Thanks to the passage of House Bill 13-1006 in 2013, students in most Colorado school districts are getting breakfast after the school day starts, or Breakfast After the Bell.
The benefits of ensuring that all students get something in their stomachs at the beginning of the day are pretty straightforward — increased attendance, decreased tardiness, improved behavior — but finding the best way to integrate this program into the already-packed school day is not.
“At the end of the day, it’s not about serving kids the food; it’s about getting the kids to eat it,” said Theresa Peña, former DPS school board president now working for Hunger Free Colorado as a breakfast partner to help schools implement breakfast in the classroom.
Hunger Free Colorado connects people with food and nutrition resources in their community and programs such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. It even has a food truck now that takes those resources straight to neighborhoods to sign up eligible residents for benefits and give cooking demonstrations.
But the nonprofit’s biggest project in recent years has been helping schools and districts implement Breakfast After the Bell, which for the 2014-15 school year is required in schools with 80 percent or higher participation in free and reduced-price lunch.
Each school is different, Peña said. Some have the food waiting for students in the classroom, where they eat at their desks. Others might have a cart that delivers meals. In high schools, students can go to a cart and choose meals.
Denver Public School Ellis Elementary started offering its students breakfast in the classroom three years ago. Principal Khoa Nguyen says serving breakfast in the classroom has met all its goals, but the best part about the program is simpler than all of that. The social atmosphere goes beyond just erasing stigma. He has seen the students and teachers connect. “I think the beauty is, they get to eat with their teachers,” he said.
As more and more schools implement Breakfast After the Bell — the legislation’s timeline calls for schools with 70 percent or higher participation in the free and reduced lunch program to join in the 2015-16 school year — Hunger Free Colorado will work with them and any other school that wants to start the program on their own, continuing to use specific classrooms like those at Ellis as examples.
Margaux Rowley is a second-grade teacher. She said it was a challenge in the beginning to figure out what to do with that 15 minutes. However, the program is flexible and she was able to figure out a routine that helps get all students on the same page when it’s time to start learning.
“When breakfast is over,” she said, “it’s a clear transition.”
Hunger Free Colorado
Address: 7000 S. Yosemite St., Centennial
In operation since: 2009
Staff: 14 employees
Annual budget: $1,601,113 (for FY 2015)
Percentage of funds to clients/services: 92%
Number served last year: 10,041 households helped via the food resource hotline and mobile services for food stamp application assistance
