Classroom breakfast a hit with Cheektowaga-Sloan pupils
More are eating under new program
It’s a simple thing, really.
Make it easy for children to get healthy food in the morning, and they’ll eat.
That’s what happens at about 8 a. m. at John F. Kennedy Middle School in the Cheektowaga-Sloan School District, and teachers are seeing the benefits throughout the day.
Instead of pupils going to breakfast in the cafeteria, the cafeteria comes to the children.
Through a program that recently received national recognition, workers bring several carts of food, supplies and a cash register to the sixth-grade wing. Children “grab and go,” picking out their bagel or breakfast pizza, muffin and milk or juice, paying their 75 cents and eating with their friends in their classroom.
“They can eat in the hall or next to their locker if they choose,” Food Service Director Sandy Cocca said.
“It seems like more and more are eating,” said sixth-grade teacher Megan Zoladz. “It’s good for the kids to have breakfast first thing in the day.”
She sees her pupils, like Kylie Urbanczyk and Anthony Moczydlowski, enjoying their bagel and breakfast pizza as they get ready to start the day. Anthony said his father drives him to school then goes to work, so eating at school is convenient.
Kylie doesn’t eat at school every day, and some days she eats two breakfasts.
“Only when I’m really hungry do I eat at home. Then I come to school and eat,” she said.
Sixth-and seventh-graders eat lunch at 12:04 p. m., and seventh- graders have to wait until 12:44 p. m., so eating something at about 8 a. m. helps get them through to lunch.
“If their parents work, it’s a good option for parents,” Zoladz said.
Cocca said more and more children are eating the breakfasts this year. Last year, they were served in a classroom.
Last Wednesday, 188 children bought breakfast. That rose to 192 by Thursday.
“We have them bring down a lot [of food],” Cocca said. “I don’t want anyone going away unhappy.”
The program has been recognized for innovation in breakfast service by the American Dairy Association, which gave the school $1,000 Thursday. Cocca is using the money to buy another cash register to cut down on the wait in line.
Children swipe their identification cards, and the computer in the register identifies any food allergies they have, how much money is left in their account, and whether mom and dad want them to have a snack that day. The breakfast crunch is over in 15 minutes.
By 8:15 a. m., all the children have gone through the line and are in their classrooms, listening to morning announcements.
