Spy Eye: Galena Elementary Kicks off Important Breakfast Program

Teachers across the nation report that many students are “too hungry to learn” and that solving that crisis is the key to academic achievement. About 11 million US students start their day hungry.

Galena Elementary School has taken that challenge to heart by kicking off its first year in the Maryland Breakfast Challenge competition to meet the needs of hungry students.

Over the past few years, Maryland has increased its investment in school breakfast programs. Governor O’Malley is the first Governor in the nation to commit to ending childhood hunger through a new coalition, The Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in Maryland.

“For some students it’s the only breakfast they have, and others have already been up for 3 hours before school starts,” says Dr. Karen Couch, Superintendent of Kent County School Systems. “We’re excited that six of our schools in Kent are participating in the Maryland Breakfast Challenge.”

At least 18 of Maryland’s 24 school districts joined the Maryland Breakfast Challenge, a part of a wider national initiative to meet the needs of hungry students.

The program is partnered with the Maryland Department of Education, Action for Healthy Kids. Family League of Baltimore, Maryland State Education Association, Maryland Hunger Solutions, Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association and the No Kid Hungry Campaign.

The state program Maryland Meals for Achievement (MMFA), a project started in 1998, is also integral to the Breakfast Challenge program’s funding. The Maryland Department of Education site states, “Any school that participates in the federal School Breakfast Program and has at least 40% of its enrollment approved for free or reduced-price meals can apply to become a MMFA school.” Income guidelines may be found here

According to No Kid Hungry, “In Maryland, an overwhelming three out of five public school teachers say they have children in their classrooms who regularly come to school hungry because they’re not getting enough to eat at home.”

In an effort to solve this problem, Couch says that Maryland is one of the top 15 states in the nation to increase breakfast participation for lower income families.

The program aims to connect 10,000 Maryland students with breakfast and each school will compete for the highest increase in breakfast participation in their district. Out of each district, one State winner will be announced in March, 2015. Cash prizes, celebrity visits, a DC Getaway Weekend, and grants are among the many prizes to be won.

And the kids? They were up for the breakfast challenge! One young student said she felt the program “made the morning much more organized and less crazy in the corridors”, while another said shyly, “What I eat in school is pretty much the only thing I eat for breakfast. I like it a lot.”

Visitors were impressed, even emotional.

“I’m here to say that I would stand on a platform to help underwrite this program straight out of the Commissioners’ Budget,” Commissioner Bill Short said. “That’s how important I think this is.”

Mini-pizzas, apple strudel, fruit cups and mini-pancakes were offered to the students and visiting school and county officials. Class representatives chaperoned each visitor to their classrooms to talk about the positive impact school breakfasts have on their daily life.

Research shows that students who start their day with breakfast achieve 17.5% higher scores on standardized math tests, attend more school days and are therefore 20% more likely to graduate.

County Commissioner Bill Short, Deputy Sheriff Brian Kirby, President of Kent County School Board Bryan Williams, Principal Dawn Vangrin, and Dr. Karen Couch were in attendance.