SCOTT CITY SCHOOLS TO OFFER BREAKFASTS

SCOTT CITY -- The success of Scott City's school lunch program under Opaa Food Management Inc. has led the school board to approve a breakfast program starting in the middle of the school year.

Scott City will join the Chaffee and Oran school districts in northern Scott County offering breakfast to students. Those breakfast programs have been offered for at least two years.

The Kelly School District plans to survey parents on starting a breakfast program for next year, School Superintendent Ron McSorley said.

The Kelly District had to apply for a state waiver on providing the breakfast program this school year because more than 35 percent of its students are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

The Scott City District is just less than 35 percent, Superintendent Doug Berry said. He said plans had already been made to start the breakfast program at the beginning of the next school year.

Since Opaa took over the school lunch program Nov. 7, student participation has jumped from an average of about 540 lunches a day to around 700, Berry said. Two years ago, student lunches averaged about 480 a day.

The jump in participation last year came with the closing of the student store, which sold snacks during the lunch period, Berry said. The extra participation since Nov. 7 is related to Opaa offering three choices for each lunch.

"Having only one building for all of our students provides us the opportunity to make a breakfast program available to all students," Berry said.

The breakfast program is expected to begin Feb. 6. Two bus runs will start 10 minutes earlier to allow students to eat breakfast without missing class time.

Berry expects about 200 students will participate. The breakfast menu will be printed on the back of the school lunch menu and sent home in late January.

For students paying full price, the breakfast will cost 75 cents. Opaa will charge the district 80 cents a breakfast while state reimbursement on the breakfasts can be up to 98 cents per meal, Berry said.

Berry told the board the overall lunch operation has been going well while Opaa's management and cooks are dealing with minor problems relating to the increased student participation. An advisory committee of students and teachers was recently appointed to work with Opaa on menu suggestions.

High School Principal Fred Graham said junior high and senior high students were split up during lunch for the first time this week to reduce overcrowding in the cafeteria. He said the seventh- and eighth-grade students go to lunch after 30 minutes of their fourth period, have 25 minutes for lunch and then return to their classrooms for the last 20 minutes of their classes.

In other business, the school board adopted a calendar for the 1995-96 school year similar to the one in use this year. Charlie Spoonhour, St. Louis University basketball coach, will be the featured speaker for the first day of teachers' workshops Aug. 21. Classes will begin Wednesday, Aug. 23, and are scheduled to end May 21, 1996.

Berry reported November's attendance figures:

-- Kindergarten, 96.6 percent, up .4 percent from October.

-- Grades 1 to 6, 95.7 percent, down .5 percent from October.

-- Grades 7 to 12, 93.0 percent, down .9 percent from October.

The filing period for two three-year terms on the school board in next April's election will open Jan. 3 at 8 a.m. on Jan. 3 and close Jan. 31 at 5 p.m.

Incumbents Tom Anderson and Kevin Hillemann both said they were planning to file for re-election. Candidates may file in the school superintendent's office.

In a personnel matter, retired teacher Paul Guard will teach math classes the first and second periods of the day beginning Jan. 17. He retired from full-time teaching last June after a 30-year career.