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 MD
A Full Stomach Leads to Better Learning, Schools Say
by Corinne Purtill, Gazette.net, Aug. 20, 2003
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More children than ever before are getting their breakfast and
lunch at county public schools, thanks to a pair of programs
that seek to ensure that no child has to go through the school
day hungry.
But while more kids are relying on the Free And Reduced Price
Meals System, schools are also using meals as a means of
building community, increasing attendance and attentiveness and
reaching out to students of different cultural backgrounds.
Last school year, 31,122 students -- 22.3 percent of Montgomery
County Public Schools' total enrollment -- took advantage of the
FARMS program, said Kathy Lazor, a registered dietician who is
director of MCPS' division of food and nutrition services.
While that's more children than the school system has fed
before, the percentage of students eligible for the program was
just under the all-time peak of 22.7 percent in 1997. The
percentage of FARMS-eligible students dipped during the late
1990s and is steadily climbing again, Lazor said, "certainly a
sign of the economy."
Earlier this month, the state Department of Education announced
that 5,000 children at 13 county public schools would be eating
a free hot breakfast every day as part of the Maryland Meals for
Achievement program.
The program, which began in 1998 as a pilot program at one
school, has since expanded to 97 schools throughout Maryland.
All students at participating schools receive breakfast in their
classroom at the beginning of the school day, regardless of
their FARMS status.
East county schools participating in the program are Burnt
Mills, Georgian Forest, Highland View, New Hampshire Estates,
Oak View, Viers Mill and Weller Road elementary schools and
Parkland Middle School.
To be eligible for the program, at least 40 percent of a
school's population must qualify for FARMS. This year, 1,543
schools from 19 school systems applied for the money.
Brookhaven Elementary was one of those. Principal Rob Grundy
said that he was "disappointed" that his school, where just over
half of the students eat FARMS lunches, wasn't selected. No
Montgomery County schools were added to the program this year,
he said.
"For kids that really aren't able to get [breakfast], I think
it's extremely important," he said. "You look at basic needs,
kids have to be fed . . . in order to learn."
Although the meal may be a second breakfast for a few students,
for most it is an opportunity to start the day with a nutritious
meal that may not be available at home.
"Considering the group of children that are in a school that
qualify for this program, obesity is not the issue," said Marla
Caplon, supervisor of the division of food and nutrition
services.
In addition to the increase in concentration and attendance that
has been linked to starting the day well-fed, educators say they
are noticing other benefits from the program as well.
"I can't say it reduced tardiness or increased attendance, but
when you walk into the room, there is a feeling of community,"
said Highland View principal Joanne Steckler.
Steckler estimated that about 80 to 85 percent of her school's
students participate in the program. Before they started serving
Maryland Meals for Achievement breakfasts three years ago,
students were expected to be at their desks at 9:15 a.m. to
start the school day. Those who ate breakfast at school ate in
the cafeteria before the bell.
Now, children are in their desks at 9 a.m., where their teachers
serve breakfast before the learning starts. Teachers lose those
15 minutes of prep time before class starts, Steckler said, but
it's a worthy investment for the feelings of community and
well-being that students receive in return.
When children start their day eating together, it sends the
message that "here is a place where people care for me, they
care for my physical well-being, they care for my intellectual
well-being," Steckler said. "It's a very concrete showing of
caring."
Before coming to New Hampshire Estates, principal Jane Litchko
worked at Jackson Road Elementary, which does not participate in
the program.
"We had a lot of kids who didn't get the food that they needed,
or we had kids eating in the cafeteria and were late to class,"
she said.
The free breakfast program "fills a need for so many families
with children," she said.
Reaction to the program among parents was split at first,
Steckler said, particularly along socioeconomic lines.
As the program took off, however, parents who at first didn't
think their children needed a school breakfast felt that they
were missing out by not participating, she said.
At Weller Road Elementary, the free breakfasts have improved
attendance and tardiness, said PTA president Heather Chafin.
"My kids like it," she said. "It helps with the social skills.
It's like if you go to a pizza parlor with your friends."
"I think it's great, especially since there's a lot of kids for
whom that will be the first meal of the day," said Peter
Smeallie, parent of two Georgian Forest Elementary students.
As the county's demographics have changed, the way food is
served has changed as well. Cafeterias are dishing up more
vegetarian options to accommodate students' religious or
cultural needs, Lazor said. Food and nutrition services has also
experimented with some ethnic meals. Lazor noted that some rice
dishes went over particularly well last year.
"I think people get the impression that if you put anything in
front of a child they'll eat it, and that's not true," she said.
"They are very particular about what they like and don't like,
and we are a nutrition program and if they don't like what we're
feeding them we're not doing our job."
Sometimes, students don't know how to eat the food in front of
them. Students who are new to the country may be baffled by
meals that are taken for granted as American staples.
"They don't know that the hamburger goes inside the bun like a
sandwich," Lazor explained. Dining staff have showed many young
children how to eat burgers, she said.
While breakfast and lunch may be small parts of the school day,
cultural associations between food and being cared for may be
powerful enough to impact the learning environment in places
where academic programs alone can't reach.
"The community, the belonging, those are critical pieces that
are not as easy to address as the academic pieces," Steckler
said.
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