“I just try to fight it [hunger] out until lunch, because I’m just trying to keep up my grades. Remain on the honor roll. Sometimes I have to do a five paragraph essay so I just focus on the work, clear my mind of everything. I try to fight through me being hungry, me thinking about food, or what I’m going to have for lunch.” These words from a high school student show the incredible determination of young people and the heights they must scale when poverty is a part of their reality.

Getting our children off to a good start with a healthy breakfast, and sustaining them with a healthy lunch, is achievable within our schools. And with hunger off the table, our students can focus on learning.

Photo Credit: Center for Ecoliteracy

Why This Matters

There is an educational attainment gap in our country that is exacerbated by food insecurity. Nearly half of low-income children readily admit that hunger hurts their performance at school. And our teachers recognize the toll this hunger takes: 80% of teachers say hungry children lose their ability to concentrate and 76% see poorer academic performance.

“You see it in their performance. Heads down, sleepy, just hungry. The focus is not there.”

Mark D’Acquisto
Teacher
Mission High School
San Francisco

Research backs-up what our teachers are seeing. Eating breakfast is associated with better performance on standardized tests; improved cognitive function, attention, and memory; and better attendance and behavior.

Up to 50% of our children's daily caloric intake can come from their schools. And we can do a better job making sure all our students, and particularly the roughly 415,000 Bay Area kids who are eligible for free or reduced price meals, can access school breakfast and lunch programs. During the 2014-2015 school year, less than two-thirds of Bay Area low-income students were reached by school lunch, and only 30% were reached by breakfast.

Our Approach

Through expanding and improving school meal programs, we have the ability to reach hungry children with good nutritious food, help close the attainment gap, and increase the chances that all our students will develop lifelong healthy eating habits.

This requires a mental shift with district officials, teachers, staff, parents, and even students. Our schools are so focused on presenting the required educational material that incorporating new ideas can feel overwhelming. Often, cafeterias are viewed as a cost center that steal time from academic programming, rather than an opportunity center. However, the cafeteria can be transformed into a place to educate students and model the behaviors schools are trying to instill for a lifetime of better health.

There are many opportunities to transform the cafeteria into an opportunity center. The most obvious starting place is better food. But it is not as simple as deciding to change the menu. Districts must consider the facilities available. Many schools lack the kitchen equipment to cook and can only reheat pre-made and packaged meals. Funding poses another challenge. Federal and state reimbursement for school lunches leave approximately $1 per meal for actual food.

While procuring healthier food is often encumbered by bureaucracies and budgets, providing it may be the easy part when it comes to getting our kids to eat at school.

“Changing children’s attitudes, knowledge, and behavior in relationship to food requires a comprehensive approach that encompasses improvements in school food, the academic curriculum, and hands-on experiences such as school gardens and cooking.”

Zenobia Barlow
Executive Director & CoFounder
Center for Ecoliteracy

As a first step, children need to be able to access the food. As one East Bay third grader said, “on pizza day the lines are so long, by the time I sit down I can only take one bite of my lunch before time runs out. I have to throw the rest away.” Cafeterias may not be designed to accommodate student flow and encourage eating; if students spend 15 minutes in line for a 20 minute lunch break, they won’t eat much and food waste soars.

Free or reduced cost meals are available to children of families with low income. And school food standards are better than ever since the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. But social stigma often prevents students from eating a school meal. Lunchtime “is the best time to impress your peers,” said Lewis Geist, as a senior at Balboa High School. Being seen with a school meal, he said, “lowers your status.” Providing free meals to all students is a powerful way to overcome this stigma; California recently signed a policy that high poverty schools provide free meals for ALL students.

“There's also a culture that keeps kids who are hungry, who are in desperate need of food, from eating the food because it's seen as uncool. the hip kids, they don't eat cafeteria food. ” – Elementary school principal, Oakland Unified School District

Lasting, meaningful impact on nutrition in schools requires holistic change across the food system -- a process that some Bay Area school districts have already started. In 2013, San Francisco Unified School District reworked its school food system to offer the Future Dining Experience. Using a student-centered approach, it is now remodelling kitchens, transforming eating spaces, and providing fresh, healthy foods.

Oakland Unified School District is also embarking on a complete shift in its food system as it begins construction on “The Center.” The Center will be a central kitchen that will enable the District to provide all students nutrient-dense, scratch-cooked meals from locally sourced ingredients every day, while the instructional farm and education center will connect students and families with nutrition and sustainable food systems education.

James Lick Middle School Cafeteria before and after a student-led space redesign as part of the Future Dining Experience project at San Francisco Unified School District. Photo Credit: Melissa Ryan, Marble Rye Photography

Even when a complete shift is not possible, there are programs that make a big difference for students’ health and nutrition. It can begin with one day per week. The Center for Ecoliteracy is supporting districts to participate in “California Thursdays” a strategy that lets districts begin improving school food by offering locally-sourced, fresh meals on Thursdays. It can also start with a garden. The Edible Schoolyard is providing students hands-on gardening, nutrition, and cooking classes. It can start with water. One fifth of California’s schools do not provide free, fresh drinking water, which is important to reduce consumption of sugar sweetened beverages. It can also start with ensuring children have 20 minutes to eat after receiving their food and placing recess before lunch.

Another change that can make a big difference is to embrace new models for breakfast. Traditional breakfast, offered before school starts, is not well-subscribed. In San Francisco, only 18% of low-income students are eating school breakfast. It can be challenging for students to arrive at school early and there is stigma around doing so. The most effective way to reach more children with breakfast is to move the meal out of the cafeteria. Tested models include “grab-and-go” breakfast that students can grab as they walk on campus and free breakfast for all children in the classroom after the school day has started.

Some Bay Area schools are offering breakfast after the bell to increase participation and reduce stigma. Share our Strength is partnering with San Francisco and Oakland to expand this program.

These approaches highlight that changing the food in schools alone is not enough. Approaches that elevate the food, the facilities, and the staff to prepare it, while providing a dignified dining experience for all kids, regardless of income, are key to shifting from cafeteria chaos to a food system with the health and wellbeing of our students at the center.

Read next topic: Family and Community →

RESOURCES

Students & Schools

Why This Matters

Our Approach