Nonsense! I suggest they try this . . . 
It is dirt cheap and you will actually live longer having it for breakfast everyday than you will eating bacon and eggs.
Posted on 03/17/2005 12:25:18 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
School Breakfast Program in WI "Embarassing" 03-16-2005
For the 7th consecutive year, Wisconsin schools are dead last when it comes to the most important meal of the day. Wisconsin is 50th in the nation when it comes to the number of schools that offer breakfast programs, and the number of low-income students
It's a morning routine now for Anna Toppel and her brother Hunter. They've been eating breakfast at their school in DeForest for the past year.
"The fact that they can go to school earlier, was the number one reason why we went with it," Anna's mother, Jodi Toppel said. "Now that they have the breakfast there, it's a lot less hassles in the morning."
Convenience was the selling point for the Toppel family. For $1 each, their kids get a breakfast at school every morning. Low income families can pick up a reduced price breakfast for just 30 cents. For every breakfast served, the state then reimburses the school a dime.
Jon Janowski, director of the Hunger Task Force says schools need to do more, and the state needs to do more to give schools an incentive. The Hunger Task Force is a non-profit group out of Milwaukee that is a leader in promoting change to the state's school breakfast program. "The bottom line is -- hungry children don't learn, and there are children who go to school hungry all over the state on any given day."
Statistically, it doesn't look good for Wisconsin. According to numbers from the food research and action center, only 47% of Wisconsin schools offer school breakfast to their students -- dead last in the nation. The national average is 79%.
Janowski wants more schools to take advantage of the several federal grants available for the creation a school breakfast program. "We would argue -- this program offers so many benefits to kids, there really isn't any reason not to offer the program," Janowski said.
But even Janowski admits starting a school breakfast program is not an easy task. After the startup grant is gone -- typically after two years -- the schools then have to foot the bill themselves. Staffing alone for the breakfast program at DeForest's Middle School costs about $8,000 a year. Other schools 27 News contacted point out other hidden obstacles -- like earlier bus schedules, time for eating, and then there's the money needed for more staffing.
Governor Doyle proposed increasing the state breakfast reimbursement from 10 cents to 15 cents to help offset some of those costs. His plan would cost the state $1.3 million in the next two-year budget.
"When the need is there, I think it's pretty immoral of us not to be there doing what we can," State Representative Sondy Pope-Roberts said. "It's a pretty simple thing once it gets going."
Pope-Roberts says she supports the governor's plan to increase funding and reimbursement to schools. The problem, she says, is getting other legislators to understand the generational changes in play. "If you look at today's population in schools and it's completely different. I think the assumption is: because I send my child to school with a healthy breakfast, everyone else must. They aren't remembering those single families, maybe holding down a couple of jobs, maybe not enough money to provide a nutritious breakfast. Kids cannot go to school hungry and be expected to learn and be well behaved. It just doesn't happen."
The Hunger Task Force has teamed up with the Wisconsin Council of Churches, to lobby legislators to support an increase in funding to the state's school breakfast program. The two groups will be at the capitol tomorrow to testify before the the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee in support of the reimbursement hike.
Eleven out of the 16 school districts in Dane County offer school breakfast in at least one of their schools. Monona Grove, Wisconsin Heights, Sun Prairie, and Verona are the only districts in the county with all of their schools serving breakfast.
Maybe someone from school should come and bathe and dress your kids for you in the mornings, too? Somehow, I managed to dress and feed my kids breakfast, and pack their lunches, too!
The school districts in this article are not "poor" by ANY means; these parents (single or otherwise) CAN afford to feed their kids breakfast at home.
AND...Wisconsin has some of the smartest kids in the NATION. SAT tests are top-notch. So the "hungry kids can't learn" leftist creedo doesn't hold water, either.
One day they'll just keep them.
no mention about how many students use the program.
Nonsense! I suggest they try this . . . It is dirt cheap and you will actually live longer having it for breakfast everyday than you will eating bacon and eggs.
I'm sure if they can't afford Cheerios that they can qualify for the WIC program. But that might involve the
hard work of pouring it in the bowl for them.(sarcasm)
I guess being a parent no longer includes feeding your children. I guess the food stamps are used for a different purpose.
Perhaps this could be one reason for the epidemic of obesity amoung children.
I think i was a junior in HS before I figured out you could get breakfast at school. But you had to get their early and we had morning practice for soccer. That plus the social stigma of eating breakfast at school. I seem to recall that the "Cool" kids didn't bother with breakfast.
Yes, your children need to eat breakfast. Yes, it is immoral (and probably illegal) if their parents don't feed them. Yes, it's a fairly simple thing to feed your kids breakfast.
But guberment french toast stix are much more tasty.
"The fact that they can go to school earlier, was the number one reason why we went with it," Anna's mother, Jodi Toppel said. "Now that they have the breakfast there, it's a lot less hassles in the morning."
My thinking too.
"And the after-school sports programs are great - they even give them snacks. And often we'll take advantage of the dinner they have if we have to stay late at work, or if we want to go to a nice restaurant or some other event. And the evening homework study sessions really take the burden off of us in helping the kids learn. They're pretty worn out too by such a long day - which makes it easy to get them to sleep as soon as we get home."
AT last something the Socialist Republik of Doyle/LautensLaager can be proud of...
imo
Is she looking for breakfast or free latch key??
I seriously doubt there is a single school district in the USA where people are too poor to feed their kids breakfast. That's just pro-socialist BS. Now, there are certainly plenty of parents too lazy to drag their carcasses out of bed to make breakfast for their kids, but I'd sure like someone to show me a family in the USA who honestly can't get any food.
probably both
"One day they'll just keep them."
Yes, just keep the damn kids all day, feed them an after school snack, feed them supper, and a bedtime snack. Then drive them to our houses, put on their jammies, bring them to bed, give them a night-night kiss, tuck them in, and tell us when you are finished. That will be more convenient for us. Oh, and for the breakfast? Could you come in, wake them up, dress them, and then drive them to school for the breakfast. That would be SO convenient.
And then there's the problem of summer time...
Our daughter just loves to jump out of bed early and make breakfast for Mommy and me. She does a nice job with the cereal, yogurt, fruit, etc. Occaisionally even microwave pancakes.
Oh, did I mention that she's 5?
Wisconsin parents are the most responsible in the country. They actually (imagine!) feed their own kids breakfast at a higher rate than parents in any other state.
Well, it seems that there were "poor" kids that came to school earlier and got their hot lunch at school. It was then determined that it was discriminatory to make the "poor" kids come to school earlier than the others, so the choice was made to have all children come early. However, only hot lunch was provided the "poor" kids. The rest including my nephew had to sit and eat a cold sack lunch prepared by their mother, while watching the "poor" kids eat their hot lunch. And all in the name of fairness.
Geez, how frickin' lazy can parents get! God forbid she should get up a few minutes early to set the table with food for her kids.
What does it take to stock the fridge and cupboards at home with kid-friendly food they can eat as-is or safely microwave.
Oh, but that might take $$ away from the welfare money that Mom and her boy friend want to spend on recreational beverages.
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