Hunger in the schools: Nourishing the mind and the body

The Millerton News has been taking a look at the issue of hunger, and how it affects residents living in the Harlem Valley. This week, we take a look at how hunger affects our youngest members of society — our students. For more on the issue of food insecurity, and the availability of help from area food lockers, check out last week’s front page or go online, to www.tricornernews.com.

HARLEM VALLEY — The opening of a new school year always brings exciting changes, but one thing students in the local districts can count on are nutritious meals to get them through their busy days.  

The  North East (Webutuck), Millbrook and Pine Plains school districts all participate in the National School Lunch Program, which provides free or reduced cost meals to students who qualify. But whether students are eligible for that or pay the full cost, both breakfast and lunch are available.  

Lunch services generally go smoothly, but according to Webutuck Food Service Director Sheila Moran , providing that “most important” morning meal for students can be difficult. 

“We have everything ready to go, but just coming through and grabbing their milk and cereal,  yogurt, fresh fruit or granola and punching in their number — it’s challenging,” she said, especially for students whose buses arrive between 7:52 and 8 a.m., with classes beginning at 8:01 a.m. for grades four through 12 and 8:03 a.m. for elementary students.  

Moran hopes to make adjustments during the year, possibly starting a “grab and go,” but noted that can cause its own difficulties — especially in the lower grades when teachers are trying to get the school day going while perhaps dealing with spills and garbage.   

Millbrook  School Lunch Director Holly Peters-Heady said, “We implemented a new program last year where we can bring breakfast to the classroom in our middle school” during a 30-minute home room period.  

“There are some scheduling issues with our little students because they begin classes right away, but we’re trying to figure that out because we would like [to serve those students as well],” she added.   

She said high school students who “have study hall in the cafeteria… come into the kitchen and order sandwiches” and others can come in and take things back to their classrooms.

She added they have about 20 minutes before the start of the day. Later, “if a teacher realizes someone is ‘starving,’ they can run down and get food and take it back to the classroom.”  

In Pine Plains where, according to Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Michael Goldbeck,  40.6 percent of students are eligible for free and reduced meals; all high school students can get breakfast until 10:30 a.m. 

James Glynn, principal at the pre-kindergarten through first-grade Cold Spring Early Learning Center, and Julie Roberts, principal at Seymour Smith Intermediate Learning Center, each reported that a short breakfast time is built into the schedule and that students who are not done eating can take food back to their classrooms.  

Of the schools in the area, Webutuck has the greatest percentage of students eligible for the receive free or reduced meal program, which has increased to more than 50 percent, according to Moran.

“One of the biggest obstacles is just getting people to sign up. It is a complicated challenge to provide access for healthy food for the children who rely on school meals for their primary source of nutrition during the school week,” she said, 

At all schools, any students who were registered for the free/reduced program last year will continue eligibility through the first 30 school days but must be re-registered to continue services, unless the families are otherwise approved. Forms are available online and through the schools where families can also receive help filling out the applications. Participation is always anonymous. 

In addition to getting families registered, a universal problem involves “getting the students through the door,” according to Moran. About half of the Webutuck students who are eligible take advantage of special pricing, and overall about 70 percent of Webutuck’s 700 students eat in the cafeteria, which is, never-the-less, the highest percentage reported by the other schools.

Peters-Heady said 48 percent of Millbrook’s 880 students eat lunch and 18 to 20 percent breakfast with 26 percent of the students eligible for the free and reduced program.  

All the meals follow the federal guidelines and therefore include milk, protein, whole grains and fresh fruit and vegetables — not always an easy sell. As a means of encouraging students to expand their food horizons, last year Moran began a cooking class and a “Bring Your Buddy to Breakfast Day,” both of which she plans to repeat this year along some fun contests, preference surveys and setting up “a healthy choice table just so kids can kind of have a visual of different items. 

“I think the more they see it, the more they’ll be likely to try it,” she said optimistically.