By Staff
HEALTHY BREAKFAST Jessie Evans, cafeteria manager at Parkview Elementary School, helps fourth-graders Andre Razey, left, and Frank Perry with their breakfast Tuesday morning in the school cafeteria. This is the 15th Annual National School Breakfast Week. Photo by Penny Randall/The Meridian Star
By Penny Randall / staff writer
March 10, 2004
Donna Freyaldenhoven tries to make sure her children eat breakfast each morning all 7,000 of them.
Besides being a mother, Freyaldenhoven is also food service director of Meridian Public Schools, and manages the school district's cafeterias. It is a position she has held for nine years.
This week schools in Meridian and around the country are celebrating the 15th Annual National School Breakfast Week. Besides being the most important meal of the day, Freyaldenhoven said breakfast gives students energy and prepares them for a day of learning.
The School Breakfast Program started in 1966 and was made permanent in 1975. The program is administered at the federal level by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through its Food and Consumer Service program. State education agencies and local school food authorities administer the program at the local level.
In 2000, an average 7.55 million children nationwide participated every day in the school breakfast program.
In Meridian city schools, an average of 2,400 of the 7,000 students enrolled in city schools eat breakfast daily at Parkview Elementary, Oakland Heights, West End, West Hills, Polar Springs, Crestwood, Witherspoon, Meridian High School, Carver, Magnolia, Kate Griffin, Northwest and Marion Park.
Students can choose from doughnuts, cinnamon buns, cereal, fruit, grits, breakfast burritos, pancakes and waffles. They can choose fruit juice or milk to drink.
The most popular breakfast item is kindergartner's Jamal Collins' favorite.
But second-grader Miracle Williams wants something sweet.