Did you see that article about school breakfast?  “Which one?” you ask.  Take your pick – that’s the good news.   There seems to have been a lot of “ink” devoted to School Breakfast lately.  Increasing awareness about the benefits of school breakfast will hopefully translate into increased school breakfast participation.  School districts across the country continue to find ways to boost breakfast participation.  Here are some recent items of interest –

 *FRAC Welcomes Launch of New Breakfast Campaign

March 12, 2014

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) applauds the launch of “It Starts With School Breakfast,” a new breakfast campaign led by Fuel Up to Play 60. The campaign, launched last week in Boston, aims to increase awareness of school breakfast and to boost participation across the country so that all kids start each day with the fuel they need to help them succeed.

“There have been some amazing gains in school breakfast over the past few years as more schools are moving to offer this program and more children are participating. The more we can do through partnerships to raise awareness of school breakfast, the greater will be the gains for children, and especially low-income children,” said FRAC President Jim Weill. Read story . . .

 *Editorial: N.J. school ‘breakfast after the bell’ program provides healthy boost to student performance

March 18, 2014, Times of Trenton

Two bills aimed at making sure breakfast is available at school for children from low-income families have advanced in the Assembly. School districts now must offer breakfast if 20 percent or more of their students qualify for free or reduced meals under the federal School Lunch Program. One measure would require districts to make breakfast available if just 5 percent of their students qualify.

The other bill would allow students to eat breakfast during the first few minutes of the school day. Known as “breakfast after the bell,” this approach significantly boosts student participation in the federally funded School Breakfast Program.  Read story . . .

 *Burnsville: Grant should make grab-and-go breakfasts available to more kids

Feb 16, 2014, 2014, TwinCities.com

 Thanks to a grant for a breakfast cart from the Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota, one elementary school will start their day with breakfast as part of their new initiative “Bag it — Bring a great start into the classroom.” Read story . . .