More students eating breakfast at Le Sueur-Henderson schools
Author: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Author URL: https://www.flickr.com/people/usdagov/
Grant money and some active promotion allowed for a 40-percent increase in breakfast participation at Le Sueur-Henderson schools this year.
Taher Food Services, which provides services for the LS-H district, reported the increase at a School Board meeting Monday. The high school has seen an increase from about 35 breakfasts a day to 130, about 25 percent of students.
“We’re gonna start to see more students eating breakfast everywhere,” said Taher District Manager Scott Papke.
The primary reason for increased interest at LS-H was the addition of a second chance breakfast provided by University of Minnesota grant money. The second breakfast comes between the first and second bell, and a laptop serves as a portable point of sale.
“We planned on increasing breakfast,” said Food Service Director Jeff Morris. “We promoted breakfast at Park Elementary and at the middle school and high school.”
The food service program also recently brought in made-to-order subs, which allows students to pick their own ingredients, as well as Harvest of the Month features.
The program hasn’t finalized a budget for 2015-16, as the state still has to decide on reimbursement numbers, but it does have plans to develop a portable herb garden, as well as providing new sports snacks.
The herb garden could involve students from science or other classes to help grow and maintain. The sports snacks would be for students traveling to away games and would provide a few things to eat before the game.
School lunch prices, meanwhile, will increase by five cents, from $2.50 to $2.55 at the high school, in order to accommodate federal requirements.
“The USDA feels they need to close the gap on what is given to schools compared to what is being charged,” Papke said.
