Karen Cullen: HISD breakfast program aids student achievement | Viewpoints, Outlook | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
It's hard to pay attention, read textbooks or work math problems when your stomach is growling, your head hurts and you are impatiently waiting for lunchtime because you did not eat breakfast. Breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day. Why? After we sleep all night, breakfast supplies the energy and nutrients needed to fuel the activities of our body and brain.
Studies have shown that hungry children may not be able to concentrate on their schoolwork, leading to poor grades and even behavioral problems. A good breakfast gets students off to a good start in the morning, is part of a healthy diet and helps maintain a healthy body weight. Unfortunately, between 4 percent and 35 percent of children of all ages skip breakfast, for a variety of reasons. A major reason is economic.
The national School Breakfast Program was established to feed hungry schoolchildren and help them be prepared to learn. During the 2008-09 school year, 8.8 million low-income children participated. However, this is only about 47 percent of eligible children, which means that about 53 percent of eligible children missed the opportunity to eat breakfast. In Texas, all public and open-enrollment charter schools offer the SBP, and about 55 percent of eligible students ate a school breakfast in 2009. Texas ranks 10th among the 50 states in SBP participation.
Because HISD is committed to student wellness and achievement, the “First Class Breakfast” program was
