Students qualifying for free/reduced meals by school in 2018-19

Ocean Beach School District

Hilltop Middle School (5-8): 48.7%

Ilwaco High School (9-12): 48.4%

Long Beach Elementary (PK-4): 58.3%

Ocean Beach Alternative School (6-12): 100%

Ocean Beach Early Development Center (PK): 78.3%

Ocean Park Elementary (PK-4): 71%

Raymond School District

Raymond Elementary School (PK-6): 99.4%

Raymond Junior/Senior High School (7-12): 59.6%

South Bend School District

Chauncey Davis Elementary School (K-6): 84.8%

South Bend Junior/Senior High School (7-12): 61%

Naselle-Grays River School District

Naselle School (K-12): 53.4%

Willapa Valley School District

Willapa Elementary (PK-5): 34.5%

Willapa Valley Junior/Senior High School (6-12): 38.6%

North River School District

North River School (K-12): 65.7%

LONG BEACH PENINSULA — Three local school districts are among the first to implement a new state nutritional program.

This school year, Ocean Beach, Raymond and South Bend school districts will participate in Breakfast After the Bell. The program’s goal is to expand breakfast options for students in low-income areas.

“It especially helps those who may be in a situation with food insecurity,” said OBSD Superintendent Amy Huntley. “Giving them that opportunity to eat in the classroom increases participation in breakfast.”

Breakfast After the Bell’s premise is simple. Instead of breakfast being offered before the school’s first bell rings, breakfast is available after the first bell.

The program allows students who are late to eat breakfast, said OBSD Food Service Supervisor Marianne Mott.

“Kids who are running late often don’t go to the cafeteria,” Mott said. “It helps fight stigmatization if students don’t feel comfortable going to the cafeteria because they’re late.”

How the program came about

In June 2018, the state Legislature passed House Bill 1508, creating the Washington Kids Ready to Learn Act of 2018. The act requires Breakfast After the Bell programs in schools where at least 70 percent of students qualify for free or reduced meals.

Breakfast After the Bell follows federal nutritional guidelines. The program is ran under the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Many school districts already use programs like Breakfast After the Bell, said Mikhail Cherniske, OSPI Legislative Bills Program Specialist. Cherniske works with school districts to implement the program.

Pull Quote

‘We’re excited and curious as to how it’ll work out.’

OBSD Food Service Supervisor Marianne Mott

Breakfast After the Bell programs produce higher participation rates than traditional breakfast services, according to OSPI. Some school districts even double their breakfast participation rates through the program, Cherniske said.

The program especially aims to help low-income students who may face barriers to participating in school breakfast, like arriving at school later than their peers.

“If you’re late, you don’t eat. That’s bad,” Huntley said. “If you really want to be in the classroom with your friends, you don’t eat. That’s bad.”

The program helps eliminate students “bouncing around in the morning” since students can take their breakfast where they want to be, Huntley said.

Having breakfast after the first bell allows students to participate in recess, clubs and other activities, according to OSPI.

“School breakfast can get the rap that it’s for low-income students,” Cherniske said. “Kids are more likely to play with their friends than get breakfast before school, even though they’re hungry.”

Increased breakfast participation is linked to improved academic scores, reduced disruptive behavior, and reduced rates of absence and tardiness, according to OSPI.

“At OSPI, we’re excited to see what the school districts do with the program,” Cherniske said. “We’re looking forward to a great school year.”

What it looks like

Ocean Beach, Raymond and South Bend school districts are the only Pacific County school districts required to implement Breakfast After the Bell.

Schools below the 70 percent qualification rate can participate in Breakfast After the Bell but aren’t required to.

OBSD is required to run the program at Ocean Park Elementary and Ocean Beach Alternative School. The alternative school was already participating in the program, Huntley said.

More than 65 percent of OBSD students qualify for free or reduced meals, Huntley said. More than half of OBSD’s students eat breakfast at school, Mott said.

“Some people are paid, some people are reduced,” Huntley said. “The reality is that a lot of our school food eaters are free.”

The program will be implemented at all OBSD schools but Ilwaco High School. The schools implementing the program will use a grab-and-go style, where students can grab their breakfast and eat in either in the cafeteria or a classroom.

“Students will get all the components of a meal they should have,” Mott said. “We’re trying to make the meals healthy and portable.”

Up north, Raymond and South Bend are only required to run Breakfast After the Bell at the districts’ elementary schools; Raymond Elementary and Chauncey Davis Elementary. Both school districts will also implement the program for its students at the junior/senior high schools.

Raymond and South Bend also participate in the Community Eligibility Provision, a program which makes school meals free for all students. North River School District also participates in the free meal program.

“Kids need to eat,” said Raymond Superintendent Steve Holland. “All kids will be able to eat food at school.”

OBSD qualifies for the free meal program but participating in it would cost the school district more money than fiscally makes sense, Huntley said at the district’s July board meeting.

The more students who qualify for free or reduced meals determines with how much money school districts receive to run the free meal program. OBSD is at the lowest qualifying percent of students to run the program.

OBSD will re-evaluate the costs of the free meal program for next school year, Huntley said at the board meeting.

“We’re excited and curious as to how it’ll work out,” Mott said.