Free breakfast program for Manatee County schools sees 5 percent increase early on in school year

EAST MANATEE -- Behind serving line No. 1, cafeteria manager Cindy Sutton prepares for breakfast at Tara Elementary School.

It's not yet 8 a.m., when breakfast officially starts, but there's already four or five students lined up waiting on a recent day. Behind Sutton, a delivery employee with U.S. Foods, wheels in more provisions for the school. Sutton will get to that eventually. But first, there are hungry students to feed.

Promptly at 8, they start coming in. The options? Whole grain french toast sticks with maple syrup, scrambled eggs, a Jimmy Dean turkey sausage patty served on whole grain toast (students are expected to top the sausage and toast with the eggs to make a mini-sandwich), both Granny Smith and Red Delicious apples, sliced peaches, 1 percent milk, 100 percent juice and doughnuts -- also known as "whole grain super rounds."

The doughnut typically attracts 10-year-old Nalyse Colantuono, a fifth-grade student who says she eats breakfast at school every day. On Wednesday, she made a different choice, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal -- the reduced sugar kind -- with chocolate milk.

"I like it here because they already have breakfast made," she said.

The Manatee County School District Food and Nutrition Services department looks to capitalize on that convenience factor as it rolls out free breakfast for all students at every district school this year, regardless of whether students and their families qualify for the federal free and reduced-cost lunch program.

"I've seen quite a few new faces come through the line," Sutton said.

Numerous studies show that students learn and behave better when they've had a healthy breakfast, said Regina Thoma, director of food and nutrition services. And supporting student education is what the department is all about.

"The main reason we wanted to do this was to support education," she said.

The district piloted the program last March, offering breakfast free to all students until the end of the 2014-15 academic year, to support students taking the state-mandated tests.

The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture School Breakfast Program, which reimburses school districts for meals served. No school district funds are used to support the program; the food and nutrition services department is financially self-sustaining and operates on reimbursements.

Thoma took over as food and nutrition director in the summer, when longtime head Sandra Ford was promoted to a newly created position in the district, as a chief support services officer. Among other departments, Ford continues to oversee and assist the food and nutrition services.

When comparing September 2014 to September 2015, overall breakfast participation has increased 5.5 percent, with district cafeterias serving 54,000 more breakfasts month to month.

School-based increases range from 1 to 15 percent, according to district data. The department calculates participation by taking the number of students receiving breakfast and dividing that number by the school's enrollment to take into account enrollment changes from year-to-year, Thoma said.

Williams Elementary School saw the biggest increase in participation, at 16 percent. Other big participation gains include Anna Maria Elementary School, Buffalo Creek Middle School, Braden River Elementary School and Nolan Middle School, according to district data.

As the school year continues, Thoma said she is hoping the participation continues to rise. The first month of school is often an adjustment period, as students and families get back into their routines. The school began advertising the new program in the 2015-16 "welcome back" letter sent to parents and families.

The free breakfast has had a number of unforseen benefits at Tara, said Principal Steve Royce. Having the students in the school for breakfast helps make sure they'll be on time for when classes start at 8:30 a.m,. he said.

"The feedback from the kids has been really positive," he said.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter@MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published October 18, 2015 at 11:32 AM with the headline "Free breakfast program for Manatee County schools sees 5 percent increase early on in school year ."