Sentinel The Shorewood
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
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Enterprise Publications • www.shorewoodsentinel.com
Vol. 17 No. 13
Part of this non-existent breakfast Troy schools breakfast waiver approved By Sherri Dauskurdas Staff Reporter
Breakfast will not be part of the school day in Troy schools this fall. A request for waiver from the Illinois free and reduced price breakfast program for needy students was approved, meaning officials in Troy School District 30-C are not going to have to rearrange schedules, purchase busses or hire more drivers; something that may have been the case if the mandate was held in place. Serving breakfast is a mandate for any Illinois school where more than 40 percent of the students’ households fall below the poverty line, which is about $24,000/year for a family of four. In Troy, Crossroads and Heritage Trail now meet the criteria. Several others in the small district hover on the edge, with WB Orenic at 39 percent; Craughwell Elementary at 38 percent; and Hofer Elementary and Troy Middle School both at 36 percent. Superintendent Don White
last week, on behalf of the School Board, requested a waiver from the Will County Regional Superintendent of Schools to vacate its participation in the program, saying the program would cause financial hardship to the district. Schools get reimbursed for all or part of the breakfast meals they serve, but ancillary costs such as supervision and transportation can often go unsupported. Troy 30-C officials estimated those costs at about $1,225,051. Will County Regional Superintendent of Schools Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, herself a Shorewood resident,approved the waiver, adding that administration of the school breakfast program is a growing concern for many area school systems. “It definitely creates a financial strain for the district.” said Bertino-Tarrant.“This year alone I have received five more requests for the waiver. I had just one last year. The challenges for each of the school districts is the same-money and staffing.” Additionally, Bertino-Tarrant said in each of the districts
requesting to vacate the program, the public has not come forward to request or support the need for the free breakfast offerings. There are 398 students who qualify for free and reduced-price breakfasts in the district. Founded in 1966 as part of the Child Nutrition Act, the School Breakfast Program has seen the number of schools participating increase dramatically in the early 1990s, growing by nearly 9 percent annually between fiscal 1989 and fiscal 1995. Since then, the number of participating schools has continued to increase, although participation still lags that of the National School Lunch Program (with more than 101,000 schools and residential child care institutions participating). In 2010, 88,642 schools and residential child care institutions participated in the SBP, up from 87,814 in 2009. “While the options for the breakfast program vary, the reality remains staff and transportation costs need to be considered,” Bertino-Tarrant has said. sdauskurdas@buglenewspapers.com