Improving average daily participation through alternative school breakfast models

With 19.5 million low-income children receiving free/reduced-priced school lunches, less than 9 million participate in school breakfast. Due to better academic achievement and improved health and attendance rates, school leaders recognize the need to increase school breakfast participation. By implementing alternative serving models, schools can increase school breakfast participation. Funded by the Walmart Foundation, the American Association of School Administrators works with four urban school districts to implement alternative breakfast models. This session will highlight the key changes made by each district and the increases made in average daily participation. Cincinnati Public Schools purchased vending machines for secondary students to receive a reimbursable school breakfast in areas outside the cafeteria; Syracuse City School District changed its busing schedule so that students would have time to eat breakfast in the classroom; Riverside Unified School District worked with principals to ensure successful school breakfast strategies to roll out alternative breakfast; and the Brentwood Union Free School District worked with its vendors to increase the healthfulness of breakfast items that could be distributed quickly through a Grab'n'Go serving method. Initial increases in ADP across the districts show up to 40% increases. More data will be available by the time of the presentation. While each school district used different tactics, they each had similar results: increased participation of school breakfast and stronger inter-departmental relationships at the central office level. Participants will hear about the lessons learned from these successful districts and take away best practices on implementing alternative school breakfast.