Every year during the first week of March, schools across the country celebrate National School Breakfast Week to increase awareness about school breakfast programs and promote healthy eating habits.
This year, SFUSD celebrated National School Breakfast Week with a special “Second Chance Breakfast” at Bryant Elementary. School leaders, federal program partners, and Board of Education Commissioner Jenny Lam served breakfast to K-5 students and celebrated the One Millionth breakfast served in SFUSD this school year.
Second Chance Breakfast takes place during mid-morning break and is one example of Breakfast After the Bell programs, which increase students’ access to a meal at the start of the day.
Having access to nutritious breakfasts helps students concentrate in school and achieve greater academic success, and a recent study also shows that Breakfast After the Bell programs can also decrease chronic absenteeism rates.
In a study of three SFUSD elementary schools with similar enrollment and percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals:
- 18% of students participated in traditional breakfast before school
- 31% of students participated in Second Chance breakfast
- 83% of students participated in Breakfast in the Classroom
With this research and the support of the nonprofit Share Our Strength, SFUSD has committed to expanding Breakfast After the Bell programs from 30 to 81 schools by 2024, with a focus on schools with large populations of low-income children.
Learn more about school breakfast programs in SFUSD here.
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