News
News Release:
 Breakfast, Lunch Programs Expand With State Grant
Elementary Schools Share in $110,224
July 27, 2007

SAN DIEGO – Ten San Diego elementary schools will be able to expand their breakfast programs thanks to a $110,224 grant from the state Department of Education.

The schools – Baker, Balboa, Bandini, Central, Emerson, Knox, Linda Vista, Normal Heights, Perkins, Webster – are located in neighborhoods where at least 20 percent of the students are on free- or reduced-price lunches and breakfasts, according to Gary Petill, director of food services.

“We’re looking forward to more of our children getting their day off to a great start with a healthy breakfast,” he said.

Jack O’Connell, state Superintendent of Schools, made the formal check presentation at Monroe Clark Middle School in City Heights, one of the district’s central kitchens. There, staff was busy making sandwiches for the current Summer Lunch Program.

“Children have difficulty studying and learning when they are hungry,” O’Connell said, “so providing students access to nutritious meals is not only the right thing to do, it is a critical component of our efforts to boost academic achievement.”

Statewide, more than $1 million in grants was awarded.