BEYOND THE NUMBERS
School officials around the country have explained (see here and here) why they’re adopting community eligibility, a powerful new tool to fight hunger in high-poverty neighborhoods by allowing schools to offer nutritious meals to all students at no charge. As schools and families prepare for the new school year — and as the August 31st signup deadline for eligible schools approaches — here’s more of what school officials are saying about the benefits of community eligibility:
- Bill Redwine, chair of Rowan County, Kentucky, board of education:
“This program will have a direct benefit on students in the classroom because teachers know that students who are hungry or have not had breakfast have difficulty concentrating on their schoolwork. . . . It will also benefit those parents who, in the past, have struggled to provide the money for their child’s meals. This definitely is a win for our students, for their parents and for our district as a whole.”
- Jesse Register, director of Metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee, schools:
“We’re firm believers in educating the whole child and providing them what they need for productive school days. If a child is hungry, he’s going to have trouble learning. No child should go hungry and no child should be embarrassed about accepting a meal. By making it universal, we don’t have to single out any child and we can make family budgets a little less tight.”
- Margaret Allen, superintendent of Montgomery, Alabama schools:
“Studies have shown that children who receive proper nutrition perform better in school. . . . Many of our families live below the poverty line. Even those that don’t, may skip meals to save money. This will ensure learning won’t suffer because a student is hungry at school.”
- Kim Hall, director of child nutrition services, Muskogee, Oklahoma, public schools:
“Being able to eat a nutritious meal during the day helps the students learn — students that eat during the day are more likely to pay attention because they are not worried about being hungry.”
- Joey Vaughn, nutrition director, Huntsville, Alabama, city schools:
“Hopefully, this is going to do away with the stigma [of receiving free school meals] because everybody is going to be able to eat for free. Nobody’s got to fill out any paperwork; nobody’s got to prove their financial status.”
- Lisa Stevenson, principal of Neil Armstrong Elementary School, Eldridge, Iowa:
“Families that don’t have as much money don’t spend the extra money to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at the grocery store because that’s expensive. . . . This is an opportunity for us to get kids . . . on the right path to trying new and healthy food when they’re at school.”
- Donna Hargens, superintendent of Jefferson County, Kentucky, public schools:
“You can’t learn if you’re hungry so we know that providing breakfast and lunch for more of our kids is a really important ingredient and that’s just integral to kids learning.”