Kentucky School District Makes Breakfast More Accessible for Students

The breakfast pizza meal offers students a hearty serving of protein, dairy, whole grain and fruit.

Students are able to build a breakfast using items they are familiar with, but made with whole grains, reduced sodium and sugar and less artificial ingredients.

When speaking with school nutrition staff from Fayette County Public Schools (KY) last month for “Lunch Participation Jumps When Students Learn About Local Ingredients”  it was hard not to get excited about the amazing things they’re doing in school breakfast too! Continuing the trend with local ingredients and increased menu options, FCPS implemented programs to provide more scratch-made cooking – creating popular breakfast pizza and yogurt parfaits. They also incorporated more on-the-go breakfast options, like cereal packs and grab and go breakfast bags.

This week, school nutrition staff will be debuting fresh fruit smoothies and yogurt parfaits in honor of National School Breakfast Week (NSBW). Response from student taste tests has ben positive and the smoothies and parfaits will become a staple on daily menus after NSBW. Local ingredients, including Kentucky blueberries are incorporated into the scratch-made recipes.

By adding mobile breakfast carts, cereal stations and grab and go breakfast sites throughout hallways and outside of classrooms, an average of 13,000 students in the district now choose a healthy school breakfast. These breakfast stations allow students to quickly choose from prepared meal packs or trays, offering kid-favorites with increased whole grain ingredients and reduced sugar. Protein is offered every morning, which is especially appealing for students with diabetes or those trying to eat fewer carbs.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

NSBW 2020, made possible in part by the School Nutrition Association (SNA) and Kellogg’s, is scheduled for March 2-6, 2020. To learn more, visit National School Breakfast Week 2020.