New bag breakfast program a hit with students

Breakfast is served, and not just in the cafeteria anymore.

Each morning, the children at John F. Kennedy Elementary School have a choice: play outside with friends or eat breakfast in the cafeteria before school starts.

Now, as part of a pilot program in the Scranton School District, students have the option of grabbing a bag off a cart and eating outside.

In the last two weeks, the Aramark program has already increased breakfast participation at the school by 20 percent.

"We found if we make it more accessible, more students will come to breakfast," said Matt Sfarra, general manager for Aramark, Scranton's food-service provider.

The new program comes as schools across the country increase their options for breakfast. Advocates say eating the meal improves a student's school performance, attention and behavior.

In Scranton, all students can receive a free breakfast. One day last week, as about 150 children ate French toast sticks in the cafeteria, more than 30 more grabbed a bag and a carton of milk from a cart in the hallway and headed back outside.

Between bites of whole-grain toaster pastries and apples, students played touch football and chatted with friends.

Most of the students who grab a bag are students who never went to the cafeteria for breakfast, Mr. Sfarra said. Across the district, 34 percent of elementary school students eat breakfast at school.

The program has been started in some Aramark schools across the country, and Mr. Sfarra said he hopes to expand it to another Scranton school, and perhaps to all elementary schools, soon.

The breakfasts, which follow U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition guidelines, are reimbursed by state and federal programs.

Before the bag program, fifth-grader Nathan Mankins and his friends said they did not eat breakfast at school. Instead, they like to have time to play and talk.

"It's really nice how they have breakfast outside now," Nathan, 11, said. "It's a fuss going inside."

Principal Bridget Frounfelker supervised the playground last week and said she was happy that the bag program gives her students another option.

"It starts their day off on a good note," Ms. Frounfelker said.