the construction at Roosevelt Elementary and showed a video from the groundbreaking at the new Hays High School site
- Enrollment policies were read through a second time
The next board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. on October 23 in the Rockwell Administration Center.