Students at Principal Quiles’ middle school in New York City were showing up for school hungry every day. It was affecting their schoolwork, their attitudes, their ability to learn. “It’s very clear working with the students in the New York City public system that hunger is a big, big factor that affects them,” she says.
So Principal Quiles came up with a plan. For one year, she’d run a pilot program for all the 6th graders at her school to have breakfast in their first class of the day. “At first I was a little skeptical, mostly because of the logistics,” she says. But after she saw how well the students responded, she knew the breakfast program needed to roll out to every kid in her school.
You can be a hero for kids by taking action today to sign a letter to your local leaders telling them to make sure all kids start their day with school breakfast. CLICK HERE to send a letter.
Principal Quiles was willing to take a chance for her students. “I think we have a duty,” is how she described her commitment to ensuring all children have access to school breakfast.
That’s why she’s a hero for kids. You can be a hero, too, by taking one minute to send a letter right now. We know that school breakfast can change kids’ lives: kids who eat school breakfast have better attendance, better math scores, and are more likely to graduate. Big school districts around the country – like Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Denver – have seen this potential and have started more inclusive breakfast programs.
And right now, No Kid Hungry has a campaign underway in New York City to bring breakfast to more kids in the nation’s largest school system. Making breakfast part of the school day would give 825,000 kids at risk of hunger a guaranteed first meal of the day, just like Principal Quiles’ students.
I hope you’ll join today. Tell your local leaders to make implementing school breakfast for all kids a priority.
Posted by Rachel Allan
10/29/14
