OUSD to expand breakfast program

By: LOUISE ESOLA - Staff Writer | Thursday, April 6, 2006 10:58 PM PDT ∞

OCEANSIDE ---- Starting next year, running late for school won't translate into a morning of stomach growls for thousands of Oceanside Unified School District students.

The district is planning to expand its "Second Chance Breakfast" program, according to officials who are now trying to push a half-dozen nutrition and wellness policies to improve student health and combat childhood obesity.

While most of the district's 25 campuses already serve breakfast to students before the first bell rings, only six schools ---- Del Rio, Palmquist, Ditmar, Pacifica, Libby, and North Terrace elementary schools ---- offer a second breakfast at midmorning recess.

This program gives students a chance to eat a breakfast sandwich or bowl of cereal in the morning even if they arrived late to school or were running late and missed the cafeteria breakfast before their first class.

Del Rio Elementary Principal Phyllis Morgan said the Second Chance program is a big hit at her school.

Before the program started four years ago, only 30 students out of more than 600 ate breakfast in the cafeteria before school, even though many students had not had breakfast at home.

"Parents were late bringing kids to school, or for whatever reason, they had not eaten," Morgan said. "Some kids aren't ready to eat in the morning, some don't have time. But by midmorning, they're hungry."

Now, 200 students eat breakfast at 10 a.m. every day, hours before lunch and about two hours into their school day.

"It's just wonderful (and) well worth it," Morgan said. "It carries them right through to lunch."

Associate Superintendent Robyn Phillips said the cost to the district will be minimal to none.

Roughly half of the district's 21,300 students' families meet the guidelines ---- based on income and family size ---- and are eligible for either free or reduced-price lunches, reimbursed by the federal government. Also, students who buy meals help cover the costs.

As for personnel costs, food workers are already at their posts throughout the morning and would have to prepare food and feed students at midmorning, Phillips said.

"We will just need to coordinate with staff," she said. "But we already have the people there in terms of labor costs."

Expanding the breakfast program is just one change in store for district schools.

The district is now proposing a host of policies that address everything from the fat and sugar content of foods sold in cafeterias to what students can sell during fundraisers. The policies, scheduled for a vote at a school board meeting in the next few weeks, would ban the sale of all sugary, fat-laden snacks and beverages.

The federal government is giving school districts until 2007 to adopt wellness policies in order to continue to qualify for federal school lunch programs.

Contact staff writer Louise Esola at (760) 901-4151 or lesola@nctimes.com.

Links:


Oceanside Unified School District

www.oside.k12.ca.us

OUSD board reviews wellness policy


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/03/29/news/coastal/17_42_543_28_06.txt