Feeding Rochesters Youth, an Investigative Report

Front entrance to Clara Barton School No. 2 Photo by: Brinna Dochniak

Elementary aged students in the Rochester City School District who qualify for and participate in the free meal option are facing issues with low balances in their account and not being able to purchase food.

Lack of communication regarding the balance in the children’s lunch accounts are causing some students to be denied meals.

“The biggest issue now is that the child cannot pay for their meals and the school is not allowing them to buy another meal,” said Paula Tyner-Doyle, a district official in the Rochester City School District. “We need to find a way for the schools to get on top of kids being able to buy meals even if they have used their money already.”

According to the Rochester City School District Food Services website, approximately 80 percent of all students attending district schools qualify for free and reduced price meals. Children who are from families with incomes at or below $31,525 are eligible for free school meals. Families with incomes between $31,525 and $44,863 are eligible for reduced priced meals.

Cook manager Joann Campbell and food server Sheila Smith at School #2 made it very clear that no child at their school is going to walk out without having eaten; they would be sure of that.

Sheila Smith, a food server at the Clara Barton School #2, said, “Everybody eats for free here. No child is going to leave here without eating.”

“Sometimes they just come here to eat,” Smith continued. “I always make sure they eat because come Saturday and Sunday, you don’t know if they’ve eaten.”

Every student at Clara Barton School #2 gets free breakfast in their classroom every morning and free lunch everyday. Campbell and Smith make sure that no matter what time of the day, if they are still at school, anyone can come eat.

It is important that every student is eating breakfast and lunch everyday to keep them at their top learning capabilities. The Rochester City School District has implemented the “Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act.” This act adds mandatory fruit servings at breakfast and calorie count maximums for breakfast and lunch throughout the district.

Having the right nutrition and eating breakfast and lunch helps kids in may ways. According to an article written on the Pediasure website, “School programs have been proven to have a positive impact on classroom performance and behavior, particularly for kids who are not getting the nutrition they need.”

Through an interview conducted via email, Angelina Moore Maia, a Nutrition Management Program professor at RIT, said: “Researchers have a general consensus that eating breakfast will particularly impact memory and attention in the classroom. The children will also have more energy as well, since they will be getting the appropriate macronutrients.”

An article from the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience titled “The Effects of Breakfast on Behavior and Academic Performance in Children and Adolescence” written by Katie Adolphus stated that, “Breakfast consumption is associated with positive outcomes for diet quality, micronutrient intake, weight status and lifestyle factors. Breakfast has been suggested to positively affect learning in children in terms of behavior, cognitive, and school performance.”

Maia continued to say that, “Researchers have found that inadequate nutrition in early childhood is associated with decreased learning potential as well as overall long-term productivity in school. These results have been found in the United States and around the globe, in countries including Brazil and South Africa.”

An incentive to keep the schools in the district following the nutrition guidelines is that they will get an additional six cents reimbursement per lunch annually.

“Children need to make sure they have appropriate amounts of the macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat, to ensure adequate development,” which applies to the incentive to have schools follow the nutrition guidelines. Maia proceeded, “As dietitians, we encourage limiting high-calorie, high-fat, and sugary snacks and focusing on more fruits and vegetables as well as calcium-rich foods such as milk and yogurt.”

According to the Rochester City School Districts Food and Nutrition Services site, the “Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act” will also implement a calorie count maximum. This will include a breakfast maximum of 500 calories for grades kindergarten through fifth and 550 maximum for grades sixth through eighth. A lunch maximum is capped at 650 calories for grades kindergarten through fifth grade and 700 calories for grades sixth through eighth.

The Rochester City School District is taking steps towards making sure every student in the district is being fed and given the right nutrients. There is confusion on whether or not every student is able to attain their meals on a daily basis.

Cafeteria workers at schools like Clara Barton School #2 are very passionate about making sure that every student is eating whether they have the funds or not. As Sheila Smith stated, “No child is going to leave here without eating as long as I’m around.”