Oct. 28—A full stomach is one key to school success, and more kids in New Hampshire need to be eating school breakfast to prepare for the day.
That’s the message of a new statewide initiative to increase school breakfast participation, specifically among students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals. In the 2011-2012 school year, 38 out of every 100 New Hampshire students who get free and reduced-price lunch also bought breakfast, the lowest ratio of any state. Research shows that children who eat breakfast typically do better in school, have higher attendance rates and concentrate better than those who are hungry.
The new School Breakfast Challenge, announced yesterday, encourages districts to increase participation in breakfast programs by 25 percent over two years. The project is a partnership involving the state Department of Education, the Children’s Alliance of New Hampshire, the New England Dairy & Food Council and the School Nutrition Association of New Hampshire.