Candor Elementary Begins the Day With a Healthy Breakfast

Posted by Helen Roberts on Wednesday, December 14, 2011

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Cafeteria staff Early one morning in late September, I visited Candor Elementary School in Montgomery County, North Carolina with Frank Fiorella, the child nutrition director for the county. In just a few minutes I knew Candor was a very special school, a school committed to the well-being of every child. At Candor Elementary, breakfast is just as important as math, reading, language arts or science. Now in its second year of implementation, universal breakfast has become part of the culture of the school.

Principal Donnie Lynthacum shook my hand the morning I introduced myself as the School Outreach Educator for No Kid Hungry North Carolina, and before I could take a breath, he said, “We love it here… My teachers have 15 to 20 minutes more instructional time each day!” As a retired physics teacher with three decades in the classroom, but new to my job of visiting schools participating in our breakfast pilot program, I was sold. I knew that the purpose of the Share Our Strength mini-grants awarded to Candor and 27 other schools in our state was to increase participation in school breakfast, and Candor had achieved this with flying colors. Ninety four percent of the students now eat school breakfast! However, I knew very little about the many other unforeseen benefits to breakfast in the classroom.

At Candor, kindergarten and first grade eat breakfast in the cafeteria, and second through fifth graders eat in the classroom. Cafeteria manager Gail Britt and her staff package individual breakfasts and deliver them to the classrooms before the students arrive each morning. Gail explained that she and her staff see themselves as part of a big family touching the lives of each student. She teared up as she told me how she “loves her job.” Through her job, she is able to “give back to her community, where many families struggle.”

As I went from room to room that morning, teachers had their own stories of praise for the universal breakfast program. Many were excited to tell me how they were incorporating healthy eating into their course of study. They were also eager to tell me how their students were scoring higher on their classroom assessments, student attention spans increased and the children were happier! Lynne Griffith, a veteran third grade teacher, said, “Watching my students come into the classroom every morning to a nutritious breakfast waiting for them has been wonderful. The students are working on activities as they eat. Elizabeth Lariviere, a fourth grade teacher, commented, “A good breakfast is what many of these children need. This may be one of the two meals a day that they eat.”

On a return trip to Candor Elementary, I interviewed two fifth graders, Rubin and Makayla. Both enthusiastically endorsed breakfast in the classroom. Why? They said they could eat and do their morning work at the same time while sharing time with friends. When asked to tell me their favorite breakfast foods, the list included string cheese, apple fruitels, cereal, graham crackers, yogurt and mini French toast.

Candor Elementary is a warm, inviting, happy school where breakfast has become an essential part of the school day. The administration, teachers and cafeteria staff are dedicated to doing what is best for the children. School attendance is 98.6 percent, discipline has greatly improved, students and teachers love their school—and each day starts with a healthy breakfast!

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