SCHOOL BREAKFAST POPULAR AT NEILLSVILLE
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 -- 12:15 PM
Neillsville Schools are celebrating National School Breakfast Week this week.Neillsville has been offering breakfast for five years. They offer everything from breakfast pizza, to bagels, to baked oatmeal.
"We start serving breakfast in the middle school and high school at 7:30 and we start at 7:45 in the grade school," says Food Services Director Carolyn Orlowski, "We serve approximately 120 in grade school and 110 in middle and high school."
Studies consistently show a good breakfast helps kids learn during the day. Kids aren?t always getting a good meal at home.
"It used to be kids would eat breakfast at home, but now, with the way lifestyles have changed, they oftentimes don't get breakfast at home," she notes, "I had a lot of students asking me if we could have breakfast at school. We brought it in and we have seen a real need for it."
The school must follow certain nutritional requirements. Still, they?re able to offer healthy meals much cheaper than the average family.
"For breakfast, it's $1.20; for lunch, it's $1.80 in the grade school and $2.05 in the middle and high school," she explains. "For reduced lunches, it's .30-cents for breakfast across the board. In grade school, it's .35-cents for lunch, and .40-cents for lunch in the middle school and high school."
While she hasn?t necessarily seen an up-tick in the number of customers because of the slumping economy, Orlowski says more families are taking advantage of free or reduced priced meals.
Orlowski received a $1,300 grant through the DPI to promote school breakfasts. She purchased three Wii Fit video game consoles. All students eating breakfast this week are in a drawing that will be held at the end of the week.
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