MISSOURI FOLLOWS NATIONAL TREND ON SCHOOL BREAKFAST

Missouri schools, keeping in line with a national trend, are increasingly making breakfast available to students.

According to a recent study, 75.1 percent of Missouri schools offer breakfast. Although the state ranks 27th nationally in participation in the breakfast program, Missouri's figure is slightly higher than the national average of 72.4.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reports that 457 of the state's 525 school districts serve breakfast in at least one school.

Educators say the program is important because hungry students do not perform as well in class.

"There have been significant studies conducted showing that children who eat breakfast have improved achievement, decreased tardiness and decreased discipline problems," said Willene Alley, assistant director of the School Food Service Section of DESE.

Nationally, according to a report issued by the Food Research and Action Center, schools fed about 5.9 million children breakfast. Ten years ago, only 3.1 million children ate breakfast at school.

For the 1996-97 school year, 1,720 Missouri schools served breakfast to an average 126,631 students each day.

Since the 1992-93 school year, the number of Missouri school districts participating in the breakfast program has increased 27.6 percent.

"Missouri is not experiencing a large amount of increase now because so many schools already have breakfast," Alley said.

Although many schools offer breakfast at the junior high and senior high school levels, elementary students are more heavily targeted, Alley said.

"Teens have a real tendency to skip breakfast," she said. "It's just as important for them, but they are a more difficult group to convince."

The majority of students who take advantage of the school breakfast program are eligible for free or reduced price meals. In Missouri, an average of 77.6 percent of breakfasts served went to needy students.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture spends $1.1 billion annually to provide subsidized lunch and breakfast for students who qualify.

The Food Research study indicated that only 60 percent of students eligible for subsidized meals take advantage of the breakfast program, possibly because of the social stigma sometimes attached to it.

Alley said that stigma could be overcome by emphasizing that getting a good breakfast is important for every child and encouraging more paying students to participate.

"The breakfast program is for all students, regardless of socio-economic background," Alley said.

Chaffee Elementary School Principal J. Moore said that 38 percent of the school's students eat breakfast in the cafeteria. In an age where both parents in a household work, it is often a matter of convenience, not need.

"On some mornings, with the hustle and bustle of getting ready for work, parents may not have the time to fix breakfast for the family," Moore said.

However, he added that for some children the school breakfast program is a necessity.

"For many youngsters, particularly those from lower income families, what they get at school may be the best meal they get all day," Moore said. "I would say those are extreme cases, but they do exist."

Dr. Rex Miller, superintendent of the Perry County School District, said program participation in his district is up 3 percent from last year.

"It's a good program. I hope the government is not looking to cut that back," Miller said.

"For middle-class parents whose children do not need it, it may seem like a burden, but for kids who, through no fault of their own, come from lower income families, the breakfast program is very important."