September 23, 2010
LANSING - What once was a desperately underutilized program now is providing vital morning nutrition to over 68,000 more school children across Michigan.
The Michigan School Breakfast Challenge, launched by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan two years ago, has been a resounding success in providing nearly 12 million more school breakfasts during that time.
"So many local school districts stepped up in a way that will have a long-lasting impact on their students and their communities," Flanagan said. "With a healthy breakfast, students gain the energy they need to be ready to learn, and develop healthier lifestyles that will benefit them for the rest of their lives."
Flanagan began the Michigan School Breakfast Challenge when he learned that there was an alarming imbalance between the number of school lunches that were being served and the far fewer number of school breakfasts.
The two-year challenge to public and non-public schools participating in the National School Lunch Program was to increase their federally-funded school breakfast participation by at least 50 percent.
Over the past two years, 206 school districts met Flanagan's challenge. The 52,145,702 school breakfasts served statewide during the 2009-10 school year marked an overall 30 percent increase from the 2007-08 school year.
Flanagan commended local superintendents, building principals, teachers, and food service personnel for their leadership in the challenge.
"I keep hearing success story after success story about the Breakfast Challenge," Flanagan said. "I want to thank everyone for their hard work and commitment. Their efforts are making a huge difference for their students."
Research shows that students who eat a healthy breakfast improve their academic achievement, have fewer health issues, behave better in class, and are more attentive.
"By implementing a Universal Breakfast Program, we have successfully created an even playing field for all students to come to class with full bellies and ready to learn," said Mrs. Cristi Smith, a fourth-grade teacher at Les Cheneaux Community Schools. "As a teacher, I no longer have to scan the room in the morning to identify those that look as if they didn't eat, and then try to assist them in quickly getting breakfast before literacy block begins."
Flanagan and the Michigan Department of Education partnered with the United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) on the Michigan School Breakfast Challenge. UDIM provided extensive marketing and support materials; equipment for the schools; and the monetary awards for the highest achieving schools in both years of the Challenge, including the Overall Champions.
"I'd really like to thank the United Dairy Industry of Michigan for its outstanding support of the Breakfast Challenge," Flanagan said. "This has been a tremendous public/private partnership that has helped promote the importance of eating a healthy breakfast, and its benefits to academic achievement."
The 2008-10 Overall Champions are:
- Lincoln Park Public Schools
- Belding Area School District
- Conner Creek Academy East (Roseville)
- George Crockett Academy (Detroit)
The 2010 Gold Award recipients are:
- Clintondale Community Schools
- Old Redford Academy (Detroit)
- Les Cheneaux Community Schools
- Woodward Academy (Detroit)
The 2010 Silver Award recipients are:
- Lapeer Community Schools
- Reed City Area Public Schools
- Detroit Enterprise Academy (Detroit)
- Countryside Academy (Benton Harbor)
The Overall Champions receive a $5,000 cash award; Gold Award recipients receive a $5,000 cash award; and Silver Award recipients receive a $2,500 cash award. These top awards recognize those districts that had the highest percentage increases in Average Daily Participation for their School Breakfast Programs. The monetary awards can be used towards wellness activities for the students, future breakfast promotion efforts, physical education programming, and/or school meal improvement.
For a list of the entire Michigan School Breakfast Challenge Honor Roll, and to read the success stories of the award recipients, go to: www.michigan.gov/mde-breakfast <http://www.michigan.gov/mde-breakfast> .
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